Ranking all of Steph’s teammates: #78 — Rodney Carney

Before we dive in, I want to apologize for the hiatus on this series. Because of some of the things happening in this country, I wanted to take a brief break from the “silly” articles that didn’t feel particularly important. But I think it’s time to resume this series, so get used to one a day again!

On June 25, 2009, the Golden State Warriors drafted Steph Curry. Ten years and 16 days later, the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets. With that move, Curry moved to second in the NBA for longest tenure with his current team. The only player he sits behind is Udonis Haslem, though that feels like a technicality. At this point, Haslem is essentially an assistant coach for the Miami Heat, having appeared in just 43 games and played fewer than 300 minutes over the last four seasons combined.

During his time in the Bay Area, Curry has had 106 teammates who have appeared in at least one game. Some played in exactly one game, while others played in hundreds. Some never actually played in a game that Curry was active for, while others formed historically great partnerships with him.

And I’m ranking all 106 over the course of a few months.

Players are ranked — and stats are shown — based only on their time as Curry’s teammate. How good/bad they were in other organizations doesn’t matter. How good/bad they were on pre-2009-10 Warriors teams doesn’t matter.

To see all of the rankings thus far, you can click on the “Ranking Steph’s teammates” tag at the top of the article.

#78 — Rodney Carney

Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Games: 25 (73rd out of 106)
Points per game: 5.0 (60th out of 106)
Rebounds per game: 1.9 (T-75th out of 106)
Assists per game: 0.4 (T-84th out of 106)

If we’re being brutally honest, the best way to describe Rodney Carney’s Warriors tenure might be this: After the Warriors waived him, he went on to play all of five more minutes in the NBA.

Carney came to the Dubs during the 2010-11 season, his fifth and final year in the league. The former 16 overall pick signed with the Warriors in free agency, and was trying to build on a career that always looked promising but never really delivered.

He was tall, rangy, and athletic, which made it seem like he could be the perfect wing for the modern NBA. But his defense never matched his athleticism, and on a Warriors team that played about as much defense as a hungover intramural squad, Carney looked a bit exposed on that end of the court.

And while his three-point shot was nice with the Warriors, he didn’t provide enough offense (or rebounding) to make up for the poor defense. He shot just 40.0% on twos, turned the ball over more often that he racked up assists, and almost had a foul for every rebound.

But he did show off his athleticism from time to time, and it was worth tuning in for that. On a very bad team, sometimes Carney was one of the few things worth watching.

Carney played in each of his first 19 games as a Warrior, and then Keith Smart started to look in other directions for more production. He didn’t really find it, admittedly, but it kept Carney benched. He got some DNPs and some inactives, and struggled to make the most of his limited playing time.

In all, he hit the double-digit mark in points just three times before the lottery-bound Warriors decided it was time to say goodbye.

After leaving the NBA he had a long international career, most recently playing for the Toyotsu Fighting Eagles Nagoya in Japan.