Dubs in-depth: Warriors’ GM Bob Myers shares when he realized Steph Curry was special

Golden State Warriors’ general manager Bob Myers was still an agent when then GM Larry Riley selected Steph Curry with the seventh pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Myers went on to become Riley’s assistance prior to the 2011-2012 season, and didn’t quite realize what the team had with Curry manning the point guard position.

It was a down-year for Steph. He only appeared in 26 games during the lockout shortened season, averaging a career-low 14.7 points per game. Myers would take over the GM job, and added some key pieces to help the tone for the Warriors to become a juggernaut.

Golden State won its first-round series of the 2013 playoffs, setting up a Western Conference semi-final matchup with the San Antonio Spurs. It was during Game 2 that Myers realized just how special Curry was (h/t NBC Bay Area’s Drew Shiller):

“He came off a screen at the top and he took a one-footed 3-point shot — in the halfcourt, I looked at Travis (Schlenk) — our assistant GM at the time — and said, ‘Did he just shoot that off one foot?’ It looked so natural. I said, ‘This guy is different, man.’ That is so unusual and the way he did it. There’s a difference between being great and transcendent. There are a lot of great players in the NBA, but then there’s the ones like Steph that go beyond that category ... You have a responsibility because when you’re gifted with somebody like that, all you can do is say, ‘Let’s try to give this guy a chance to win a championship,’ you don’t get that lucky very often.”

Steph was just scratching the surface. Just two years later, he would go on to win his first of back-to-back MVPs, helping the Dubs to the NBA title in 2015.

Credit Myers for understanding that Golden State was entering its championship window. The GM finessed the roster around Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and eventually Kevin Durant, to help the team make five-straight NBA Finals appearances, winning three championships.

With Curry expected to be healthy, and ready to go for the start of next season, Myers will have to do the same during a very important offseason for the franchise.

Dubs fans know exactly who Steph is by now, but at what moment did you realize just how good Curry could become during his first few seasons in the league?

On to some more links:

Myers will have a few high draft picks over the next few seasons. Logan Newman of Warriors Wire looks back at the best selections Golden State has made at the draft during the modern era.

LaVar Ball went off about how LaMelo won’t be a good fit with the Dubs, but it looks his son doesn’t feel the same. NBC Bay Area’s Alex Didion highlighted LaMelo’s now deleted tweet contradicting his father’s comments.

Green has never been shy to speak his mind on various topics. The former Michigan State Spartan says the NCAA’s system is broken for student-athletes. (Bleacher Report)