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.
#65 — James Michael McAdoo
Games: 108 (23rd out of 106)
Points per game: 3.0 (T-84th out of 106)
Rebounds per game: 1.7 (T-80th out of 106)
Assists per game: 0.3 (T-94th out of 106)
Oh, James Michael McAdoo. What to make of James Michael McAdoo.
On the one hand, he got a decent chunk of minutes, in big moments, for two championship teams and a 73-win squad. On the other hand, he often got playing time when he really shouldn’t have, which dampened the viewing experience just a wee bit.
He struggled to score the ball efficiently, and got way fewer rebounds than you’d like out of power forward/center hybrid. He was raw when he joined the Warriors as an undrafted rookie during their first championship season, and he was raw when he left them to join the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2017-18 year.
You’d be right to point out that he was loved by his teammates, and stuck around on one of the NBA’s all-time great teams for three years. You’d also be right to point out that he lasted just three games elsewhere before he had to take his talents to the G-League and overseas.
There’s no right way to write the McAdoo story. He was seemingly a valuable contributor, a total liability, a coach’s nightmare, and the coaching staff’s pet, all at once. It was easy to root for him, and easy to be excited when he was no longer on the Warriors. He has two rings, and three career starts.
He scored only 326 points for the Warriors, yet it doesn’t feel like you can really tell the story of the dynasty without including him. For better and for worse.
James Michael McAdoo, everyone.
Poll
What do you think of James Michael McAdoo’s ranking?
This poll is closed
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13%
He was better than #65
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41%
#65 is about right
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44%
He was worse than #65