Stephen Curry Workouts

Stephen Curry is one of the great shooters in the NBA. In college he almost took his team to the Final Four with his shooting. This is an article written about Curry in the SFGate.com by March 11, 2010|By Scott Ostler

Stephen Curry is the Phantom of the Opera. He even brings his own music.

Late at night, 10 or 11 o'clock on non-game nights, Curry lets himself into the Warriors' practice gym in downtown Oakland, and shoots. Typically, he'll go an hour and a half, long enough to reach a goal, like sinking 500 shots.

He'll bring along a buddy to rebound, and an iPod sound dock loaded with rap (Lupe Fiasco is his favorite), R&B and heavy metal.

These sessions are on top of the half hour or so of extra shooting Curry does after team practices, launching from beyond the three-point arc, a robot rebound machine spitting a ball to him every few seconds.

At night, he has the place to himself. That would be the case if he played on any team. That's not because the league is full of Allen Iversons. Practice? Practice? It's because the league is full of humans who wear down. Most players save their sweat for the games and the regular practices and shoot-arounds. All the money in the world won't buy you a set of fresh legs.

But work is what Curry knows, and 'round midnight you see why the Warriors' point guard has emerged as one of the two or three leading candidates for Rookie of the Year.

He can play, but the shot wasn't there at first. In the Warriors' summer-league games, Curry's shooting was, he said, "terrible," and during preseason, it was only "OK," which doesn't get you to where Curry wanted to get. So he works. While he gradually adjusted to the height, quickness and athleticism of the league's defenders, he kept practicing, shooting.

He is shooting 46 percent from the field through 63 games, and 42 percent from beyond the three-point arc. He has not had a jump shot blocked.

In the Warriors' most recent game, a 135-131 loss at New Orleans on Monday, Curry was off. He was 3-for-11 from the field until the game's final minute, when he rained home back-to-back three-pointers.

"That tells you about his confidence," fellow marksman Anthony Morrow said after the game. "That's why he's so good. That's why he was good at Davidson. That's why he has been good his whole life.

"He doesn't care how many shots he misses. He thinks he is going to make the next one. That confidence rubs off on the other guys and makes you forget he is a rookie."

Most rookies who play heavy minutes hit the Rookie Wall. The extra 40-50 games of the pro season, the crazy travel, the intense pressure, tend to knock down a rookie halfway through the season. Curry hasn't hit that wall. He got gassed on the recent trip - it was five games in seven days - and he played 48 minutes twice.

Instead of fading, he's thriving and improving. Maybe it helps to travel light. Curry killed himself prepping for the season, "burned myself out every day" beginning in August. The 6-foot-3 string bean came to camp at a super-lean 185 pounds. These days, he has to throw down an extra In-N-Out double-double to stay above the 180 mark.

Curry would like to play at 190, but that type of power bulk is a couple hundred weight-room sessions down the road.

Even though he already has been named to the league's All-Skinny team, Curry, rather than hitting the Rookie Wall, has been steadily improving. Warriors coaches say he is extremely responsive to suggestions.

Some weeks ago, the coaches told Curry to get to the free-throw line more often, do more penetration. Done. His first 10 games this season, Curry took 11 foul shots; his most recent 10 games, 30 free-throw tries.

In the early going, Curry would come off ball screens deliberately, surveying the floor, looking to pass. The coaches told him to come off the screens faster and more aggressively, thinking shot first. He's doing that, while teaching himself to see the court clearly at the increased speed.

Curry is still learning the game. That's why he keeps practicing.

On Wednesday, the Warriors, still recovering from that trip, did some hard full-court scrimmaging at midday. That evening, Curry picked up a friend at the airport, then hit the gym.

In those late-night sessions, he works on new moves. He executes a move over and over, at three-quarters speed. Then it's game time, he shifts into top speed, and the frantic play-by-play announcer who lives in the head of every gym rat goes to work.

Warriors down by a point, two seconds left, Curry into the lane, he fakes, spins, step-back jumper from 20 ...