Hot Curry
Unless your name’s Dell, Russ Bengtson probably saw Stephen Curry before you did. The spotlight-seeking beginnings of a March Madness hero.
by Russ Bengtson
For those of you who don’t religiously follow college basketball, it’s possible that you’d never heard of Stephen (pronounced like Steffen) Curry before today. The son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry, Stephen averaged 25.1 ppg as a sophomore this year, leading tiny Davidson (NC) College to a 26-6 record (three of those losses came at the hands of North Carolina, Duke and UCLA) and 22 straight wins leading right up to the NCAA tournament.
You’ve probably heard of him now.
A skinny, babyfaced kid wearing his dad’s old No. 30, Curry connected on eight of 10 from deep today en route to a 40-point game (30 in the second half) as Davidson upset former upsetter extraordinaire Gonzaga. After his last triple hit nothing but bottoms, Curry turned and pointed to his folks in the stands—dad proud, mom in tears. Three of four free throws down the stretch iced it for the Wildcats. Make it 23 straight wins and counting. How did UNC miss this guy?
Lefty Driesell loves the kid, that’s for sure. The 76-year-old coach best known for coaching Maryland in the Len Bias era was the head man at Davidson 40 years ago, and he made his feelings clear to The Sporting News even before today’s game: “I told people the other day that I’ve seen a lot of guards play this year, and if I’m starting a team, I’d start Stephen Curry over all of them.”
Here’s the thing: I knew about Stephen a long time ago, I just didn’t know it. Allow me to explain. In 1996, SLAM sent me to Charlotte to cover the second annual Hoop Summit—USA high school players versus the world. I saw a lot of the future that weekend: There was a skinny center from South Carolina named Jermaine O’Neal who blocked shots with flair—and the top US players (Kobe Bryant and Tim Thomas) stayed home, so the US lost. But the best show came at halftime. It was something I always remembered. And, as Stephen was lighting up the Zags, I had to look for my notes. This is what I found:
Dell Curry’s kid is going off. Way off. Killer crossover, behind-the-back-passes, he even sticks a pull-up three. Then he cuts in for the steal and buries a short jumper—and runs back downcourt with his wrist cocked, arm still up. He’s like a little Reggie Miller, whose jersey he’s wearing. He’s in control like Janet. And, uh, he’s seven years old. He was the halftime show (and he finished third in the MVP voting).
To be honest, I’m not sure whether that paragraph made it into the magazine. If it did, I hope it at least got edited first—even 12 years later that Reggie Miller sentence makes me cringe—but if you’re wondering when we first wrote about Stephen, just know that we were ahead of the curve.
Way ahead.
38 Responses to “Hot Curry”
Mar.21 at 5:30 pm
Eazy-Yi says:
word
Mar.21 at 5:49 pm
Reggie Evans says:
I see nothing wrong with the Reggie Miller sentence.
Mar.21 at 5:52 pm
Dutch Rich says:
That’s an awesome story Russ, thanks for shedding light on the kid.
Found a cool link from Will Bryan on the kid’s shooting skills.
http://wibryan.blogspot.com/2008/01/stephen-curry-highlights-vs-chattanooga.html
Mar.21 at 5:53 pm
Dutch Rich says:
And then there’s this too
http://www.truveo.com/tag/Stephen%20Curry
Mar.21 at 5:59 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
It’s just awkward.
Mar.21 at 6:09 pm
Emry DowningHall says:
Great stuff.
Mar.21 at 6:13 pm
TADOne says:
Russ is a prophet.
Mar.21 at 6:15 pm
FLUXLAND says:
One week for a “Look at us we were ahead of the curve” piece, Russ? UGH!
Mar.21 at 6:17 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
The ahead of the curve stuff was a joke, FLUX. Lighten up. Sorry I shared.
Mar.21 at 6:19 pm
Holly MacKenzie says:
“He’s in control like Janet.” I love it, Russ. Loved that point to his parents after that last triple too, gave me chills.
Mar.21 at 6:25 pm
H to the izzo says:
That’s the last time I brag about how I knew of him two years ago.
Mar.21 at 7:57 pm
albie1kenobi says:
izzo: you are in the know before everyone not named Russ, i bet Vitale is jealous of you (not that that’s a good thing).
so is he gonna declare for the draft this year or what?
Mar.21 at 8:19 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Great stuff, Russ. I had no idea.
Mar.21 at 8:20 pm
RV says:
albie, that exactly what i was wondering, looks like a nice player, not sure why his name wasn’t out there more considering he’s scored in bunches before,
Mar.21 at 8:23 pm
RV says:
Russ, what exactly was going on at halftime?
Mar.21 at 9:28 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Ben: I’m surprised Tony didn’t shoot me when I turned in stuff like that. Trying to write using my Junior Scoop Jackson decoder ring. I need to sort out what issue it ran in and see if that part made it in the mag. Just out of curiosity.
RV: I don’t remember exactly. I think it was just open for a while before the teams came back out, and maybe the ballkids were shooting. Li’l Dell was definitely the most impressive of them, though. I guess I never bothered trying to find out his name, but who investigates a seven-year-old?
albie: He can sure shoot at an NBA level already–he’s got one hell of a quick release and nearly unlimited range. None of the mock drafts I’ve looked at have him listed, but hey, obviously his family is doing fine financially, so why not stay another year or two and enjoy college?
By the way, if I’m writing something similar to this about T.J. Kidd in seven or eight years, please, someone, shoot me dead.
Mar.21 at 9:59 pm
jeremy says:
Stephen curry can flat out shoot it man…he will be in the league someday…
Mar.21 at 11:56 pm
Question says:
I always remembered that quote from the article Russ… so when I heard about Stephen last season I was like ‘Whoa’… scouting as the next career step?
Mar.22 at 11:01 am
iguodolla says:
rapstv just showed a footage of him shooting on the raps court when dell curry played in toronto…he was shooting 3s n halfcourt shots oh n he was 11
Mar.22 at 1:16 pm
Jake Appleman says:
awesome
Mar.22 at 7:27 pm
James76ers says:
Interesting find. nice piece, however: Does it really matter who saw him first? Seriously…?
Mar.23 at 6:46 am
hursty says:
yes. seriously. if you could claim to be the first to see a possibly brilliant new talent then wouldnt you put claim, bagging rights, shotgun to it? damn.
Mar.24 at 1:35 am
Russ Bengtson says:
I WASN’T BEING SERIOUS ABOUT THE SEEING HIM FIRST THING. Goddamnit, I’m never writing anything again ever.
Mar.24 at 7:15 am
Tariq says:
Russ: I’m not gonna lie. That Reggie sentence WAS awkward. However, it drowns in the ocean of awesome sentences you’ve written over the years. No brown-nosing. Also, I’m surprised that so many people think you’re actually claiming to have spotted him first. Guess irony is a lost art. Or something.
Mar.24 at 7:17 am
hursty says:
LOUD NOISES RUSS! (but seriously, if slam took pictures of every 7 year old kid playing hoops then they could truly say ‘we knew about this kid before he was famous’.) apart from lawsuites and the nasty child stalking allegations slam could make millions of dollars and have interview reservations!
Mar.24 at 7:20 am
hursty says:
tariq! we love you ( or at least i do), (but this is between us).
Mar.24 at 7:36 am
Dell says:
Who is Stephen Curry?
Mar.24 at 1:17 pm
James says:
hursty… No I wouldn’t. I would tell all the people I knew that id seen such a talent and they should check him out but I wouldnt say “FIRST! I knew him way before when bitches!!” etc etc or something along those lines
Mar.24 at 1:18 pm
James says:
DONT STOP RUSS I ENJOY YOUR ARTICLES BUT THAT KIND OF THING JUST PISSES ME OFF
Mar.24 at 1:19 pm
James says:
and you sure did sound serious. And I should write all my thoughts in one post.
Mar.24 at 2:32 pm
SLAM ONLINE | » Links: Rajon Rondo likes to roll, bounce says:
[…] • Cool post from Russ today with his old notes from seeing Stephen Curry do a basketball demonstration a decade ago. I bet he didn’t look younger then than he does today. When I was a kid I went to Brad Daugherty basketball camp and Dell Curry did a shooting demonstration that was incredible. […]
Mar.24 at 4:39 pm
O'Neezy says:
Might have been said already but… they had some clips of him shooting around at the Air Canada Center around the time his Dad played for the raptors. Anyone have a link to it?
Mar.25 at 8:04 am
FLUXLAND says:
Russ is the Gilbert of SLAM! Self-promoting w***e, James.
Mar.25 at 8:40 am
Russ Bengtson says:
I only wish I could self-promote like Gilbert. I’ll be sure to let you all know when my signature shoe comes out and when I get a giant tiger tattooed on my chest. I don’t even have a TV show in production yet! I must be doing something wrong.
Mar.25 at 8:59 am
FLUXLAND says:
Russ, I’m only messing with ya!
–
LOL@comment - a personal blog would suffice and if you could arrange something where I can rebound the paper basketballs for you at the office, that would be fantastic!
Mar.25 at 9:32 am
Russ Bengtson says:
You’ll excuse me if I don’t find it funny.
Mar.29 at 2:04 pm
Chris O'Leary says:
The first Raps game I ever went to was in April of 2002 vs NJ in TO. VC was out for the year, the Raps had won eight in a row and were on the verge of clinching a playoff spot. Pregame, I’m sitting with my friend and his wife and we see a kid on the court, bombing threes and stepping back every time he hits one. He was out to half before Hakeem Olajuwon came out onto the court and started shooting. We figured it was a players’ kid, but it wasn’t until I read this that I realized who it was. Thanks Russ.
Apr.2 at 11:56 pm
Alan Silveira says:
Anybody here who was a Raptor fan when Dell was around may remember seeing Stephen shoot around before games. I remember more than a couple games watching the scrawny kid wet NBA three after three. I’m pretty sure he was tearing it up for some private school in Toronto back then.