Carmelo Anthony Names the Person Responsible for ‘Fragile’ Stephen Curry’s Growth and Stardom in the NBA

Once considered too small and too fragile, but changed the game itself—that’s Stephen Curry for you. Most will remember that NBA fans had their reservations about Curry in his initial seasons in the league. However, contrary to majority beliefs back then, the Golden State Warriors star now stands as a 4x NBA champ and 2x NBA MVP. But success usually requires individuals to have a guiding force in their lives. Appearing on his ‘7PM in Brooklyn’ podcast, Carmelo Anthony has revealed who acted as this guiding force for Curry.

Recalling the fragile and small narrative that was there against the GSW star, Carmelo Anthony stated Curry’s talent and skills were no secret. He stated people mostly knew all Steph needed was to get more comfortable with the game and its pace. “Figure out his niche in this game… I think Mark Jackson helped him a lot… kind of find that… this is your niche, this is yours,” the former New York Knicks star stated.

Carmelo Anthony further reiterated that the whole era with the then-GSW coach, Mark Jackson, helped Curry. “It just clicked like… Oh, they playing like this or I can run off screens like this… This is the offense. Oh, okay. I can get off like this,” Melo stated on his podcast. Notably, Jackson coached the Warriors from 2011 to 2014 and changed the landscape for the team. He led the team to two consecutive playoffs (2013 and 2014) — a first-time occurrence for the Warriors in two decades.

But even after a decent run, 2014 turned out to be Jackson’s last season with the Warriors. The franchise fired him amid allegations of not getting along with the other team staff. However, this did not affect the respect Steph had for Jackson. Not only did he defend Jackson amid allegations but also claimed that he had tried to prevent Jackson’s firing.

A closer look at the Mark Jackson and Stephen Curry bond

In a recent episode of Gil’s Arena, Jackson discussed his time in Golden State with Curry. The former GSW coach revealed he knew the 4x NBA champ even before the NBA because of Steph’s father. They got closer because of a college game that Jackson covered where Curry was playing. “Then having the privilege and honor of coaching him, right away you just know he’s special.”

And this feeling of respect was mutual from Steph’s end as well. In a 2014 ESPN article, Curry mentioned that support for Jackson was because of their off-the-court bond and his memories of the organization before the coach arrived. Notably, prior to Jackson’s arrival, the Warriors faced consistent losses.

“He (Jackson) was a sign of stability for me… I had three coaches in three years, and he embodies what I know is good around here with the Warriors — winning and that kind of feel. It was a lot different in my first few years,” Curry stated, as per the article. Curry has also mentioned on multiple occasions that though he had nothing against Steve Kerr, he did not want the Warriors to fire Jackson.

In fact, he even opposed and tried to fight the move by the franchise, as per his claims. But as everyone knows, the Warriors management remained unaffected and replaced Mark Jackson with Steve Kerr. And although Curry achieved success with Kerr, we will never know what he could have further achieved alongside Jackson.