Q&A: Stephen Curry

Courtesy of James Herbert

Steve Kerr said that he thinks people relate to you more than somebody like LeBron because you're a normal-sized human being. Think that's true?

Yeah. I mean, I'm not the most athletic guy. I might look normal, I guess, my physical stature. I don't know, I guess a lot of people see what I do on the floor and think that they could probably do some of that stuff if they worked at it, as opposed to being able to jump 40 inches.

How hectic was All-Star Weekend, scale of 1 to 10?

9.5. From the time we landed until the time I left on Sunday, it was pretty chaotic with the scheduling and stuff we had going on. Obviously New York is so busy all the time. It was cold, but I enjoyed the whole weekend, all the events that we did. And obviously playing in the game on Sunday was crazy. 

Do you think you can learn about someone's personality by the way he plays? Like if he's unselfish on the court, he's unselfish in real life? 

I've seen it where it's the opposite of what you might think. Obviously everybody, if you're playing in the league, you've got to have somewhat of an ego about how you play the game. And confidence. You're not selfish or anything, but you have that never-back-down kind of mentality that you've had since high school to get to this level. We all have that in common. A lot of guys are able to separate how they act off the court versus how they act on the court.

I saw an interview with Kobe the other day and he was saying camaraderie was overrated. You guys seem to have the loudest, most involved bench in the league — does that matter?

Yeah. You gotta have everybody into it and know the five guys on the floor have those guys on the bench that are supporting them, keeping them into it. Everybody's locked in. For a team like we have where everybody plays and contributes, you gotta have that sense of unity. When guys are standing up, clapping and talking on the bench, everybody's engaged, you usually play better. 

Can you imagine a more fun way to play basketball than the way you guys are right now?

I can't. Everybody's involved. Everybody has a role on the team. When we're out there, the way we play is pretty high-intensity, high-paced. And it's fun. It's a fun game of basketball, and nobody cares who gets the credit really. It's easy to say that, but it really does exist on this team. And that's something you don't take for granted because it doesn't happen very often.

It seems like everybody kind of wants other guys to get credit. 

We have a lot of unselfish guys and we have a lot of guys that are just wanting to win. And we're at all different parts of our careers, but when you have everybody with the common goal of winning, it doesn't really matter how we get there. I want Shaun to play well, I want Klay to play well because that makes everybody play better. We've had guys that have been on teams that have had great stats, but not won. And we've had guys who have had limited roles on winning teams. Everybody brings something to the table. In that regard, it makes us go. It makes us click every single night.

What kind of memories stand out from when you first came into the league?

The progression. It didn't come easy. I struggled in my first few months. It took me a minute to find my role on that team that we had and get comfortable. But basically maybe a couple weeks ago [from this point] during my rookie year, was when it actually clicked and I figured it out and made that push, trying to catch up with Tyreke [Evans]. It was a different dynamic, obviously, a rebuilding team. We only won 23 games. But we had fun just playing and getting better, a lot of young guys.

Do you ever kind of pinch yourself and think about how far this team has come?

No doubt. Six years in. It's more funny that I'm the last one standing from my rookie year. D-Lee and myself are the last ones from my second year. So it's kind of crazy just to see the change. It's all obviously been for the better. We've got a great fanbase that deserves a winning team. We're trying to make it happen for them.

Worst habit?

Candy.

Did you get the Maynards that you wanted to find?

I did. Speaking of, I got blessed. [He whips out three different kinds of Maynards candy that aren't available in the US.] You reminded me. 

What was your favorite Sociology class?

Probably Gender and Society. Because I had a good professor who was very opinionated about that. So we had great debates and stuff. And a lot of it was about parenting, which is a phase of life I'm in now. I learned a lot about social pressures and, I guess, challenging the norm. Which our professor did a lot with her kids. Some of the stuff I didn't agree with, some of the stuff I did. It was the most engaging class. 

You think back to that stuff now when you're raising your daughter? 

Yeah. And it's actually, it's surprising I'm not as — how do I put it? — I guess with my daughter I'm more inclined to get her into both sides of the gender-norm conversation when it comes to things she's interested in. Not forcing her into pink and dolls and all that kind of stuff. Kind of doing mini-experiments to see what she gravitates towards without outside influences. 

What is she gravitating towards?

I guess the term is ‘tomboy,' but she's more into hands-on activities. First, she's got my wife, who is huge into tea parties. She's two years old, she loves tea parties. She likes dolls and bears and stuff like that. But she's real rugged about it. So she goes outside and loves nature and plays with cars and all that kind of stuff. So it's kind of funny to see how it's kind of back and forth. Which I guess is both my wife and my influence on her, too. 

Can you tell me a bit about your thesis on tattoos? 

Still in progress. But it came about during the lockout. I was taking classes on campus at Davidson. I was in my stats class, my methods and research class — it wasn't my favorite. I was in the car one morning before class, on the way up there, and Carolina Panthers football was the topic on sports radio on the way up there. And they were talking about Cam Newton and his run-in with the owner of the team, Jerry Richardson. They were talking about how the first thing Jerry Richardson asked was, ‘Do you have any tattoos?' And Cam said no. And Jerry Richardson said, ‘Good, keep it that way.' 

It became a big debate as to why he asked that question, what he was inferring about his background. And, too, basically, limiting Cam's freedom of expression and how that would be being negative right off the jump. So I was trying to figure out a topic a week prior and that one was just like, I'm in the right field to interview people and to get inside stories and background from all sports. I wanted to see where it goes.

You said on Twitter that you don't anticipate getting into coaching after all this. Why not? 

I hope to play until I'm like 38 or something, and that's a lot of years in the game and a lot of travel and a lot of sacrifice on my family's part. That's more what I was thinking about long-term — being able to spend time with my kids that'll be somewhat grown by then, and enjoying life outside of basketball. I want to be involved in the game somehow, but I think just the time commitment of coaching is not very attractive to me if I play as long as I plan to play.

What drives you? 

My faith and my family, man. That's basically it. I've been blessed with talents to play this game and been put on a stage to impact a lot of people. I don't want to take that for granted. That's what drives me.