Working on finding a permanent home in the NBA, Seth Curry showed off some very impressive things in his time with the Magic in Orlando. Curry, who played for the Santa Cruz Warriors last season, is the brother of Golden State’s Stephen Curry. He had his ups and downs, but was able to show some very good things throughout the week as well.
Curry helped lead Santa Cruz to the NBA Developmental League Championship series last season as their starting point guard, something that he grew comfortable with more and more as the season progressed. He had two brief stints in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Memphis Grizzlies, but was only able to find the court twice, playing a total of 13 minutes and scoring a whooping three points.
Then, he got his big break by way of a minicamp the team hosted on June 17th. Curry, along with Josh Magette, Scott Suggs, Matt Bouldin and Cam Jones had strong enough appearances to earn an invite to play for the Magic’s Summer League team.
Throughout the week he split time playing on and off the ball, and Curry admitted that it was “different early on getting use to playing off the ball so much cause the past year I’ve had the ball in my hand so much.” The former Duke Blue Devil went on to say he felt that was “a benefit of his game” due to his ability to spread the floor even without the ball in his hands. He was able to move with the ball well, and found spots that made it possible for Victor Oladipo or Elfrid Payton to find him in opportune spots for quality shots.
The sharp shooting guard also talked about how he felt playing in the D-League has helped him prepare for the environment that comes with the NBA. Curry had this to say:
"“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s a similar type game, coaches in Santa Cruz gave me the ball throughout the whole year and helped me work on my point guard skills and running a team. I think I’ve done that pretty well, and like I was saying earlier, defensively he really challenged me and never really let me hide and helped me work on guarding point guards throughout a game; working getting through screens and putting pressure on the ball. So, you know I think that’s why I’ve gotten a lot better (from last year when he was unable to participate in Summer League due to injury).”"
Curry seemed locked in and ready to work all week, especially on the defensive end, and it makes sense. He continues to work hard to improve and hopefully find his role in the NBA, be that with the Magic or elsewhere, and it really showed on the court.
He also took some time to talk about what he felt he needed to show to the team during his short stint. He told us this:
"“I think the biggest thing is defensively. I’ve show I can guard point guards and just put pressure on the ball and be disruptive and get my hands on things. The other thing is just being a two-way guard; handle the ball and at the same time playing off the ball as I’m playing with Vic (Oladipo) and Elfrid (Payton) a lot, so I’m not gonna have the ball in my hands the majority of the time, so I gotta be able to make plays off the ball, catch and shoot situations, and when I catch be ready to make plays. So, to be able to do a lot of things out on the court cause a lot of people know I can shoot.”"
When the week ended, Curry hopped on a flight out to the Vegas Summer League to play with the Phoenix Suns. While he could still conceivably get an invite from the Magic to their training camp and preseason, he could be facing an uphill battle to make the roster, especially with the team’s reported recent signing of free agent Luke Ridnour.
For now, Curry will have to wait and see. However, thanks to a good week in Orlando for the Magic, and continuing to work on areas of his game other than shooting, he should be getting that call he so badly wants from an NBA team. It’s just a matter of who, and when.