Stephen Curry got off to a little bit of a slow start in the first two months of his rookie season, but he kept improving and became one of the better play-making scorers in this league.  Curry proved that in the Golden State Warriors final game of the season by dropping 42 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.  That wrapped up a great rookie season for Curry, who averaged 17.5 points, 5.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.9 steals.  Coming into his first NBA season this year, it was still up in the air whether he would be able to score and make plays the way he did when he captured the basketball world’s attention at Davidson College.  He proved that he can, especially in the final month of the season.  Some still believe that Curry’s numbers are inflated because of Don Nelson’s system, which may have some truth to it, but the bottom line is that Curry has had more than a few games with eye-popping numbers and he became one of the more exciting players to watch in this league.  Curry will likely lose the Rookie of the Year Award to the Sacramento Kings’ Tyreke Evans, but Curry is a close second.  He is definitely more fun to watch play than Evans, and the NBA loves to have exciting players to build interest in the league.  It’s now safe to say the Curry will be around in this league for a while, and he will continue to have games like he did last night.

Undrafted 23-year old rookie small forward Reggie Williams has been outstanding since the Warriors called him up from the D-League. Williams has played in 20 games (7 starts) for the Warriors this season and he is averaging 30.1 minutes, 14.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. He is also shooting 49.8% which is very solid as he does not look intimidated at all by the NBA. Williams has without a doubt earned a roster spot for next season with the Warriors.

The Warriors were smart to keep Monta Ellis despite having a lot of teams calling trying to trade for him this year. Ellis has played in 60 games (all starts) for the Warriors this season and he is averaging 41.4 minutes, 25.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Ellis is a scoring machine now and he will be a player the Warriors should build the team around as long as he keeps his head on straight.

Anthony Tolliver has really stepped up with Andris Biedrins done for the year. Tolliver has played in 33 games (21 starts) for the Warriors so far this season and he is averaging 30.6 minutes, 11.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Tolliver has probably saved his NBA career which was on life support before the Warriors signed him.

Stephen Curry has turned into a star this season for the Golden State Warriors and just might surpass Tyreke Evans when it comes to the Rookie of the Year Award.  Evans has definitely had a more consistent season and is still averaging 4.3 more points per game than Curry, but Curry has continued to improve throughout the season and has put up some monster games.  This season Curry is averaging 16.0 points, 5.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals.  Evans’ and Curry’s numbers are pretty close in every category, with Evans averaging 20.3 points, 5.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.  They have a much different style than each other, with Evans using his strength to get to the hole and Curry using his deceptive moves and silky smooth outside shot.  Curry can take a game over with his shooting ability, and is already one of the best three-point threats in the league while Evans has not yet added that to his game.  Although Evans is still the front-runner for the ROY Award and will likely win, Curry is making things interesting and is definitely the more exciting player to watch.  Unfortunately his great play has not amounted to too many wins for the Warriors, but Evans is also on a pretty bad team himself.