Super Steph; US Women Miss Caitlin; Stanford's Amazing Olympic Haul

Fifteen years ago, few people would've predicted that Steph Curry would become the greatest shooter in NBA history.

Curry was chosen by the Golden State Warriors with the 7th pick in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft. He was the nation's leading scorer at Davidson, where he had averaged 28.6 points per game.

However, people often forget the circumstances when Curry joined Golden State and the difficulty of his early years.

The Warriors already had a high-scoring guard in Monta Ellis, but then coach Don Nelson loved to go with "small ball" lineups, and believed that Ellis and Curry would give him a tandem that would be impossible to defend.

Ellis, determined to show that he was the star of the team, led the team in scoring in 2009-10 and was sixth in the NBA at 25.5 points per game. He also led the league in minutes played, averaging 41.4 per contest.

Curry had a fine season, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting, with a 17.5 ppg average, and attracted notice by making 44% of his 3-point attempts.

But the Warriors had a miserable season, finishing 31 games behind the Western Conference champion LA Lakers with a pathetic 26-56 record.

Things didn't get much better the following year. Ellis averaged 24.8 points, eighth in the league, and Curry backed him up with 18.6. The Warriors went 36-46 and finished 21 games behind the Lakers.

Clearly, something had to change. New owner Joe Lacob, who had bought the team in 2010, realized he couldn't win without a big man and that the Ellis-Curry tandem wasn't going to cut it.

So late in the lockout shortened 2011-12 season, the Warriors traded Ellis, along with Kwame Brown and Ekpe Udoh, to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for center Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson.

It was a move that shocked many observers, because Curry had missed 40 games that year due to right ankle and foot injuries, including the last 28 games of the season, and subsequently had surgery on the ankle.

Pundits throughout the league questioned whether the "fragile," slightly-built Curry would ever be able to lead a team through a full season.

At a pre-game ceremony early the following year, Lacob was booed by the home crowd.

But Lacob's gamble paid off. In 2012-13, Curry appeared in all but four games, averaged 22.9 points (seventh in the league) and 6.9 assists per game. He established a new NBA season 3-point record with 272.

Two years later, he would be named MVP of the league and lead the Warriors to the NBA championship, the first of four titles for the Golden State/Curry dynasty.

I bring all this up, of course, because Curry just led the USA Olympic team to a gold medal with incredible clutch performances in the semi-final and final games. It was the last, missing entry on his stellar resume.

Curry scored 36 points, including nine 3-pointers, to rescue the USA in a hard-fought 95-91 win over Serbia in the semis, then hit eight more 3-pointers to clinch the gold medal in a closer-than-the-score indicates 98-87 win over France in the title game.

He made four 3-pointers in the final three minutes, each one more ridiculous than the last, to turn away the host French team, which had closed to within three points.

"It’s everything I imagined, and more,” Curry said of this, his first Olympic experience. "I’ve seen the medal ceremonies at other events. I’ve watched it and envisioned what it would feel like. It wasn’t really like knocking something off of my resume, it was more ’cause I haven’t experienced it yet, and not knowing what it was going to be like…Everything was eye-opening, from start to finish.”

His teammates realized they were seeing something special. Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves said, "I was able to witness greatness…Watching Steph? Hey, I was just telling him, ‘Boy, you crazy, bro.’ Shorty went crazy. I ain’t got nothing to say about it. He is who he is, you feel me?”

Those of us who live in the Bay Area are truly blessed to be able to watch the greatest shooter in basketball history on a regular basis. His Olympic heroics only reinforced Curry's stature as one of the best NBA players of all time.

Missing Caitlin: A day after Steph Curry led the US men to victory over France, the US women also won gold with an uninspired, poorly-played 67-66 win over the host French women.

The only reason they won was the fact that they shot 34 free throws to France's 13. The USA also got very lucky at the buzzer, when Gabby Williams' potential game-tying shot for France was good for two points instead of three because her feet were just over the line.

We've been writing for weeks that Caitlin Clark should've been on the Olympic team, and the title game proved the point emphatically.

The USA women committed 19 turnovers. Starting guards Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young scored two points between them and turned the ball over six times. First guard off the bench, Sabrina Ionescu, also went scoreless. As a team, the US women made two of 12 attempted 3-pointers.

Clark leads the WNBA in assists with 8.2 per game and is fifth in 3-point shooting with 2.7 per game.

You think her passing and shooting might've helped?

Stanford Shines: Stanford concluded the 2024 Paris Games with a school-record 39 Olympic medals, shattering its previous best of 27 medals at the '16 Rio games, and cementing its reputation as the nation’s top collegiate athletic program.

The Cardinal boasted 59 Olympians with Stanford ties. The University's haul of 39 medals (12 gold, 14 silver, 13 bronze) is the most ever by any school at one Olympics. If Stanford were a country, it would have finished tied with Canada for 8th place.

Of Stanford’s 39 overall medals, 17 came from the women’s swimming and diving program, led by Katie Ledecky's four (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) to become the most decorated American female Olympian of all time with 14 overall. Her nine career golds is tied for the most by any female Olympian.

Special mention to Stanford electrical engineering graduate Grant Fisher. The 12-time All-American and 2017 5,000 meter NCAA champ won bronze in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, becoming the first American man to medal in both events at an Olympic Games.

Stanford's 2024 Paris Medal Breakdown: 11 male, 28 female, 8 current, 31 former, 36 Team USA, 3 international.

Note: Stats courtesy of Stanford's outstanding "All Write Now" daily summary, Wall Street Journal and Yahoo Sports.