Chris Paul is known for his ability to elevate teams and already he’s making his mark in Golden State, according to Steph Curry.
“He’s elevated teams that he’s been on his entire career and even at this stage, like what he did in Phoenix when he’s been there,” Curry said of Paul on Gil’s Arena. “I know, you know that they didn’t accomplish the goal, but they were better because of his leadership and his ability to manage the flow of games.”
What Paul’s role within the team will be is yet to be determined and will become clearer when training camp starts but Steph is adamant it’ll all work out.
“We have a lot of questions to answer in terms of who’s starting, who’s finishing and that’ll play itself out but at the end of the day, we all I think are motivated to win you know, I’m sure nobody more than him,” Curry explained.
Head coach Steve Kerr and players like Curry believe CP3’s basketball IQ is the most important thing, as well as him guiding young stars like Jonathan Kuminga
“It’s one of those things where you have a guy who just understands how to play basketball,” Curry said. … There’s a lot of excitement for us, if we want to talk about strict Xs and Os, he connects a lot of lineups for us in terms of being able to help some of the young guys figure out what it means playing winning basketball and being in the right spots.
“Obviously a great leader in terms of his communication. He’s going to get on you, he’s going to overcommunicate — and we need that. I’ve already seen him playing pick up, him helping [Jonathan Kuminga], how to help him run the pick and roll, where to be at, giving him confidence in those type of scenarios. That’ll help us in terms of trying to be more cohesive. When I’m on the floor, when I’m off, me and Klay [Thompson] being able to run off the ball if CP’s running the point.”
The Dubs franchise aren’t the only ones who are high on CP3, since the marquee signing is ESPN’s panel of expert’s first choice for Sixth Man of the Year for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
The 38-year-old scored 42 points, which made up 26.9 percent of first-place votes ahead of Austin Reaves with 30 points – accounting for 15.4 percent of the votes.