Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry (BEST)
Stephen Curry is the greatest basketball shooter in human history. That much is not up for debate. He’s already third all time in three pointers and will be first in a little more than a season. And despite all the difficult shots, Curry ranks top five in career three point percentage and number one all time in free throw percentage. The advanced metrics are even better.
Curry ranks 4th all time with 62% true shooting on a leaderboard populated by seven foot dudes shooting two feet from the rim, and he’s #2 all time in OBPM. He won back to back MVPs in 2015 and 2016, and the latter season was perhaps the greatest offensive season in NBA history with 30/5/7 on 50/45/91 shooting. He’s been the best player on three champions — yeah, you heard me — and might add another ring to his resume soon.
Golden State Warriors: Joe Barry Carroll (WORST)
Philadelphia 76ers fans may cringe reading this one. The Warriors made a big move prior to the 1980 draft, trading up from number three to number one for a Purdue player named Joe Barry Carroll that they just couldn’t pass. Though they moved up only two spots, the trade cost the Warriors dearly as they also lost talented young center Robert Parish.
The Boston Celtics dropped from one to three and got the best player in the draft, Kevin McHale, and the two were the spine of the Celtics dynasty in the 80s. Carroll averaged at least 17 points a game all six Warriors seasons, but he had a knack for not playing with enough heart, earning the nickname Joe Barely Cares, and most importantly, he just wasn’t Kevin McHale or Robet Parish.