Curry’s quiet leadership fuels Warriors’ dominanceSteph Curry has long led his squad humbly and by example, and his selflessness permeates the team and community.
It was exactly a year ago when teammates first noticed a change in Stephen Curry. The Golden State Warriors had just witnessed Kevin Durant suffer a knee injury, which immediately cast doubt on the team’s chances of advancing to the NBA Finals for a third consecutive year.
When the Warriors found out the next day that Durant would be available for the postseason, they were relieved. But no one within the organization knew if there would be enough time for the 6-foot-11 forward to return to his All-Star form during the playoffs. The pressure was mounting for a team with championship expectations, especially after the offseason acquisition of KD.
Landry is the game’s ultimate high-volume possession receiver. He’s more of a reliable extension of a running game and short-area scorer than he is a gamebreaker, but he’s very good in his niche role. The Dolphins will do their best to keep him for Ryan Tannehill.
Lewis in 2017 was an excellent return man and remained an open-field threat as a receiver, but he also proved he can be a complete runner working between the tackles and handling a good workload. He was a key cog for New England, but that team doesn’t typically spend much to keep backs.
The Jets traded the one-time Pro Bowl defender before the 2017 season, and he promptly found a strong home as a 4-3 tackle after playing 3-4 end for most of his career. He was very disruptive in the middle of the field with Seattle. With a lot of other positional money issues, especially defensively, it will be hard for the Seahawks to keep him.
Ansah, two years removed from a Pro Bowl selection, fought through injuries for a rebound 12-sack season after disappearing in 2016. It will be interesting to see how much Lions general manager Bob Quinn wants to keep the veteran around beyond ’18 as a defensive cornerstone for new coach Matt Patricia.
Melvin turned into a complete (and sometimes shutdown) corner for the Colts before he injured his hand, making big plays on the ball and against the run. Indy would like to keep him, but he should want to see his demand given the supply is so low on big defensive backs of his ilk.
