The new NBA season is upon us, which means the Golden State Warriors are close opening the newly build Chase Center in the heart of San Francisco. The Warriors will host the new look Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday, October 24th and for the first time in quite a while, the Warriors are not entering the season as championship favorites.
This year will introduce a lot of new faces, including D’Angelo Russell, Alec Burks and Willie Cauley-Stein. Russell will be counted on to pick up the slack that Klay Thompson has left behind while he rehabs his injured knee.
Steph Curry will have to put this team on his shoulders and in a loaded Western Conference, he will need to make sure the Warriors stay competitive among the other powers of the West.
A predicted win total of 48.5 for the 2019-20 season doesn’t sound unreasonable, knowing that Durant is gone and it’s likely that Thompson won’t be back until the end of the year.
The Warriors have a difficult ahead, but they don’t seem to shy away from the challenge. Steph Curry and Draymond Green are more focused on their height instead of wins and losses.
Due to an issue with Buddy Hield’s age, the NBA wants to verify that they have the accurate measurement and age for all the players in the league. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, they have implemented a new rule that requires every team to certify each player’s height and age during training camp:
NBA teams were notified this week that they must certify and submit the precise height and age for every player within the first week of training camp, league sources tell @NYTSports
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 26, 2019
In the past, most players would simply be asked how tall they were or the team would list their height and weight unofficially and not update it for years.
This new rule did catch a lot of people by surprise, including Curry and Green. Curry, who has been famously criticized all of his life for not being tall enough, joked about taking a few extra steps to squeeze out the most inches possible:
“That’s why I grew my hair out. I knew that rule was coming.” ??
Steph on the new NBA rules that teams have to verify accurate player heights. pic.twitter.com/kQgFFTloLc
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) October 9, 2019
Looks like the two-time MVP is having fun with the new height rule, while his fiery teammate had a more animated response. Green, who is taller than Curry, but can guard all five positions on the floor, has also been under microscope for the lack of height at the forward and center positions. He’s erased that scrutiny by becoming one of the best defenders in the league and he just wanted to set the record straight (via @ESPNNBA):
Draymond giving us video evidence of his actual height ?
(via @Money23Green) pic.twitter.com/2PtdS1pg1i
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 9, 2019
Green, confirms he is 6-foot-6 when he was listed an inch taller than that for most of his career, but many believed he was closer to 6-foot-5 than 6-foot-7.
In the grand scope of things, the new height rule is just a formality and it won’t affect how Curry or Green play on the hardwood. Regardless of their measurements, the only number that matters is three, which the amount of championships Curry and Green have won together.