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Ethan Strauss: I reported in my book that the Warriors were looking to trade Steph and Klay for Chris Paul, but Chris Paul nixed it and said, "I don't want to go out there because the Warriors at that point were associated with failure." I think the Warriors argued against my reporting on that. Larry Riley, the GM at the time, went on radio and said it was untrue and I was getting killed for it. But then Chris Paul went on a podcast, was asked about it, and went, "Yep, that happened." Completely true.
Two people who have played important roles behind the scenes for the Hawks are Larry Riley and Mike McNeive. Riley, once an assistant coach and scout for the Bucks, is a senior advisor to Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk. Before joining the Hawks, Riley played a major role in the enormous success of the Golden State Warriors as be drafted Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson while being the team’s general manager. McNeive, who worked as an advance scout and assistant coach for the Bucks during the George Karl regime, is the Hawks director of basketball operations.
Larry Riley was a guest on 95.7 The Game's "Bonta, Steiny & Guru" show Thursday morning, and was asked if it's true that Steph named his daugther after him. He answered by telling a story that, to our knowledge, has not been shared publicly. "Steph came into my office one day, and he sat down in front of me and he said, 'Hey coach, we're getting ready to have a child and it's a girl. We're looking at names. What would you think if we named our baby girl Riley?' I was blown away," Riley said. "I was just absolutely blown away.
Larry Riley: "Those are fond memories of course. And everybody knows she captured the world a few years ago when she ended up on TV a few different times. But yeah, there's some substance to that. If I had said, 'No you can't do that,' I'd have been stupid. He might have done it anyway."
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Now, to his credit, Riley was always talking about Curry. He was the type of GM who would chat with you. I remember on many occasions we were talking about prospects and he brought up Steph. ... So I know this for a fact—Larry Riley was all over Steph waaaaay before the 2009 draft.
According to former Warriors GM Larry Riley, though, that trade was never discussed. In a radio interview, Riley denied ever having a discussion about a package deal for Curry and Thompson, but admitted that there was a “discussion about the possibilities” of trading Curry at some point. Via 95.7 The Game: “First off, that’s false. That never took place. And therefore, I think everyone learned something. When you — I had to tell my mother this because she grew up in the days of Walter Cronkite — when you see something on TV or you read it in the newspaper, it’s not necessarily true. And I never had a conversation with anybody about packaging our two guards to do something else. Steph Curry came to the Warriors and he won himself over as a Warrior for life — if he wanted to be — at the second half of his rookie season. He established the fact — this is our point guard for the next 10 years.”
“I can tell you right now, that never happened.” Former #Warriors GM Larry Riley shoots down the Curry/Klay for CP3 trade report
“I can tell you right now, that never happened.”
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) April 17, 2020
Former #Warriors GM Larry Riley shoots down the Curry/Klay for CP3 trade report pic.twitter.com/E3KVrPrhL4
In 2011, did the Warriors try to trade Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Chris Paul? On Friday morning, Larry Riley -- who was Golden State's general manager at that time -- strongly refuted that report. “First off, that’s false. That never took place,” Riley said on 95.7 The Game. “And therefore, I think everyone learned something. When you -- I had to tell my mother this because she grew up in the days of Walter Cronkite -- when you see something on TV or you read it in the newspaper, it’s not necessarily true.”
Larry Riley: “While there was a lot of discussion about the possibilities of trading him, it was never a reality. And we never had a discussion about trading Klay Thompson and Steph Curry for anybody else. And it would be very interesting because the author of this piece, without doubt, talked to somebody who gave him some information. So, it would be a little bit interesting to track that, but I can tell you right now, that never happened.”
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The Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club today announced several additions and promotions within the basketball operations department. The new hires include Chelsea Lane as Executive Director of Athletic Performance and Sports Medicine, where she will oversee the Hawks’ Athletic Performance Team and medical staff. Additional new hires to the APT staff include Michael Irras Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, John Dusel as Assistant Athletic Trainer/Strength & Conditioning, and Ty Terrell as Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach. Dwight Lutz recently joined the organization as Director of Basketball Strategy & Analytics, Dipesh Mistry has been hired as Head Video Coordinator, veteran NBA executive Larry Riley has been named Senior Advisor, Nick Ressler has been added as Coordinator of Basketball Operations and Victor Williams has been named as a Security Consultant.
What was your Draft board that night? Larry Riley: Had we had the No. 1 pick, we would have screwed up and missed on Steph Curry because we would have taken Blake Griffin. I did, however, at the press conference when we brought Steph Curry in and introduced him, I did stand up, and Raymond (Ridder, the team vice president of communication) probably got it on record. I said, “I think Steph Curry’s the second-best player in the Draft and I would have picked him No. 2 and Steph Curry will set out to prove me wrong, that he should have been No. 1.”
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