Today's morning motivation features Stephen Curry and takes us back to the summer of 2013, long before Steph was a household name, NBA champion or even an NBA All-Star. This is when the only championship on his resume was an NBA Skills one from 2011. This is back when a lot of people thought it was risky for the Warriors to give Curry an extension because he was considered injury prone with fragile ankles (11 sprains between 2010-2013 are shown in the video above).

“I’ve kind of been in an underdog situation since high school,” Curry said to Sporting News after a grueling 3-hour workout with the trainers of Accelerate Basketball in Charlotte. “That’s the one thing I can control, how hard you work in the gym in the summer because it prepares you to get through an 82-game schedule. It gets harder and harder every year. That’s a big part of my progression as a player.

“Anybody can get ready for training camp and get ready for pre-All-Star schedule, but to sustain yourself over the long haul, especially in the playoffs, that’s when you have to raise your game to a new level.

“The team knows your game inside and out. It is more physical, there’s no doubt about that. At the end of the season, you’ve already played 82 games, plus preseason, playing heavy minutes and having to raise that intensity level even though your body is fatigued from the season. That’s where this part of the summer is huge."

After this summer, Curry made his first All-Star team, All-NBA (2nd team) selection, became the franchise-leader in made threes and led his team to the playoffs.

After another "No Days Off" summer, he came back with a vengeance, winning MVP and leading his team to their first championship in 40 years.

NO DAYS OFF WORKOUT

SHOOTING

SCORING THROUGH CONTACT

BALL HANDLING

WORK ETHIC

Source: Sporting News