Stephen Curry on Golden State's Future, His Summer Plans and More

We took a peek at the uncertainty that surrounds Golden State in Thursday's piece, but there's one thing for certain even with the impending ownership change: Stephen Curry is a huge part of the Warriors' future.

Even while coach Don Nelson was confusing the youngster early on last season with his sometimes-inconsistent playing time, he was openly lauding the Davidson product as a Steve Nash type of talent. At the time, Nellie was referring mostly to Curry's well-known shooting skills, but he showed during his rookie season that he is a phenomenal passer and a better defender than expected (which is a relative measure when speaking of a Warriors player, of course).

FanHouse caught up with Curry during last month's summer league in Las Vegas to discuss a variety of topics heading into his second season.

On the acquisition of former New York Knicks forward David Lee and loss of Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike and Ronny Turiaf...

"I have mixed emotions about it, just because I built a bond with those guys last year and only got half a season with Randolph because of his injury and was real excited about playing with him. You have that emotion of being sad about seeing them leave, and then you're also excited about having an All-Star join our team. (Lee is) definitely going to play the four spot (power forward) very well, to give us another dynamic (player) scoring-wise and rebounding-wise. I'm looking forward to it."

On the pick-and-roll potential with Lee and Curry ...

"We run a lot of it anyways, so with a guy who knows how to do it from the New York Knicks, who run the same kind of offense, I think his experience is going to definitely be an advantage for us to come right in and fit right in. He'll be good all around -- scoring, passing, rebounding. I know he likes to shoot the 15- to 18-footer and knock it down consistently and to play hard every time on the floor. He offers a lot of different things, so I'm looking forward to it."

On how his mindset is different this summer heading into Year No. 2 ...

"With a year under my belt I think I can go into the summer knowing how to prepare for next year and add to my game. Just getting stronger, working on finishing at the basket, just continuing to shoot the ball, watching a lot of film. Me being at summer league now, knowing this is where it all started last year, not really playing too well here but picking it up as the season went on, it's good. Hopefully I don't lose the momentum I had at the end of the year. The team we have coming back next year is going to be solid."

On how he looks at his rookie season in hindsight ...

"I'm extremely proud of the season continuing how injury-stricken our team was. I didn't want it to turn into an individual thing, but towards the end of the year it was the young core we had playing 48 minutes a game and things like that, so you're happy to play well. We were the D-League All-Star team (laughs). I've heard it won't be as bad as that (in the future). It helped me a lot to be out on the floor a lot, get my experience, and hopefully I can come back next year strong."

On what he's been doing this summer ...

"I've been back in Charlotte, back and forth between Charlotte and (Washington) D.C. where I have a good strength coach to fine tune my body and get ready for next year. I've been out in Oakland the last two and a half to three weeks with the assistant coaches to get some work in and get ready for Team USA. However that plays out that will schedule the rest of the summer."

On the honor of having a chance to make Team USA ...

"This being my first experience with the national team, hopefully I'll fit right in and play well throughout the week. It is humbling being a part of that 31-man roster that got invited, but I play against these guys every night so the awe factor is gone."

On coming in second place in last season's Rookie of the Year voting ...

"I was happy being in the conversation. To hear that I was neck and neck with (Sacramento's Tyreke Evans) until the votes came in, that was a pretty good feeling knowing how well he played all year and how well I played at the end of the year, that really meant something to me. He deserved it. I felt like if I would've won it, I would've deserved it."

E-mail Sam at amick.sam@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @samickFanHouse