Rockets rookie Jalen Green sees ‘big bro’ in Golden State’s Steph Curry

When the Houston Rockets take on the Golden State Warriors on Monday for the third time this season, one player views it as more than just a regular-season game. Rookie Jalen Green will have another opportunity to show one of his mentors, Warriors guard Steph Curry, what he has learned in the 34 games he has played in his NBA career.

The two first met when Green was in high school and then again when he played with the G League Ignite team last season and have remained friends ever since. Green cherished his conversations with the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers made and gave critical advice when he struggled with his shot last season while playing in the G League.

That’s like a big bro. I was struggling a little bit in the G League, and he (Curry) sent me a voice message like, ‘Man, just keep shooting.’ I don’t know how many nights had been in that shooting slump, but I just kept shooting. He’s always giving me advice. I can hit him up whenever I need to.

Another resource that Green has at his disposal if he wants to follow in the footsteps of the future first-ballot Hall of Famer is head coach Stephen Silas — who was an assistant coach with Golden State when Curry was drafted in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft.

After Sunday’s practice, Silas said he had found notes that he had kept on Curry from his rookie year, which he showed to Green earlier this season.

I was looking through my notes the other day. I have a blueprint for Steph from 2010 of all the things he needed to work on in the summer. All the things he improved on during the year, and all the things he needed to work on during the summer. A lot of them are similar to what Jalen needs to work on.

With Green’s work ethic, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if he looks for all of the blueprints that Silas has on his other former players, which includes LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Kemba Walker.