He arrived in Athens on May 7 and on the 12th of June was celebrating conquering the championship behind a sweep at the Stadium of Peace and Friendship, he himself playing a defining role towards Panathinaikos’ perfect 8-0 run through the playoffs. It took little time for him to become part of the team, as little time was needed in order for him to decide to agree to stay. Ramel Curry will be a member of the Green family.
During the time he competed for the clover, he participated in 10 games having 113 points (11.3 pg), 20 assists, 1 block, 13 steals, adding the Greek League to his trophy case.
“A dream Panathinaikos and Euroleague”
Curry got the official news of his renewal in California were he is at the time, spending time with his family.
Entirely mature and with pure knowledge of all that is going on in every aspects of his life, he had pure knowledge about his remaining in Panathinaikos: “The experience I had, even if for only a month, was exceptional. I felt I was in the right place almost upon my arrival to Athens. The coaches, the players, the people on the team made me feel comfortable from the very first minute. All these elements made it easy for me to make the decision to remain”.
There is though yet another reason which played a role in his making the decision to stay on immediately: “This is Panathinaikos we are talking about! It is a dream for a player to be on this team. It is a huge club and the best in Europe. In combination with me feeling good from minute one, what else to ask for?”
Curry finds a disadvantage neither in the fact that he came along for the team so late: “It was good even like that. And I suppose that next season it will be even better since I will be on the team from the beginning of preparation season”.
For him there is also a dream; a goal to be achieved during the next season: “This year I came late and was unable to play in the Euroleague. I can’t wait for it; to compete in Euroleague. It is the highest level and as a player that is the target, to play at the highest level, to have the best by your side, to measure up to the greatest. It would be exceptional if the year would close behind a title in that competition also! But we know that we must take it one game at a time…”
One more thing is also a goal… Returning from the SEF arena to the Divani Caravel Hotel, Curry was one of the guys to remain in the bus, rather than climb on the roof of the bus. Maybe if he gets the chance, this time he will attempt it: “(he laughs) I don’t know… The whole thing was crazy… I still can’t believe it. I don’t know if I will be in or on the bus… What I do know, is that I want to relive it… I want to relive the root back to the hotel!”
Who he is
Curry is a guard (1.91) who competed for the Ukrainian Donetsk. He was born in Brooklyn (New York, April 17, 1980), studied at Fresno and then at CSU Bakersfield (1999-2002) and then competed in teams of the American continent until 2006 (Tijuana Diablos/Mexico, Long Beach Jam/ABA, Columbus Riverdragons/D-league, Cocodrilos de Caracas/Venezuela, Austin Toros/D-league, Constituyendes de San Cristobal/Dominican Republic). In 2006 he left America for Europe through Scandone Avellino (2006-07). Hapoel Jerusalem followed (2007-08), Scavolini Pesaro (2008-09), Erdemispor (2009), Azovmash Mariupol (January 2010-11), while for the last two years he had been playing for Donetsk.
Curry was last season’s Eurocup top scorer behind 16.4 points per game, but is not all scoring and nothing else, since he was also named best defender to the Ukrainian league. This season he had 14.2 points per game in the Eurocup and also 3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1 steal through 6 games. In the VTB League he had 14.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steal through 20 games. In the Ukrainian league his respective numbers were 13.2, 3.3, 2.9 and 1 through 34 games.
In the 2011-12 season he was named to the second best All-Eurocup team. In 2010 he celebrated the Ukrainian League, conquering it with Azovmash Mariupol, an achievement he repeated in 2012 with Donetsk. He has also won the Israeli Cup in 2008 competing for Hapoel Jerusalem.
