Steph Curry: Best In the World?

[SSJPhenom]

All summer, all I heard regarding the Warriors' NBA Championship win was how lucky they were throughout all of the playoffs. First it was how lucky they were that the Clippers took out the Spurs. Then it was how lucky they were that the Clippers ran out of gas and lost to the Rockets. Then it was how lucky they were that Cleveland had 2 starters(All-Stars) injured for the Finals. Also, all I heard was how Harden was the true MVP of the league and not Curry. Well, if I heard it everywhere it had to be even worse for Curry himself.

Even right before the season started, all the experts were saying that it was either going to be Cleveland, San Antonio, or OKC to win the Championship this season. No mention of Golden State. Then, all the experts are saying that it's either going to be Lebron, Harden, or Davis as the MVP this season. No mention of Steph Curry. So what does Curry do? Nothing much really; he just went out and had the greatest opening 4 games of an NBA season in the past 25 years.

Curry has played 4 games this season. He's averaging 37 ppg, 6 ast, and 5 rebounds. He's shooting 59% from the field, 48% from 3's, and over 90% from the free throw line. He's already had a 50+ point game this season and he's had three different quarters where he's scored 20+ points. To put that into perspective for you guys, Russell Westbrooke led the league last season in 20+ point quarters with 4. Curry has already had 3 and he has 78 more games to play. He has scored a total of 148 points so far this season in 4 games. To put that into perspective for you guys, only one person in NBA history has scored more points than that in the first 4 games of the season and his name is Michael Jordan with 153. Other than that, nobody comes close. Curry is already going to go down as the best shooter in the history of basketball (notice I didn't say NBA), but is it possible that he could overtake Lebron James and Kevin Durant as the best player in the world?

I say yes; what do you guys think?

 

[tdmoon]

Like you, I was puzzled by talk of the Warriors being "lucky". Golden State had 67 wins, the best record in the league and the highest scoring offense in the NBA. I fail to see how they could be considered a fluke.

I've been a Warriors fan for a long time so my standard for a pure shooter has always been Chris Mullin. But this kid Curry is already better. When it is all said and done, it wouldn't surprise me if he is known as the best pure shooter of all time. I still have Lebron as the best player in basketball but Curry is closing in.

 

[J.J.]

By far the best player in the league. I just hope he doesn't get bit by the injury bug. I wonder how Marc Jackson feels now.

 

[tdmoon]

Revisiting this thread to give credit to the OP. You nailed it--Curry is amazing and has become the best player in the game. What boggles my mind is how we won an MVP and then was able to take his game to an even higher level. He's scoring almost nine points per game higher than his MVP season and his shooting percentages are out of this world. He has gotten to the point where every time he puts the ball up, I fully expect it to go in. The fact that he comes across as a really nice, humble guy is just icing on the cake.

 

[Khalifa]

Maybe I have just turned into the full pledged Curry hater because not one person on this Earth seems to dislike him but I think Lebron is still the man and heck he might not be the best player but he has a way better skill set than Curry considering what position he plays, Blake Griffin. I'm not saying Griffin is actually better than Curry but I am saying there is more all rounded players that excel at more things than what Curry does. Now before I start this I want to say I was Curry's #1 fan when he was at Davidson, so all this resentment I have towards him is only because everyone has suddenly jumped on the Curry train.

Anyways, the main reason why Curry isn't the best player on the planet is quite simple. You take him out of warriors and his numbers go down, especially his threes. Seriously what are the chances you have the second best shooter in the game that is also a all star and the reigning MVP and best shooter in the comp in the same back court. Defenses just cant afford to take the slightest step off their players because they are almost as deadly as Steph is. So Steph gets practically the most space you can get as a basketball player. Now you can say well that's also credit to how good a player Steph is. I just can't disagree more with that statement. I have talked about the ridiculous 3 point shooting the Warriors have, but also to have Draymond Green who is arguably the best defensive player in the game and one of the best big man passers in the game, Bogut who doesn't want to get points but to just be that typical 1% guy who also made it top 5 defensive player of the year last year. Every weakness Curry could potentially have is wiped away from his team mates. Is Curry a more complete player than James? Not even in another universe. Put Curry even on the clippers and I would be surprised if he kept the same numbers. Spacing wouldn't be as good even though you still got better versions of Green and Bogut in Griffin and DJ. Put Curry on the Pacers and who helps Curry on the defense? He is much improved but still he will get abused and then expected to find/make his own shot on offense.

Now I don't want to make it seem that I don't think Curry isn't amazing. It's just that he has had one of the most perfect situations I have ever seen. Top 2 player I could settle for. Even then though..

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Maybe I have just turned into the full pledged Curry hater because not one person on this Earth seems to dislike him but I think Lebron is still the man and heck he might not be the best player but he has a way better skill set than Curry considering what position he plays, Blake Griffin. I'm not saying Griffin is actually better than Curry but I am saying there is more all rounded players that excel at more things than what Curry does. Now before I start this I want to say I was Curry's #1 fan when he was at Davidson, so all this resentment I have towards him is only because everyone has suddenly jumped on the Curry train.

Anyways, the main reason why Curry isn't the best player on the planet is quite simple. You take him out of warriors and his numbers go down, especially his threes. Seriously what are the chances you have the second best shooter in the game that is also a all star and the reigning MVP and best shooter in the comp in the same back court. Defenses just cant afford to take the slightest step off their players because they are almost as deadly as Steph is. So Steph gets practically the most space you can get as a basketball player. Now you can say well that's also credit to how good a player Steph is. I just can't disagree more with that statement. I have talked about the ridiculous 3 point shooting the Warriors have, but also to have Draymond Green who is arguably the best defensive player in the game and one of the best big man passers in the game, Bogut who doesn't want to get points but to just be that typical 1% guy who also made it top 5 defensive player of the year last year. Every weakness Curry could potentially have is wiped away from his team mates. Is Curry a more complete player than James? Not even in another universe. Put Curry even on the clippers and I would be surprised if he kept the same numbers. Spacing wouldn't be as good even though you still got better versions of Green and Bogut in Griffin and DJ. Put Curry on the Pacers and who helps Curry on the defense? He is much improved but still he will get abused and then expected to find/make his own shot on offense.

Now I don't want to make it seem that I don't think Curry isn't amazing. It's just that he has had one of the most perfect situations I have ever seen. Top 2 player I could settle for. Even then though..

I stopped reading when you said he gets a ton of space because of other players on his team. Is it true he'd get less on another team? Maybe. But that doesn't mean he hasn't hit countless shots with little to no room at all. In fact, what amazes me most about his game is that he puts it up so quickly and what appears to be nonchalantly that it still amazes me he makes the shots.

Now we've definitely got people who've gone too far already. I've already heard people mention "greatest shooter ever", but it just hasn't even been close to a long enough time to compare him to Bird, Miller and the like.

 

[J.J.]

What I look at is how organic the Warriors are. The best move they made was getting rid of Monta Ellis I argued that he was holding back Curry's growth(like Jerry Stackhouse was with Allen Iverson 20 years ago). Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry were all brought in by the team via draft. They built a core that can play together for years. It's scary to think they've been in the league 5 years or less. I always thought coming in he was a defensive liability but I'd argue he's above average at this point. I feel coming into the league he has worked on his defense the most.

You can't foul him, he creates space. I've literally seen him run around the Clippers and create a shot. Some of the best handles in the league and he's an extremely efficient shooter.

 

[Khalifa]

I stopped reading when you said he gets a ton of space because of other players on his team.

Well I think it's a major factor especially if you watched their playoff series with the Grizzlies last year. The Warriors put Bogut on tony Allen because they knew he couldn't hit a wide open shot so Bogut just hit sat near the paint as a help defender. Now the situation might not be that extreme but there is no doubt in my mind that you could atleast double Curry without worrying about thompson or Barnes hitting almost automatic. Like put him in a Bucks uniform and he will still hit ridiculous shots, but defences could focus a lot more on curry.

 

[JamJam]

First of all, glad there are other NBA fans on here. Was beginning to think I was the only NBA fan on this forum. Anyway, really tough question to answer. Curry is definitely the best shooter in the game right now but is he the best player, hmm. Honestly, I think he may be the best player in the league. Sure, Lebron gets his points a different way, dishes out assists quite well, and pretty much does everything his own way. But man, every team knows exactly what Curry does - and that's shoot it from distance. However, that hasn't hindered him at all. His assists are down but his points per game are way up. Sure, he has Klay Thompson on the team as well, who, may I add, has sort of been underwhelming thus far. Draymond Green is also on the team but he's not some prolific three point shooter. My point is, someone like Lebron can score in many different ways so he'll be keeping the defenses that guard him honest. However, all the teams know what Curry is gonna do but they still can't stop him. Curry puts it on the floor once in a while where he pretty much shoots a floater seemingly from the free throw line. But really, he's a shooter and while defenses know the scouting report on him, they haven't found a way to stop him. Unless, of course, Curry is having an off shooting night. He'll live or die by his shooting.

 

[J.J.]

Rules in the league today makes it hard to guard someone like Curry. While saying that Im not taking anything away from him at all. I played College ball in the 90s and recall matching up against Trajan Langdon, Kalid El-Amin Shammond Williams, Roger Mason, Harold Arceneaux, Earl Watson. All those guys that went on to the league.

Teams don't have a strategy on how to contain him. I doubt these guys invest a lot of time into studying his film(unless you're Tony Allen). You just HOPE he is having an off night. If guarding Curry I would guard him the exact same way I'd guard them. I'd have to send a statement by getting physical with him early. The second he decides to drive - I'm sending him down. Just once. I want to send him to the floor just one time.

Look at Curry's games he hates being held. Watch his reactions; that get your hands off me look followed by holding his head back in frustration. After I see that I'm not coming off him, I'm going to verbally attempt to get in his head. Not trash talk but talk to him as if we were two people having a conversation. I'm not coming off him the entire time - even if it involves giving up a layup by not running to an open man. At least I know it wasn't Curry.

With Curry, quite often it's not the first or secondary screen, it's the third screen or more when he loses someone. Players tend to relax, he takes off, and he creates the necessary separation he needs. He's so smart. So with him, it's also just staying engaged in the play.

Pick him up full court, get him off that 3 point line and settle for floaters. Couldn't go in with the mindset of shutting him down but saying you won't let him torch you from behind the arc for 35+. 15 points, 12 assist looks better than 40 points, 8 assist on the stat line.

I'm not saying my strategy would work. Players in the league let him drain a couple 3's and once he gets going they stop pressuring him. Even if I gave up 35+ at least make it tough for him.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I just had to revisit this thread to say that I hope Curry doesn't get bitten with the serious injury bug. Did anyone else see the game that he missed against the Mavericks? The Warriors made it absolutely clear that they would fall apart if Steph Curry missed an extended period of time. I actually thought that the Warriors were better than that. Considering that they had won a number of games this season with the likes of Harrison Barnes out or Klay Thompson out, but Curry was always there.

I like when history is made and I'd love to see the Warriors break the 95-96 Bulls record 72 wins in the regular season, however, if Curry goes down, that's definitely not going to happen.

On the other hand, though, my Clippers are playing extremely well without their best player Blake Griffin. Griffin's absence has given other players like Pierce and Cole Aldrich time to play and what do you know, they can actually play. Pierce prove that he's still the truth and Aldrich proved that when he's out on the floor, it puts the bench players in their natural positions and the bench has proved that they can actually be successful for extended periods of time. They've won 7 straight and 6 straight without Griffin and when he comes back, their going to be that much better because the starting line up will have added Pierce and Reddick will go back to getting his wide open shots because of Griffin. Rivers would be a fool to stop playing Aldrich at this point. He's been brilliant and when Griffin comes back, with bench being back to full strength as well, the Clippers are going to rise and become what everyone thought they could be. I can't wait. Also, hopefully they trade Smith and Stephenson and get someone that can really help. They've gone on this run without playing those two which is good.

 

[J.J.]

It's tough when you lose 30 points and consistent ball movement. If without Curry i would move Livingston to the start, he has the height and the defensive versatility over Curry to hold his own. I'd move Iggy into the lineup to increase scoring options and maintain having Barnes as the first option coming in off the bench with Rush.

 

[Khalifa]

A Curry injury would be a major blow but they would still make the playoffs without him if all teams started at 0 again though. Draymond Green is a machine. Klay Thompson is getting hot again and Iggy is one of the smartest players in the league. Barnes was having a good season before he got injured as well. I hope he doesn't get injured and it as hurt his form a bit. He got hot at the end of the 3rd today but apart from that it was a average game scoring wise for him. I do want to see the Warriors lose some more though and unfortunately the only way I think that happens is through injuries so I am kind of stuck on what to root for. In all seriousness though hope he is fit for the playoffs and doesn't have to take those 4 weeks off to heal it.

 

[Bagpipes]

Watching this Warriors vs. Wizards game on ESPN tonight, Steph is otherworldly. 36 points, 8 (of 9) triples, 3 boards and a steal. Solid game by any standard. Oh, and it's only halftime.

What Steph lacks in ability to create open looks because of his size, he makes up for in not missing shots.

It's been a few years since I've watched the NBA with any regularity, but this Warriors team's "big 3" definitely has the potential to go down as one of the best (and if they stay together for a few more years, most successful) trios in history.

I don't recall ever watching a player consistently make low percentage, contested shots as Steph does on a nightly basis. Those are the kinds of shots that make highschool basketball coaches stroke out and your teammates hate you for running 20 suicide drills at the end of practice and Steph makes them look routine.