Steph Curry:The greatest PG of this era

Remember during the 80s and 90s when players like Michael Jordan tortured man-to-man defenses so much that the NBA had to change the illegal defense rule to allow zone after 2001?

 

 

Of course, you do.

 

Or remember back in 1980 when Magic Johnson defied logic by playing point-center in the finals when Kareem was injured, posting 42-15-7–establishing the blueprint for the future of the point forward?

 

Of course you do.

 

And, oh yeah, how about when Steph Curry dominated the era of the point guard by perfecting the pull-up three from beyond the Bay area bridge? All while simultaneously redefining the spirit of what it is to be a floor general.

Of course…    you do…. right?

 

 Well if you don’t, I’ll set the record straight.

 

 

Steph Curry is the greatest point guard of this era without question.

That’s everything post-Magic Johnson’s retirement in 96′.  And if you want it to be more focused, that’s everything post-2009-10–when Curry was drafted and the position of point guard began to evolve.

Point guards were no longer just setting the table, getting others involved, and feeding the post anymore. No, now point guards were tasked with a more strenuous workload.  Because slowly, but surely the days of the big man being the focal point of the offense, was dwindling.

Point guards would be tasked with setting the offensive tone, establishing the pace, and taking more shots.

This would come to a complete effect by the 2014-15 season. The Curry-led Warriors ran an offense predicated on the influence of his knack for taking and making long-distance threes, leading to one of the most game-breaking offenses in the modern era the following year. 

But we’ll get to that. First, let’s look at some history.

In the 2009-10 season, of the point guards in the top 10 in assists, only 1 out of 10 of them shot 15 or more field goal attempts. And there were only 2 out of the top 20. From that same season, only 2 out of the top 10 shot 5 or more threes, and only 2 out of the top 20.

The top-5 in assists all averaged nine or more that season with the top-7, averaging at least 8 or more.

Steph changed the game

The position more than doubled its output in field goal attempts and triple tries in 9 seasons. And only one player averaged 9 or more assists with 4 of them averaging 8 or more.

Putting it simply, the position changed. Point guards got bigger, faster, and more relied upon offensively. Putting it simply, the position changed. Point guards got bigger, faster and more relied upon offensively.

In the 2018-19 season, there were five point guards who averaged 22 or more points per game. In 2009 there was zero. Sure, everyone wasn’t just at the feet of Curry, learning his ways like he was Mr. Miyagi. But these numbers exist to show that he helped to usher in the play of the hybrid point guard in an era where the position had begun to shift.

 

So let’s focus on the era where the point guards are multi-faceted and the most physically gifted the NBA has ever seen. I Listed some of the elite guys who Steph Curry faced from 2014-2019. I left out players who fell off, retired, or got hurt and never returned to elite status. i.e Derrick Rose or Jason Kidd.

 

 

 

Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry, and James Harden are the elite guys who battled Curry during that span. And Harden is listed because he essentially played the point guard for a few of those years and he’s uniquely tethered to Steph Curry’s career arc.

Remember when J. Cole said “Foot is on they neck/ I got ’em stuck”? Well, I think he was talking about Curry in reference to how he held this group of potential Hall of Famers and All-NBA guys from reaching that gold trophy more times than not.

During Steph Curry’s back-to-back MVP seasons, he averaged 29/5/7 and went 35-4, winning games by an average of 13 versus these six-point guards’ teams. 

 

 

 

My Final Point…

Over the course of five years, when Curry went to five straight NBA finals and won three, he averaged 27/5/6 versus those six guys.  He had a record of 60-19, beating this group by an average of 12.

 

In the course of my data collection, I made sure not to count any games which the opposing point guard missed. For example, on January 28, 2017, Curry scored 43/9/6 and the Warriors won by 46, but it wasn’t included because Chris Paul was injured.

You know how when people discuss Jordan, they talk about all the stars who never won because he kept them from winning it all?

I was thinking we should look at the players Steph Curry vanquished as well.

Harden, Westbrook (With KD), and Dame never beat Steph Curry in a head-to-head series. Chris Paul beat Steph in a series that went to 7 the season prior to Curry’s first MVP campaign. And Kyrie beat him in the 2016 finals after being down 3-1 and Lowry beat Steph in the 2019 finals. Those are the only teams to beat him from his 2014-15 postseason onward.

 

He won 8 out of 10 series during that span, averaging 29/6/7 along the way.

His ability to switch gears between being Gilbert Arenas with an air-tight handle, to Reggie Miller, flying around pin-downs and back screens to create space for open threes, makes him the most unique hybrid point guard.

 

But it’s his knack for channeling the momentum of an arena in his veins as lifts off for three. As he grants a cold-blooded stare with a childlike grin after the ball caresses the net which exemplifies his greatness in this era.

The poise and poetry of how he transitions styles throughout a game is a level of artistry that even Michelangelo would appreciate. He can run off screens, showing his ability to play off the ball–then he switches to pick and roll, creating a devastating choice for defenses, because if you collapse on him, his vision is elite and if you don’t commit, he’s boogieing over your entire team.

He’s a chameleon on the floor. No one can know when or where he will shoot or if he’s going to toss it off to run around screens. Or if he’s just waiting to break you down into gravel on an ISO and that unpredictability–and that table setting, is what has allowed Curry to redefine the definition of the floor general as he bends his opponents to his unbreaking will.

 

Just my thoughts … Part 1…