Why Players Still Don't Like Stephen Curry
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Published 2024-07-27
Old heads still don’t like Curry. Even some current players don’t like Curry. Even after he proved he could carry a team.
I think it’s the idea that what Steph does seems to be attainable.
Trae Young was supposed to be the next Steph Curry and that hasn’t went according the plan. But he doesn’t have a team around him.
Heck Dame has the same capabilities right?
When Curry and Dame faced off, Dame got cooked (2021 Steph going for 62 points).
It’s why Steph at times seems more relatable to NBA fans than a LeBron who 6’ 8” 250 pounds with a 40+ inch vertical or Jordan who could palm the ball, float in the air.
Steph is just the small guy fighting the freaks of nature. He is the best player that 6’ 3” and under. That is until you realize that he’s a freak of nature too, just not in the traditional sense. Every time we compare Steph, especially in terms of dominance, it’s always against players that are 6’ 6” and above. Magic Johnson, LeBron James, even KD, guys who could power through, get the ball in the low block iso. In fact, when we think generational for athletes, we typically think of physical athleticism first.
But what Steph has done screams the same dominance done differently. *And it’s time we change the preconceived notion in the one big thing thing this week.*
What is up dudes, dudettes, ballers, players. It’s ya boi.
*Steph does things in a different way.*
But his peers haven’t necessarily shown him respect. Like during the 2016 playoffs, after Curry is the first unanimous MVP, Durant and Westbrook were asked about Curry as an underrated defender and…
Yeah they laughed at him even though Curry was defending better than the rest of his team on average and more importantly, why provoke the best player on the other team? Because you don’t respect him even after a record breaking season and Steph cooked em. But
And it’s not at a small sample size. If we take a look at the average number of 3s by year from 2010, you’ll see the massive explosion. Before Steph Curry got into the league, the highest number of 3s in a season was Ray Allen, 269. But since Steph’s 2014 explosion, now Ray Allen’s season is only 24th of all time. You’ll see Buddy Hield a few times, Donte DiVincenzo’s recent season. Dame. There’s only 2 times that a player has hit over 300 3s in a season, Klay and Harden. And oh yeah, Steph 5 times. He actually has 5 of the top 6 spots. That isn’t a single season of excellence, that is sustained regardless of if he was teammates with KD or not.
Greatness to me is how much better you are than your competition, your contemporaries. In 2016, Curry not only made the most 3s, he also shot 12% better than league average for real true shooting percentage. And as an added bonus, per ESPN, in 2016 Curry averaged more 4th quarter points per 48 minutes than any player of the 21st century (including LeBron and Kobe Bryant)
You’re telling me that someone is going to come around that is going to be that much better than the league at shooting?
*Anything is possible, but uhhh maybe not.*
We hear several claims that Steph Curry ruined basketball, that the next generation is cooked because now in your local gym, the average 9 year old is just chucking 3s believing they could do it. And technically they could make the attempt, shoot off the dribble, they just can’t make it. No has made it.
If the average mortal believes they could replicate Curry, then imagine NBA players who are infinitely more talented and skills would feel they could replicate Curry given enough practice and reps. However, a lot of these Curry shots are considered bad shots.
That went tragically.
But Curry was quite literally a great rookie, over 17 points a game. He used to take 6 mid ranges a game in 2012, a lot off the dribble. More than Kevin Durant! He was good at the traditional game as well. He was already on the path to greatness in a traditional sense. It’s just that 3s weren’t considered as important. That attribute wasn’t considered something to be generational, but the fact that he changed what the game values is generational.
We’re seeing several athletes right now who are closer in athleticism to Michael Jordan, but that doesn’t mean that Jordan’s athleticism wasn’t generational, because at that time, there was no athlete that could do what he did and being that much ahead of the best the world had to offer that it takes generations to catch up *is quite literally generational*
So when they faced off a few weeks later on January 3, 2021, Curry created his own shots and dropped 62 points.
Can’t create a shot huh. Led the league in scoring that year…huh.
The way Curry creates shots is perhaps also “replicable” right. He’s not isoing that much, he just runs off of screen, gets open, and makes the shot.
Apparently he’s one dimensional.
He doesn’t iso hesi pull up enough…
All Comments (21)
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We are finally back, wow...thank you! New video tomorrow too!
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Who tf is replicating Steph Curry, c'mon Gil...
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Other NBA players: he is not a generational talent, anyone can do it. Also other NBA players: triple team Steph, sometime all 5 of the defense is on him and forgot it's 5vs5. Also, no one else can do it.
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Westbrook is a good example of jealousy. He was supposed to be the point guard of his generation but Curry isn’t only better but so different.
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Nobody respect Gilbert Arenas so using him as a reference is about as credible as using Skip Bayless.
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Steph isn't a generational talent. He is once in a lifetime talent. If he's 'replicable', why can't anyone replicate it?
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Tried to replicate him yesterday went 1-14 and got laughed off the court
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Such a good point bringing up how steph is an athletic freak in his own way, its just through coordination and muscle memory rather than the traditional vert or speed.
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Reasons Dame hasn't reached Steph's level: 1. Winning 2. Defense - For all of the flack that Steph gets for his defense, he's not really been a bad defender over the life of his career. He's just undersized. However, Dame and Trae are actually so bad that teams actively do their best to build defensive walls around them to hide them. Steph over his career has usually been on a good defensive team, but part of that is that he himself didn't lead to massive defensive breakdowns that blew up their system. Why Trae Young hasn't reached Steph's level: 1. Consistency 2. Likeability - People in the league just don't like the guy man The majority of Steph's haters are pretty much just Gilbert Arenas. I'm starting to wonder if Steph threw out the Magic Johnson comparison to Gil just to mess with him, since he's been sneak dissing Steph for years now. He's a massive hater, but I'm not convinced it's all real--he's probably just trying to be sensationalist and get to the bag. The main reason he doesn't do the same to LeBron is because he needs to prop Lebron up, because it makes his failures look a bit more explainable. e.g. He choked away that one game, because Lebron "got in his head." No Gil... you just choked because the lights were too bright. Not enough people give Steph enough credit for coming back from losing to Lebron to put on a bunch of muscle to be ready to not get bullied on defense anymore. It's helped him age more gracefully. No one ever talks about how Kyrie is essentially a discount Curry in terms of what he can bring to your team--he has that crazy dribble and layup package, but Steph gets to the same spots and makes shots efficiently. Despite that, no one is on Kyrie like they are Curry--instead they give him credit for beating Curry and the Warriors that one time, and he's been living on the fumes of that for like 8 years. Over time, what made Curry's defense overrated (post 2016) is that he always had good hands, but after he added some strength, it made it so that it was harder to push him off of a spot, and if you got sloppy with the move trying to get him off the spot, he'd rip the ball from you. People don't talk enough about this. Curry was never really a "bad" defender. He was just the least skilled defender on a team filled with well above average defenders--e.g. Klay and Draymond.
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I think what a lot of people fail to realize about Steph is that he's not shooting and making shots the most, he's doing it while in constant motion. There are NBA stars talking about how hard it is to keep up with him. He's in his 30s moving that much. He know's where the ball and goal and everyone on the court is at all times. it's insane.
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Steph isn't a generational talent he's a one and only, once in a lifetime existence
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they don't like him because he has achieved success purely through skill rather than born talent, athleticism, and height
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Lebron is Magic with steroids Giannis is Shaq with work ethic Curry's gravity is his greatest impact
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Why people mad at him for being good at what he does 😂😂smh
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Who tf can mimic Steph? AI couldn't get a ring despite having a team built around him, Curry got 2 without KD. This narrative is absolutely out of touch!
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By the raw definition of talent (especially on the physical aspect), I wouldn't call him a talent, like I wouldn't necessarily call Bryant by that same metric. But the work they put in skill wise and mentally is what put them in that generational (and beyond) status. Curry wasn't always that cardio demon that we know now. He has had crazy work to get to that point. Though at this point the fact that he is STILL doing and more at 35+ now might be his talent.
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Gil be tripping the first lie he told about magic. Foo LeBron is 6’8 with that same vision NEXT‼️😭🤣 STEPH IS 1 of 1 🔥
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imagine confusing or conflating physical attributes with talent
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Steph is as close to perfect as you can get . people hate this..pure jealousy..he's the best ever
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Gil is jealous of Steph curry because he knows chief curry better player and shooter then him
