You’re defending Steph Curry, the equivalent of preventing a greasy ferret from running through a set of double doors. You’re trying your best, but he’s got you on skates. He jab steps, you beat him to the spot, but uh oh, it was all a set up for his step back. You make a desperate attempt to swat at the ball or at the very least obscure his bird-of-prey like vision. Too late, the mere blink of an eye is all required to execute his faultless shooting rhythm. You were defending Steph Curry, now you stand soaking wet, your entire body saturated from the titanic splash of the wettest jump shot the NBA has ever seen.
Many players had great seasons, James Harden, Anthony Davis and of course the surprisingly overlooked Lebron James, but one stood out above the rest.
Armed with the NBA’s best shot and the first or second best handle, Curry proved to be the most formidable foe for rivals all season. Steph had no shortage of shoulders to lean upon, a team full of complimentary components and a rookie head coach whose expertise flies in direct opposition with his experience. Yet, in all likelihood it was Curry’s prowess that enabled the greatness of those around him rather than the opposite. These days superlatives are given out in greater abundance than Joey Crawford technical fouls, but Steph still possesses one trait that may be his greatest and most widely unrecognized. Greatest shooter of all time, debatable, best handle in the NBA, arguable, loosest, most unconscious player with the shortest memory in the NBA, indeed. Frequently the words. “We’re taking this one game at a time,” flow forth from NBA locker rooms. A framework which commonly yields successful mindsets. Never getting too far ahead or dwelling upon past missteps is a prosperous recipe. The next level up, Stephen Curry has evolved that system of though to exist within a possessional framework. His next shot is independent of any and all previous and, in his eyes, they shall all be triumphant.
Make note of this date, hold it dear to your heart. It’s not often that we see an MVP with so many traditional strengths. Rarely do we see a player achieve such greatness, reliant solely upon his razor sharp skills, honed over decades of repitition, rather than some combination of physicality and microscopically inferior skill. Should we ever see the NBA one vs. one tournament of champions, it’s highly unlikely Steph would be capable of winning. His diminutive stature would all but ensure his demise, but basketball is a team sport. One on one expertise is of minimal merit when discussing the most valuable of players. In a team sport, which basketball is, there are fewer teammates more valuable than Steph Curry.
