Steph Curry: How Dynamic is His Game?

[dekobedeharden]

lebron with the ball against an amazing defender and great defence behind him doesn't scare me... jordan with an amazing defender and defensive system to combat him doesn't scare me... steph curry with a defensive system and an amazing defender is the scariest thing an opposing team might ever have to face.. a guy who doesn't need space to shoot..a guy who doesn't need balance to shoot..heck a guy who doesn't even need to see the rim well to shoot.. this is a guy who can at any moment without notice take a 35 footer and make it...and then come back down again and hit it again.

He is the scariest player ive ever watched...how do you stop a guy who doesn't have a regard for any defensive system.

With all due respect to all the other great shooters out there, they are no steph curry.

I understand that there were very many great shooters in nba history with awesome percentages..but can you tell me the last time any of those guys can waltz up the court 5 possesions in a row and throw up a contested 3 pointer off the dribble and off balance and completely blow a game open?

Steph curry can turn a tie game in to a 15 point blowout in a matter of minutes because his shot is the most unstoppable move the nba has ever seen. His range is incredible, his release is lightning quick, he doesn't need space, he doesn't need balance.

The only question that I have is how? how does it happen? does he practice running 3 point shots? does he practice contorting his body and flailing on his 3 point shot? does he practice hip firing 3 pointers?

His game is the most dynamic I have ever seen.

[CablexDeadpool]

I mean even Iverson recently said Steph and Kyrie both had better handles than him. I think that's saying a lot. Yeah the threat of his jumper is a huge help, but that only makes him better off the dribble, being that he can pull up at any given time.

Iverson is being nice.

Curry's handle isn't anything special in regards to an iso situation. Curry has defenders jumping soon he dribbles. Defenders are worried about him shooting, they are not even worried about getting crossed. You see 2,3,4 defenders jumping at Curry and Curry is running all over the court like he is Barry Sanders looking to get behind the 3 point line or to pass it. He is even looking down.

Iverson will stare you down and cross you up. Curry dribbles to a spot to shoot it. Those are two totally different scenarios.

Iverson, Jamal Crawford, Kyrie Irving will clear out half the court and go one on one with you and you are worried about getting crossed up.

Curry when he crosses the halfcourt line, he is always in transition because he got the range and release to shoot the ball. He isn't in an iso situation where it's one on one, man on man. I don't think he is a special ball handler in that situation.

So no, I wouldn't put Curry in the discussion of the Iversons, Kyrie Irvings, and Jamal Crawford that be putting people on skates.

Clear difference in dribbling styles and purposes.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfNwncxJzGE[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ_MUhxI-cM[/youtube]

[CablexDeadpool]

The difference between Kyrie's handle and Curry's handle is that Kyrie has the quickness and speed to take advantage of his handles, whereas Curry doesn't have that explosiveness (athleticism). The only reason Curry can get by defenders is because of his shot, his handles, and his craftiness. He can't just blow by people off jump like most of the other elite pgs.

It's not because Kyrie Irving is faster than Curry. I don't even think Kyrie Irving is that fast. Kyrie is more smooth than fast.

Kyrie Irving just has an explosive and smooth dribble. Curry's dribble isn't smooth and it isn't explosive. It's herky jerky. The way Kyrie Irving dribbles is like watching a jack hammer on concrete. When he puts on a move on his defender Kyrie, it is explosive and it is meant to get by him. Curry doesn't dribble like that. Curry dribbles to get his shot off.

On the handles topic, I played against Kidd in high school. His jumper was ridiculously bad and he was already basically a living legend, but the biggest thing was how his handle worked. Guys like that, it seems like they are slightly out of control, especially on the break. They have the ball on a string so they can take more chances. They aren't looking at the ball. I wouldn't take someone like Jamal Crawford having very low turnovers per possession as proof that he has the best handles. The thing is though, they are seeing things a move or two ahead of everyone else on the court so at any one moment, they are moving to do something that you (/me a.k.a. the idiot being dribbled or passed around) didn't even know exists yet. You can say Kidd, Magic, etc. had better court vision but Curry is not THAT far away from them.

So yeah, Steph Curry has great handles.

You are talking about floor game. The ability to command the court and to make plays. I agree with on you on Curry having an all time great floor game.

Handles is generally used in the sense of an iso situation and meaning being able to cross your defender up and put him on skates.

[76ciology]

quick release. that's the difference.

How do you guys think he get his shots off guys like Ibaka and KD? It's because he can quickly shoot it after he gets into good shooting angles off his dribbling. Since he just needs a ball, not an entire body, to pass through the defender, he just needs little separation in order to score.

[zimpy27]

He is the scariest player ive ever watched...how do you stop a guy who doesn't have a regard for any defensive system.

He has a fg% under .500 suggesting that he is stopped more times than not...

At least Jordan and LeBron were above .500 at 26.

[Edrees]

I think you are under-rating curry's passing ability. Warriors play such good team ball he gets a lot of hockey assists, his passing is among tops in the NBA.

[Manute Lol]

Stephen Curry is the most "dynamic" shooter in NBA history, at every range, and the rest of his skills are good enough to leverage this singular ability into an extremely dangerous all-around offensive game. He changes defenses, and opens up space for his teammates by his mere presence in a way that is unlike anything the league has seen before.

It is certainly the case that the team Steph has around him now is well-built to maximize the advantages that his shooting creates, but the essential problem of guarding Stephen Curry would remain no matter the composition of the roster. There is no "one right thing" teams can do to stop his team from scoring when he's on the court. In this sense, his offensive game is the very definition of "dynamic".

[NBAfan3024]

What counts as god like? flashy dunks? he scores with the best of the them, best shooter ever most likely, good passer, good leader and is great off the ball.

[clyde21]

Curry is the best combination of shooting, dribbling and passing I've EVER watched.

[tmorgan]

Besides the elite shot, Curry makes the most "how the hell did that go in?" layups in the NBA.

Best touch ever. By a lot.

[KNICKSince92]

I mean even Iverson recently said Steph and Kyrie both had better handles than him. I think that's saying a lot. Yeah the threat of his jumper is a huge help, but that only makes him better off the dribble, being that he can pull up at any given time.

Iverson is being nice.

Curry's handle isn't anything special in regards to an iso situation. Curry has defenders jumping soon he dribbles. Defenders are worried about him shooting, they are not even worried about getting crossed. You see 2,3,4 defenders jumping at Curry and Curry is running all over the court like he is Barry Sanders looking to get behind the 3 point line or to pass it. He is even looking down.

Iverson will stare you down and cross you up. Curry dribbles to a spot to shoot it. Those are two totally different scenarios.

Iverson, Jamal Crawford, Kyrie Irving will clear out half the court and go one on one with you and you are worried about getting crossed up.

Curry when he crosses the halfcourt line, he is always in transition because he got the range and release to shoot the ball. He isn't in an iso situation where it's one on one, man on man. I don't think he is a special ball handler in that situation.

So no, I wouldn't put Curry in the discussion of the Iversons, Kyrie Irvings, and Jamal Crawford that be putting people on skates.

Clear difference in dribbling styles and purposes.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfNwncxJzGE[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ_MUhxI-cM[/youtube]

I'm pretty sure Steph would be a fine isolation player, he has a great handle whether it's in transition or not. Warriors play a way more fluid up move the ball offense than teams like the Cavs or Clippers do, so rarely is he in full on iso mode.

[The Goonibomber]

Besides the elite shot, Curry makes the most "how the hell did that go in?" layups in the NBA.

I think Kyrie has that title pretty handily.

[cloudng8]

Crown this man the GOAT title already.

[serbiantiger8]

He doesn't need "wide open" looks like some 3-point shooters, he has a pretty quick release. And he's just fine off the dribble and pretty quick, so he can get a open shot off in a multitude of ways. And he's the first guy I ever saw take 3-point runners (and make them like a regular 3-point jump shot.)

The first guy I saw do this successfully was Drazen Petrovic. He'd charge full-speed down the court, and suddenly jump up, hang in the air for a second with his body almost at a perfect 90 degrees, and shoot the ball with his normal technique. Curry reminds me of Petrovic and Nash the most. I think his game is molded with Petrovic's shooting abilities and Nash's craftiness and passing, and then you add his own athleticism and ability to get his own shot off in tight situations, something that Petrovic and Nash couldn't do as well.

[The-Power]

He is the scariest player ive ever watched...how do you stop a guy who doesn't have a regard for any defensive system.

He has a fg% under .500 suggesting that he is stopped more times than not...

At least Jordan and LeBron were above .500 at 26.

You don't have to agree with the take of the poster above, but you're seriously using FG%? You know it doesn't show the efficiency of a player? Please, educate yourself on at least the most basic basketball metrics and use TS% when you're talking about efficiency. Although it's not what the poster you quoted actually implied.

Not to mention that 50% is a pretty arbitrary number anyway. By the way, DAJ is at 0.71 in FG% - just saying. #unstoppable

[Onus]

He doesn't need "wide open" looks like some 3-point shooters, he has a pretty quick release. And he's just fine off the dribble and pretty quick, so he can get a open shot off in a multitude of ways. And he's the first guy I ever saw take 3-point runners (and make them like a regular 3-point jump shot.)

The first guy I saw do this successfully was Drazen Petrovic. He'd charge full-speed down the court, and suddenly jump up, hang in the air for a second with his body almost at a perfect 90 degrees, and shoot the ball with his normal technique. Curry reminds me of Petrovic and Nash the most. I think his game is molded with Petrovic's shooting abilities and Nash's craftiness and passing, and then you add his own athleticism and ability to get his own shot off in tight situations, something that Petrovic and Nash couldn't do as well.

What makes steph's shot so unique is that it isn't your typical jumpshot, it's almost like a set shot. He doesn't try to get a lot of height when he jumps, he just gets a little push goes up and releases on his way up, which gives him a quicker shot because the ball is in the air whereas other players would still be hitting their apex of their jump.

[Jakay]

Stph's got a really underrated post game too. He's got some great moves down there, he just doesn't have the size to really play down there. But the moves are there.

Also those two videos did nothing but show off how good a dribbler Curry really is. Irving is much lower to the ground with his style, so it looks better, but Curry is surveying better with his style.

[soda]

As a warrior fan, one thing I will give OP is that a part of Curry's game is his team. A big part of it too is that Curry is the NBA's current "thing" personified: Curry is pace and space in a can. If your team wants to play space and pace, Curry is the proto-type player for that: good enough on defense not to hurt you, the best floor spacer in the league, and has the handles to be one of the elite pacers in the league. His combination of ungodly shooting and top five handles makes him the face of the new NBA system.

However, a big part of Curry is what Larry Riley said he was going to do when the team drafted Curry: build a team around him. Every move the Jerry West/Bob Myers/Joe Lacob warriors have made has been with one goal in mind: make Curry's life easier. The warriors determined Curry was their meal ticket (even when he was hurt) and made move after move to build the franchise around Curry and to give Curry every single thing he would need. They knew Curry's game had defeciencies, so the warriors brought in players that covered those defects. Curry is small for a PG, so the warriors brought in an army of talented 6'6 to 6'8 defenders. They traded Curry's rival for Bogut, a move that looks like utter brillaince now, but that got Lacob booed by the fans on CM jersey retirement night. The warriors built a team that allows Curry to maximize what he does well, and minimize what he doesn't (taking shots on a pick, the warriors brought in defenders who can switch, so Curry never needs to try to fight the pick on D, he can always switch, that saves his body. The warriors brought in a string of backup PGS with size, Jarrett Jack, Shaun Livingston, etc. to handle the ball and let Curry play the 2, which also saves his body)

[zimpy27]

He is the scariest player ive ever watched...how do you stop a guy who doesn't have a regard for any defensive system.

He has a fg% under .500 suggesting that he is stopped more times than not...

At least Jordan and LeBron were above .500 at 26.

You don't have to agree with the take of the poster above, but you're seriously using FG%? You know it doesn't show the efficiency of a player? Please, educate yourself on at least the most basic basketball metrics and use TS% when you're talking about efficiency. Although it's not what the poster you quoted actually implied.

Not to mention that 50% is a pretty arbitrary number anyway. By the way, DAJ is at 0.71 in FG% - just saying. #unstoppable

That poster was talking about shots in the field. He was talking about how his shot can't be stopped. I pointed out that it is stopped more times than not. It doesn't include free throws and it doesn't need to be augmented by 3pt values. You can't say someone is unstoppable when they clearly are stoppable.

I never said other players weren't more stoppable, I'm just saying that Curry clearly is stoppable.

Curry is behind a number of players for drives and pull up %s, Curry looks best as a catch and shoot player with Klay Thompson.

[magicmerl]

He is the scariest player ive ever watched...how do you stop a guy who doesn't have a regard for any defensive system.

He has a fg% under .500 suggesting that he is stopped more times than not...

At least Jordan and LeBron were above .500 at 26.

If 3pt shots didn't exist you would have a point.