Stephen Curry must be first round imo

[nyhuskyfan]

It's because people have preconceived notions and look for evidence to support it. People think Curry is small, baby-faced, and plays at Davidson, so he can't make it in the NBA. He can tear up the NCAA Tournament for most of four games, until a cold streak hits against a box and one in the fourth game, and then the cold streak is proof of his skill and it doesn't matter that he ripped through three of the best defenses in college basketball prior to that. "You see, he's not that good after all."

When you scout, you can't just look at whether the ball goes in, you have to look at what the player does to create his shots. On the 3 to cut the lead to two in the last minute, Curry put a little subtle change of direction on Rush on the inbounds pass to give himself a sliver of room, and it was money (right before that, he spotted up on the break and it rattled out on him). You're talking about a shot against an NBA-quality defender four inches taller with a tiny amount of space to work with, and with everyone in the building knowing he was trying to get the ball, and he got it off with absolutely no problem.

If Richards had stayed in the corner on the final Davidson possession, Curry would have created his own shot on Rush with a shot fake and an up and under move. People keep saying that Kansas swarmed him and he was helpless, but it was just bad luck that Richards made a cut and brought Collins into the play at just the moment that Curry had shaken free of Rush. He has that quick trigger jumper that gets in defender's heads and it sets up everything else for him - he can give fakes and people bite, he can fake like he's going to go out to the three-point line and run a curl and shoot a little floater.

Curry showed so many crafty ways to get shots off under pressure, and was so deadly when left open, that there's no doubt in my mind he is going to be able to take those skills to the next level and be extremely effective. Iverson has a different skill set but has made a living basically as a small shooting guard - he's much quicker and stronger attacking the basket than Curry, but Curry's jumper is so pure that he's never going to go into long slumps. He was 6-16 from three against North Carolina, and some people want to point to the 10 misses, or they want to say he was only 9-25 against Kansas, and yeah, that's a low percentage (sort of like Michael Jordan's 11-point effort against Indiana or Iverson's crappy performance against UMass in the Elite Eight - it happens to even the best of them). But it would be a much, much bigger red flag if he couldn't shake free of those teams to get good shots at all. Of the 25 shots he took against Kansas, there were maybe two that I thought didn't have much of a chance of going in when he released it. He's one of those rare players that you almost just have to cross your fingers and hope he's having an off night, because if he's hitting, there's nothing you can do.

[Blame Rasho]

I don't know why you are going on a rant...

Yeah he can be drafted as a 1st rounder, but he is projected as nothing more than a role player...

[sdeezy]

If Jannero Pargo, Eddie House and Boobie Gibson can find a place in the league, so can Curry. He'll be picked in the mid 20's next year or earlier if he bulks up and refines his passing skills. That kind of shooting stroke cannot be ignored

[Paydro70]

I agree sdeezy... but I think that many have the opinion that he has already demonstrated himself to be better than that, which I do disagree with.

Honestly, talk of how crafty he is or how he can make tough shots doesn't impress me, because the same things are said every year about whoever blows up a tourney. It reminds me a great deal of how Adam Morrison was talked about, not that they have much in common other than that.

The fact that he plays at Davidson isn't the problem... the fact that he's an undersized true shooting guard who doesn't blow you away with his athleticism is. Really, who's his comparison? Who's a 6'2" shooting guard who's not blazing fast who takes more than half his shots from 3? Role players like Gibson and Stoudemire are all I can think of.

[Cassius]

I personally don't like the Samir and Boobie comparisons because

1) Both of the above had lottery bigmen getting them open looks all season. Neither was the #1 focus of their offense.

2) Curry's handle is such that, even if his outside jumper is completely off, I have just as much confidence in him getting into the lane for floaters and layups. Samir and Boobie without their shots are essentially ostriches (no arms).

Once he's in the league, teams will definitely rotate to him first but he's not a selfish player so he'll be really valuable swinging the ball, or pump faking into a drive-and-dish. I'd love to see him in the Wizards' offense.

A more creative and smarter Juan Dixon is the best comparison I've heard.

[bill curley II]

I personally don't like the Samir and Boobie comparisons because

1) Both of the above had lottery bigmen getting them open looks all season. Neither was the #1 focus of their offense.

2) Curry's handle is such that, even if his outside jumper is completely off, I have just as much confidence in him getting into the lane for floaters and layups. Samir and Boobie without their shots are essentially ostriches (no arms).

Once he's in the league, teams will definitely rotate to him first but he's not a selfish player so he'll be really valuable swinging the ball, or pump faking into a drive-and-dish. I'd love to see him in the Wizards' offense.

A more creative and smarter Juan Dixon is the best comparison I've heard.

Samir Stoudemire

[TMACPIERCEMARION]

What Curry has over Jackson is the fact that he doesn't have tourettes, that may make a differance, who knows.

[trickydik]

he reminds me of salim stoudamire in a way.

[gswhoops]

What Curry has over Jackson is the fact that he doesn't have tourettes, that may make a differance, who knows.

I ed at your avatar.

[HotelVitale]

Two things:
First, whoever said Curry is as good a shooter as Reddick, "and then some"--that's impossible. I don't like Reddick or Duke, but Reddick was an absolutely amazing shooter. He did what Curry did in the tourney for the whole year, with teams keying in on him every night. It pains me to say nice things about him, but he's gotta be one of the best shooters in the world. Surely you haven't forgotten how effective he was at Duke already.

Second, you have to remember that what matters in the NBA is efficiency. Salim Stoudamire could score twenty points a game in the NBA, but he couldn't do it nearly as efficiently as a combination of Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Bibby, etc, so the coach isn't going to give him 25 shots per game. Does anyone think Curry can create his own shot or lead an offense more efficiently than almost any starting guard in the NBA? Stand around the perimeter and fire up 3's, yes, but given his size and defensive deficiencies, I'd say his best bet is to try to play very smart and carve out a niche as a shooter/hustle player.

Also totally agree that the Kev Martin comparison is off. KevMart is much more than just a perimeter shooter; he's quite a good athlete, finishes very well in traffic and on the fast break, and can drive off his pump fakes, not to mention the fact that he's much taller than Curry and has an incredibly high release that allows him to shoot over defenders.

[Kingdibs19]

Two things:
First, whoever said Curry is as good a shooter as Reddick, "and then some"--that's impossible. I don't like Reddick or Duke, but Reddick was an absolutely amazing shooter. He did what Curry did in the tourney for the whole year, with teams keying in on him every night. It pains me to say nice things about him, but he's gotta be one of the best shooters in the world. Surely you haven't forgotten how effective he was at Duke already.

Second, you have to remember that what matters in the NBA is efficiency. Salim Stoudamire could score twenty points a game in the NBA, but he couldn't do it nearly as efficiently as a combination of Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Bibby, etc, so the coach isn't going to give him 25 shots per game. Does anyone think Curry can create his own shot or lead an offense more efficiently than almost any starting guard in the NBA? Stand around the perimeter and fire up 3's, yes, but given his size and defensive deficiencies, I'd say his best bet is to try to play very smart and carve out a niche as a shooter/hustle player.

Also totally agree that the Kev Martin comparison is off. KevMart is much more than just a perimeter shooter; he's quite a good athlete, finishes very well in traffic and on the fast break, and can drive off his pump fakes, not to mention the fact that he's much taller than Curry and has an incredibly high release that allows him to shoot over defenders.

Yah mb bro. But keep writing paragraphs of how Curry will never be on Salim Stoudemire’s level.

[HotelVitale]

Two things:
First, whoever said Curry is as good a shooter as Reddick, "and then some"--that's impossible. I don't like Reddick or Duke, but Reddick was an absolutely amazing shooter. He did what Curry did in the tourney for the whole year, with teams keying in on him every night. It pains me to say nice things about him, but he's gotta be one of the best shooters in the world. Surely you haven't forgotten how effective he was at Duke already.

Second, you have to remember that what matters in the NBA is efficiency. Salim Stoudamire could score twenty points a game in the NBA, but he couldn't do it nearly as efficiently as a combination of Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Bibby, etc, so the coach isn't going to give him 25 shots per game. Does anyone think Curry can create his own shot or lead an offense more efficiently than almost any starting guard in the NBA? Stand around the perimeter and fire up 3's, yes, but given his size and defensive deficiencies, I'd say his best bet is to try to play very smart and carve out a niche as a shooter/hustle player.

Also totally agree that the Kev Martin comparison is off. KevMart is much more than just a perimeter shooter; he's quite a good athlete, finishes very well in traffic and on the fast break, and can drive off his pump fakes, not to mention the fact that he's much taller than Curry and has an incredibly high release that allows him to shoot over defenders.

Yah mb bro. But keep writing paragraphs of how Curry will never be on Salim Stoudemire’s level.

You really just pulled up a 15 year old thread to dunk on me for a prospect thread you weren’t even on the record about? You also managed to throw back at me the only point in this post that’s right (Salim Stoudemire was a failure as a creator).

I was wrong here of course, embarrassingly so. I hadn’t even seen much Curry and was living out of country at the time, should’ve kept my mouth shut about him instead of trying to make my little points about not overreaching on prospects. Curry turned out to be a much sicker creator than any of us would’ve guessed at draft time, and he was also obviously as good a shooter as has ever walked the planet.

But also go ahead and make 5 predictions about players expected to go lotto this year, you’re probably gonna have at least one as far off as this.

[Kingdibs19]

Two things:
First, whoever said Curry is as good a shooter as Reddick, "and then some"--that's impossible. I don't like Reddick or Duke, but Reddick was an absolutely amazing shooter. He did what Curry did in the tourney for the whole year, with teams keying in on him every night. It pains me to say nice things about him, but he's gotta be one of the best shooters in the world. Surely you haven't forgotten how effective he was at Duke already.

Second, you have to remember that what matters in the NBA is efficiency. Salim Stoudamire could score twenty points a game in the NBA, but he couldn't do it nearly as efficiently as a combination of Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Bibby, etc, so the coach isn't going to give him 25 shots per game. Does anyone think Curry can create his own shot or lead an offense more efficiently than almost any starting guard in the NBA? Stand around the perimeter and fire up 3's, yes, but given his size and defensive deficiencies, I'd say his best bet is to try to play very smart and carve out a niche as a shooter/hustle player.

Also totally agree that the Kev Martin comparison is off. KevMart is much more than just a perimeter shooter; he's quite a good athlete, finishes very well in traffic and on the fast break, and can drive off his pump fakes, not to mention the fact that he's much taller than Curry and has an incredibly high release that allows him to shoot over defenders.

Yah mb bro. But keep writing paragraphs of how Curry will never be on Salim Stoudemire’s level.

You really just pulled up a 15 year old thread to dunk on me for a prospect thread you weren’t even on the record about? You also managed to throw back at me the only point in this post that’s right (Salim Stoudemire was a failure as a creator).

I was wrong here of course, embarrassingly so. I hadn’t even seen much Curry and was living out of country at the time, should’ve kept my mouth shut about him instead of trying to make my little points about not overreaching on prospects. Curry turned out to be a much sicker creator than any of us would’ve guessed at draft time, and he was also obviously as good a shooter as has ever walked the planet.

But also go ahead and make 5 predictions about players expected to go lotto this year, you’re probably gonna have at least one as far off as this.

I respect the humility in your response. Apologizes for being a dick, I was just bored.