Boogie! wrote:its like we get pissed at demar for taking pull up long 2s all the time... if he made them at a near 50% rate no one would say theyre bad shots...
The anger is more over that he doesn't take advantage of his actual strengths and he DOES keep going to shots he doesn't hit very well. Outlier shooters, yeah, they can do that... but for every Curry or Nash or Dirk or even Chris Paul just had a season a hair shy of 49% from 16-23 FT, there are thousands of guys who should be beaten with sticks for approaching the game the way those guys do. Curry is literally the arguable GOAT shooter in the history of the league, and is so far separated from most other players in this regard that he really does change the definition of a what is and is not a good shot... for him.
curry takes a whole lot of pull up 3s and youre like wtf and then they just keep going in, so for him its a good shot... its like dirk and his off balance one legged jumpers... horribly awkward shots but he makes them... you just gotta tip your hat to him.
Sure, or Jordan's miracle abuse of the fadeaway or whatever. Great players have counters and strengths that make you unable to really stop them, because they can get to their spots and make their pet shots time and again.
On draft day, though, you're totally right: no one expected THIS from Steph. I mean he was a killer scorer at Davidson, but THIS? At the time, he seemed in many ways like a more athletic JJ Redick to some. A short guy with scoring moves that worked at the NCAA level which might or might not translate to the NBA, but with a killer shot. Now, he's redefining the possible in the NBA with his game, much in the way which we have seen from other ATG players.
Most of Curry's shots aren't actually that awkward. He makes quick decisions and he's got a very fast release. He gets himself set and into his motion very, very quickly and he's comfortable shooting like that. The issue is more that he's so good at doing it in volume, off of a catch or off of a dribble, around a screen, whatever, that you can't really do much to defend it. 3pt shots are very difficult to defend on-ball, and the saving grace is usually that on-ball 3s are way low-percentage because they're typically unassisted. With Curry, he can bomb away at 11 per game and still be shooting over 40%... which is just cheat-code level ridiculous. That's me on 2K10 with my edited-in cheat player of cheatiness kind of play, you know what I mean?
That he also has one of the tightest handles in the league, good footwork and a strong understanding of how to abuse the threat of his shot to gain entry into the lane, and can use screens well while passing very effectively makes him a horrendously evil offensive dynamo. He's got skills all across the offensive spectrum which come alive, and he's not a one-trick pony. He has a core skill, but he's a well-rounded offensive threat, and that's what really makes him epic-level dangerous.
It's the same deal with Dirk and most other guys you want to reference. They've got a basic platform upon which they operate, but they don't spam the SAME thing all game long; it's the diversity of ability which really makes them nasty. Jordan could drive for days, for sure, but he had all kinds of basic dribble moves setting up an elite jumper, plus he moved well without the ball. Dirk has maybe the best perimeter two-point jumper in league history, but is an elite 3pt shooter who can post with a couple of different finishes and moves well without the ball. Curry's disgusting on or off of the ball and has the ATG volume 3pt shot. Etc, etc, etc.
