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Better Dribbles / Handles:

Curry

Jamal easily

It's easily Crawford. However, as soon as Curry is anywhere at or within logo range, defenders already have to contest his shot. Therefore, Curry's eye movement to the basket will already put defenders in doubt the same way or possibly even better than a Crawford crossover would.

The difference is that Curry forces defenders to shift their momentum forward and up to contest a potential shot on every single glance at the rim, while Crawford would shift them sideways.

Curry I think has my favorite handle to watch at least, I think it is highly underrated skill of his. People just think of his shooting and forget he has like top 4 handle in a league. Still tho, probably hard to beat Crawford in this regard, but I bet it is closer than casual fans would think.

Jamal and it’s not even close.

Not even a fan of his game. Surprised the vote is tied but this is RealGM so not surprised.

Jamaal easily, come on...

LOL @ poll results. Jamal has a top-5 handle in league history at the very worst.

Depends if we're talking style or substance.
Jamal had some incredible right to left, left to right moves, was inventive, could stack some incredible dribble combos.
vs.
Steph Curry has a tighter handle and is much better at using the dribble to where he wants to move on the basketball court.

We fixate on the moves guys use to initiate a drive (hesi cross, for example), but then what happens when they're in the lane? If you're Crawford, you have to get to the bucket or pull up. If you're Curry, you can keep your dribble alive, probe, look at passing angles, pull your dribble back out of the paint, etc. That's where the handle gets tough, because there are multiple larger defenders all trying to disrupt and bump you. That's where your handle is stress tested the most, but fans are obsessed with the initial dribble combinations.

If it's about flash, I think Jamal Crawford is right up there with Kyrie.
If it's about functional handle, Curry is right up there with Nash and Paul. Those guys, despite having very little physical advantage, could use the dribble to go wherever they wanted in ways guys like Crawford/Kyrie can not.

Curry should win this easily but he can also be prone to over dribbling and can get sloppy for no real reason with it. Still Curry.

Easily Crawford. Defenders are always worried about Steph's shot, so they're always on their toes to get a early contest. It's way easier to cross someone who is standing upright instead of in their stance.

Steph is basically attacking a closeout at all times. His handles are overrated if anything. The threat of his jumper creates the initial opening & then he can attack from their.

The better question is Harden vs Crawford.

Crawford and its not even close.

Part of what makes Curry a great ball handler too is the threat of his shooting to keep players offguard. While that makes Steph the obvious much better player/scorer, it doesnt make him the better ball handler.

Also dont forget all the carries, Curry gets away with

Crawford was a more flashy stylistic dribbler with very unique moves/combos...but overall Curry is a better ball handler.

I also find it crazy how much Crawford has been overrated since he retired...he was a spark plug scorer off the bench who could have huge games, but was relatively inefficient, took a lot of ill-advised shots, and bad defensively.

Curry's actually not that great at dribbling - it's his shooting that makes him so impressive. Defenders have to guard him so tightly that it's quite easy for him to get around his defenders. Crawford's defenders were sagged off a little more, making it harder for him to get by them. His shooting wasn't that good.

Liam_Gallagher wrote:Curry's actually not that great at dribbling - it's his shooting that makes him so impressive. Defenders have to guard him so tightly that it's quite easy for him to get around his defenders. Crawford's defenders were sagged off a little more, making it harder for him to get by them. His shooting wasn't that good.

Can't agree here, Curry is also very good at dribbling, which is what makes him different from other guys who can shoot very well, and Jamal was in no way not considered a good shooter, not sure what you're really saying here.

Yes, people aren't guarding Crawford as close as Curry, because people aren't really guarding anyone as close as Curry, but they aren't sagging off Crawford either, there's a reason he's the all time leader in 4 point plays.

People are being very dismissive of stephs handles...

If the handle of guys like kyrie or Crawford are a 10, stephs handles are a 9.999.

Hes a really great ball handler.

Anyone saying he isn't a great ballhandler or its "not close" are out to lunch.

I voted Crawford. But i had to get that off.

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Jamal has the ball on a yo-yo just as much as someone like Kyrie (maybe more). He’s in the argument for most skilled ball-handler ever.

Curry doesn’t have as tight of a handle or as many tricks as Jamal (still talking about in the top 5 ever convo though), but his handle combined with his elite footwork, awareness, and ability to take any type of shot on the court with either hand basically makes his handle the most functional and result driven handle ever.

So the answer is Crawford IMO. He just doesn’t have all the other skills Curry has to make the handle un-guardable.

og15 wrote:

Liam_Gallagher wrote:Curry's actually not that great at dribbling - it's his shooting that makes him so impressive. Defenders have to guard him so tightly that it's quite easy for him to get around his defenders. Crawford's defenders were sagged off a little more, making it harder for him to get by them. His shooting wasn't that good.

Can't agree here, Curry is also very good at dribbling, which is what makes him different from other guys who can shoot very well, and Jamal was in no way not considered a good shooter, not sure what you're really saying here.

Yes, people aren't guarding Crawford as close as Curry, because people aren't really guarding anyone as close as Curry, but they aren't sagging off Crawford either, there's a reason he's the all time leader in 4 point plays.

I think Curry might have second best handle today after Kyrie. Lol at not that great at dribbling, this is what I was saying earlier, people think Curry is top 15 player ever just cause of his shooting

i didn't vote because i think they're equal, just different. curry's game is so different than pretty much any other guard so he doesn't use the moves that others do but you're joking if you say he doesn't have that ball on a rope at all times. even crawford said in a video comparing his handle to kyrie's and he said their styles (kyrie low to the ground, jamal has a high dribble) were different but both mastered their styles.

crawford has some legendary moves that curry doesn't do because his game is different, but that doesn't mean he's incapable of doing them.