The Stephen Curry Thread (2015-16 Pt. 1)

[cpower]

Finally teams started to double team Curry as soon as he gets the ball approaching the three point line. Walton hasn't done much to make adjustment in that regard.

[JLei]

Memphis just blitzing him every pick and roll.

He's turnover prone and not a great finisher in traffic are his only 2 real offensive weaknesses.

When he's not shooting you did something good. Teams need to keep blitzing him as the primary defensive scheme.

[JLei]

Lol..........

[urnoggin]

Lol..........

lmao curry is an absolute g

[Clyde Frazier]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BenGolliver/status/664636949341147136[/tweet]

...He isn't human, folks.

[JLei]

Mychal Green has done a really good job on some of these blitzes. That roll man has to get open or that just allows the double team to not get punished.

[JLei]

Ohhhhhhh!!!!!!!

[cpower]

that was some crazy shots by Curry. I have never seen a player having to work this hard to get his offense going, he was getting some Jordan treatment all night long.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I don't agree that Curry is not a good finisher. Curry is an unorthodox finisher because he is not that fast and is a poor leaper but Curry is hitting those flips off the back board at a high percentage and he is avoiding shot blocks despite shooting from way below the rim.

Curry may finish below the back board as well as Jordan finished up near the rim. The difference is that Curry has to struggle to get good shots. Jordan was able to use his athleticism get himself good shots. Curry has to use screens and even then Curry has to hit what for anybody else would be bad shots.

Curry is such a great bad shot shooter both on off balance deep 3s and on his flips off the backboard on drives.

[spearsy23]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BenGolliver/status/664636949341147136[/tweet]

...He isn't human, folks.

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Unable to process, rebooting systems.








On a serious note though, if he doesn't get lucky that goes on Shaqtin a fool. No chance he was getting that call.

[bballexpert]

Curry yet again killing it 28/5/5/5 mvp showing why he going to be the mvp again. I do not see a player thats going to win the mvp but Curry no one really close. Not to mention he is kill the other pgs Curry rocking it another good year for him.

[JimmyTD3]

Memphis just blitzing him every pick and roll.

He's turnover prone and not a great finisher in traffic are his only 2 real offensive weaknesses.

When he's not shooting you did something good. Teams need to keep blitzing him as the primary defensive scheme.

Not a great finisher? Do you watch him play? He's a superb finisher. Shooting 73% from the paint this year, which I believe is 3rd highest in the NBA.

(By comparison, Westbrook is at 44% this year and even Hassan Whiteside is at 64%)

[spearsy23]

Shot 30% from 3 against Memphis. WHAT'S WRONG WITH STEPH CURRY?

[bballexpert]

Memphis just blitzing him every pick and roll.

He's turnover prone and not a great finisher in traffic are his only 2 real offensive weaknesses.

When he's not shooting you did something good. Teams need to keep blitzing him as the primary defensive scheme.

Not a great finisher? Do you watch him play? He's a superb finisher. Shooting 73% from the paint this year, which I believe is 3rd highest in the NBA.

(By comparison, Westbrook is at 44% this year and even Hassan Whiteside is at 64%)

If you compare him to any pg he **** on them at finishing hell he even **** on Westbrook i mean i seen people try to bag on this game for Curry just show you how great he is. I mean when a man gets people calling a game ok when he puts up 28/5/5/5 that's pretty nuts because a lot of people at his position would have all time high game putting that up.

[JLei]

Memphis just blitzing him every pick and roll.

He's turnover prone and not a great finisher in traffic are his only 2 real offensive weaknesses.

When he's not shooting you did something good. Teams need to keep blitzing him as the primary defensive scheme.

Not a great finisher? Do you watch him play? He's a superb finisher. Shooting 73% from the paint this year, which I believe is 3rd highest in the NBA.

(By comparison, Westbrook is at 44% this year and even Hassan Whiteside is at 64%)

He's not a great finisher in traffic. He's shooting about 50% at the rim on contested layup attempts (which is pretty good but nothing elite). He's an outstanding penetrator due to his handle and the fact that he draws bigs away from the rim based off his shooting ability.

He's not a better finisher than most other PG's (he does have nice english and touch on layup attempts) but he's getting clear run at the basket (100% layups) way more often than they do due to the threat of his jumpshot pulling big guys away with his gravity and then beating them with his handle.

You have to look at the types of shots they are attempting. Westbrook is a better finisher in traffic than Curry but he also attempts insane impossible layups way more often because he doesn't have Curry's jumper. If you are able to force Curry into help then yes he is less of a threat to score besides just pulling up over 2 people. He isn't going to explode through them to the rim like a Lebron could for instance.

And I say this as a person who thinks he's the best offensive player in the league clear cut. But no one is going to mistake him for a GOAT level finisher in traffic. He gets uncontested layups because of his skill.

[TaylorMonkey]

Memphis just blitzing him every pick and roll.

He's turnover prone and not a great finisher in traffic are his only 2 real offensive weaknesses.

When he's not shooting you did something good. Teams need to keep blitzing him as the primary defensive scheme.

Not a great finisher? Do you watch him play? He's a superb finisher. Shooting 73% from the paint this year, which I believe is 3rd highest in the NBA.

(By comparison, Westbrook is at 44% this year and even Hassan Whiteside is at 64%)

He's not a great finisher in traffic. He's shooting about 50% at the rim on contested layup attempts (which is pretty good but nothing elite). He's an outstanding penetrator due to his handle and the fact that he draws bigs away from the rim based off his shooting ability.

He's not a better finisher than most other PG's (he does have nice english and touch on layup attempts) but he's getting clear run at the basket (100% layups) way more often than they do due to the threat of his jumpshot pulling big guys away with his gravity and then beating them with his handle.

You have to look at the types of shots they are attempting. Westbrook is a better finisher in traffic than Curry but he also attempts insane impossible layups way more often because he doesn't have Curry's jumper. If you are able to force Curry into help then yes he is less of a threat to score besides just pulling up over 2 people. He isn't going to explode through them to the rim like a Lebron could for instance.

And I say this as a person who thinks he's the best offensive player in the league clear cut. But no one is going to mistake him for a GOAT level finisher in traffic. He gets uncontested layups because of his skill.

Curry isn't a contact finisher but he still finishes at an extremely high rate and in volume. He also doesn't need to ram into guys because he's able to navigate and get clean looks with his high arcing layups. It's a stylistic difference but Curry is still elite scoring inside.

Curry's also been getting and finishing and-1's at a rate that's much higher than I remember seeing from him.

[SideshowBob]

Steph is currently leading the league in PTS/G and TS% among qualified players in BBR's rankings. This hasn't been done since Bob McAdoo in 1974. From APBRmetrics:

Notable ranks through the years (looking only at qualified guys ranked top 5 in each going back to 1960):

Spoiler:

Code: Select all

Season    Player   PTS/G   TS%
2016      Curry    1       1
2014      Lebron   3       2
2014      Durant   1       3
2014      Harden   5       5
2013      Durant   2       2
2013      Lebron   3       3
2008      Amare    5       1
2003      Shaq     4       2
1994      Shaq     2       5
1993      Malone   3       5
1991      Barkley  4       4
1990      Malone   2       5
1988      Barkley  4       1
1986      Dantley  2       5
1984      Dantley  1       2
1982      Dantley  3       3
1981      Dantley  1       4
1980      Dantley  3       4
1977      Kareem   3       2
1975      McAdoo   1       5
1974      McAdoo   1       1 (DING DING DING)
1973      Kareem   2       3
1972      Kareem   1       2
1971      Kareem   1       2
1969      Oscar    5       2
1968      Oscar    1       2
1967      Oscar    2       2
1967      West     3       4
1967      Wilt     5       1
1966      Oscar    3       2
1966      West     2       1
1966      Wilt     1       4
1965      Oscar    3       3
1965      West     2       2
1964      Bellamy  5       5
1964      Oscar    2       2
1964      West     3       4
1963      Bellamy  5       4
1963      Oscar    4       2
1963      Wilt     1       5
1962      Bellamy  2       1 (tie)
1962      Oscar    5       1 (tie)
1962      Wilt     1       5
1961      Oscar    3       1
1960      Hagan    5       4


SO, hasn't been done since McAdoo in 1974, 30.6 PTS/G and 59.4% TS. He played 43.0 MPG and per 100 possessions he scored an estimated 30.5 PTS.

Obviously, the standard for leading the league in PTS/G and TS% vary. In the mid 2000s, there weren't many guys breaking too far past the .600 barrier and there are years where the top end volume scorers are far beyond the 27-28ish level we've been seeing for the past few years (given the concentration of scoring talent on strong offensive teams). In the mid 60s, West, Wilt, and Robertson were often (not always) hitting top 5 in TS% with around 55% TS.

Still, I think it's pretty reasonable to say Curry's start has been historic.

Notably, the trend of high volume/efficiency wings/smalls seems to be pretty new, with Durant and James ushering in the era. Barkley/Malone/Shaq otherwise dominate this list in the past 25-30 years.

West/Robertson/Wilt/Bellamy were hitting the top 5 in both quite frequently in the 60s, oftentimes with low standards for qualified players (Bellamy/Oscar were #1 in TS% in 1962 at 55.4%).

[SideshowBob]

And there's another 20+ point quarter. Lets see if he can get 40 tonight.

[AIfan3]

We may be witnessing the GOAT offensively.

[JLei]

Poor Andre Miller haha. And Zach Lavine.

As soon as I knew Rubio was out you knew Curry was going to have a huge game.