Steph's 2nd best basketball ability?

[DaPessimist]

I'd rank his top 5 offensive skills in this order;

1. Shooting
2. Off-Ball Movement (including setting screens)
3. Handle
4. Floater
5. Passing

[giannis and 1]

IQ.

[WarriorGM]

When Curry rebounds are mentioned I recall this one in the Western Conference Finals but I guess it also highlights his IQ:

Watch on YouTube

[Pelly24]

One thing I've realized is that Steph is actually unstoppable if he's the clearcut only option on a team lol. Because when other people are there, he'll just chill and let himself get triple teamed. But when it's not like that, he'll just run around forever and ever and he'll do it with some solid speed and eventually he'll get open and knock down the three. It's ridiculous. His off ball movement is insane.

[art_tatum]

1. shooting (and gravity ill put in one)- best in the league

2. Off ball movement- best in the league

3. Finishing around the basket- consistently one of the top guards in layup %. Knows how to use english.

4. Rebounding - very good rebounder for his size. 5-6 rebounds a game now in his prime. Example: last year he had 5.5 rebounds. Look at the 6-7 to 6-11 star guards and small fowards that average 7-8 rebounds a game. They are called good rebounders. Thats a difference of 1.5 to 2 rebounds a game.

5. Passing- above average for a pg. Dropped 8.5 assists when he was a traditional point guard not even in his prime and pre-stats/pace inflation that happened the past 4 years. Still drops 5-7 assists per game now in his prime even when he is primarily off ball. Also top of the league in hockey assists.

1. yes
2. yes but part of 1 all great shooters are also great off ball
3. overrated avg gets blocked multiple times and cant beat slower 7ft guys
4. maybe its gs system like westbrook gang rebound
5. def below avg. he had ridiculous usage had 5 assists last yr. westbrook is a model for steph he has no gravity, shot but gets triple steph's assists/rebounds.

look i love steph as a person but as a player man hes just worse than irving/westbrook in pretty much every aspect and these guys are labelled losers fringe star talent.

3. You cant say hes avg just cause you remember him getting blocked.when the stats say he is top of the guards. I agree that his first step is below average. He has to use dribbling and change of direction to get past people. He doesnt have that blow by first step going for him.

4. Maybe, youll have to ask a gsw fan. But he seems like he has a nose for the ball.

5.well i think he definitely has the role (especially last year) to score draw attention in kerrs system. So makes sense his usage is high with "only" 5.5 assists.

Westbrook is a better rebounder, passing imo they have similar vision but different roles. Westbrook has way more athletic ability and has that elite first step curry lacks. However currys elite shooting/offball, and just overall elite efficiency makes him a level better.

Kyrie is just flat out more skilled (non shooting)than curry, better ball handler, finisher, driver. Honestly similar vision, but curry has a higher bbiq.
However curry is a better rebounder, and again, shooter/off ball player which separates him from most players. Even though kyrie is 50/40/90.

Curry definitely have certain skills/athleticism worse than westbrook/kyrie but those skills are still avg to extremely good compared to the avg nba player.

I totally forgot to put in ballhandling in my points. He is definitely top 3 in the league, but he sometimes gets too loose and fancy with it and turns it over

[michaelm]

he has 0 ability other than shooting.

His ability to annoy fanboys of opposition players and teams is right up there.

[Asianiac_24]

Steph must be th only guy ever to have 'gravity'. He's the ONLY one it's EVER mentioned with.

Anyone that else have it?

It's a thing because it's legitimately a thing. Same with the "Kobe assist", where teams double or triple team him when he shoots, resulting in easy offensive boards and put backs.

Any game you watch the Warriors play, you can pin point at least a couple plays where a teammate got wide open simply because Curry was running around screens without even having the ball. I've watched close to 2 decades of basketball closely now and I've never seen another player like it.

[JN61]

oh yea, bubble ring in which no one wanted to even be @, and still got carried by AD after the he couldn't even sniff the POs on his own the year before.

i mean, the list of players Lebron begged and cried and maneuvered his way to play with...D-Wade...Bosh...KLove...Irv...AD...Russ...goes on and on

Steph couldn't even beat the Grizzlies last year

LeBron gave up and sat home in 2019 when he didn't have a top 5 player carry him in the RS in a real conference

You mean Curry 2020?

[alevirfe]

shooting 3s
shooting ft's
shooting 3s in practice
shooting 3s from 30'
shooting 3s from 40'
shooting 3s from the exit tunnel
dribbling two basketballs simulchously
dribbling a basketball and ping pong ball simulchously

what in the **** is THAT

[rtiff68]

Steph must be th only guy ever to have 'gravity'. He's the ONLY one it's EVER mentioned with.

Anyone that else have it?

rgm teaching me new every day. never knew there was a thing called gravity. you mean irvings flat earth theory?

Wait, you guys have seriously never heard people refer to the gravity of players like Shaq? I know a couple of posters have already brought this up, but Steph is definitely not the first player to have off-ball gravity. lol. Did you also know that there were basketball players who dunked before “Air Jordan” came along?

[Johnny Bball]

ISO scoring

[Marrrcuss]

Steph must be th only guy ever to have 'gravity'. He's the ONLY one it's EVER mentioned with.

Anyone that else have it?

It's a thing because it's legitimately a thing. Same with the "Kobe assist", where teams double or triple team him when he shoots, resulting in easy offensive boards and put backs.

Any game you watch the Warriors play, you can pin point at least a couple plays where a teammate got wide open simply because Curry was running around screens without even having the ball. I've watched close to 2 decades of basketball closely now and I've never seen another player like it.

Bruh, that's every good scorer

[Lockdown504090]

second best skill after shooting is celebrating made shots.

Watch on YouTube

he can do a lot, but damn can he make the opponent feel like crap after he gets going.

[TwoStarz]

Steph must be th only guy ever to have 'gravity'. He's the ONLY one it's EVER mentioned with.

Anyone that else have it?

rgm teaching me new every day. never knew there was a thing called gravity. you mean irvings flat earth theory?

Of course realgm teaches u on the daily, you on your own don’t know very much my guy.

[Chanel Bomber]

Getting robbed of FMVP and then his off-ball movement.

[TOStateofMind]

his finishing, iirc % wise he's even better than kyrie who is known as the best generally for pg's

[Pelly24]

I don't think Curry is even close to top 2-3 ball-handlers in the league. His handles are nice, but not very tight and a lot of clips we've seen on highlight reels is caused by his shooting ability - not handles by itself.

Handles should be judged on how well you can get to spots you want to be in. Curry isn't ATG dribbler in traffic.

Not sure his handles hold him back from getting to spots, I think that's more a strength thing. Though maybe you're right, Steve Nash wasn't stronger than Steph and he went anywhere and everywhere.

It can be hard to separate things sometimes. The threat of Steph's shot keeps defenders off balance and always overplaying, it might make his dribbling look better. He doesn't get as low as Harden or Kyrie or have quite the same lateral shiftiness on some of his moves.

Harden has blow by people strength and Irving has blow by speed. Curry certainly has neither. It's complex to include handling when things like strength and speed (lateral and vertical) get mixed in.

Steph is fascinating to evaluate on a handles level because I can tell he's got great control, but I feel like I never see him blow by set defenders that are comfortable playing shifty/explosive point guards. When I see him run or move in a straight line he never seems slow, he even seems adequately quick, but it's just not the same and I don't think he can get down hill in the same way. It could be a lack of burst and strength rather than handles though. I don't think he's ever been as good a ball handler as CP3, and then I think Trae Young and Kemba are also probably better. But Steph's apparent lack of great physical attributes for getting by people might be complicating things.

[dhsilv2]

Not sure his handles hold him back from getting to spots, I think that's more a strength thing. Though maybe you're right, Steve Nash wasn't stronger than Steph and he went anywhere and everywhere.

It can be hard to separate things sometimes. The threat of Steph's shot keeps defenders off balance and always overplaying, it might make his dribbling look better. He doesn't get as low as Harden or Kyrie or have quite the same lateral shiftiness on some of his moves.

Harden has blow by people strength and Irving has blow by speed. Curry certainly has neither. It's complex to include handling when things like strength and speed (lateral and vertical) get mixed in.

Steph is fascinating to evaluate on a handles level because I can tell he's got great control, but I feel like I never see him blow by set defenders that are comfortable playing shifty/explosive point guards. When I see him run or move in a straight line he never seems slow, he even seems adequately quick, but it's just not the same and I don't think he can get down hill in the same way. It could be a lack of burst and strength rather than handles though. I don't think he's ever been as good a ball handler as CP3, and then I think Trae Young and Kemba are also probably better. But Steph's apparent lack of great physical attributes for getting by people might be complicating things.

CP3's handle isn't that great imo. I've seen him have to pickup his dribble far too often (which btw imo is the real test here). But the two couldn't be more different. CP3 being the hyper conservative player, never looking to gamble, never looking to get into trouble, and extremely methodical in the half court. Meanwhile Curry just charges ahead into traffic, throws pointless behind the back passes because why not, and just in general seems to never stop moving, even if maybe he should just hang out and wait. Sure neither are as extreme as I implied but they're so different.

The more I think about it the more I see Nash as one of the great ball handlers and shooters. God he could have been so much more if he'd just shot it more.

[Pelly24]

Harden has blow by people strength and Irving has blow by speed. Curry certainly has neither. It's complex to include handling when things like strength and speed (lateral and vertical) get mixed in.

Steph is fascinating to evaluate on a handles level because I can tell he's got great control, but I feel like I never see him blow by set defenders that are comfortable playing shifty/explosive point guards. When I see him run or move in a straight line he never seems slow, he even seems adequately quick, but it's just not the same and I don't think he can get down hill in the same way. It could be a lack of burst and strength rather than handles though. I don't think he's ever been as good a ball handler as CP3, and then I think Trae Young and Kemba are also probably better. But Steph's apparent lack of great physical attributes for getting by people might be complicating things.

CP3's handle isn't that great imo. I've seen him have to pickup his dribble far too often (which btw imo is the real test here). But the two couldn't be more different. CP3 being the hyper conservative player, never looking to gamble, never looking to get into trouble, and extremely methodical in the half court. Meanwhile Curry just charges ahead into traffic, throws pointless behind the back passes because why not, and just in general seems to never stop moving, even if maybe he should just hang out and wait. Sure neither are as extreme as I implied but they're so different.

The more I think about it the more I see Nash as one of the great ball handlers and shooters. God he could have been so much more if he'd just shot it more.

Maybe we prioritize different things. It always seemed like CP3 was way better at beating good defenders off the dribble and getting downhill. I think a big part of why his turnover rate is so absurdly low is that his handle is too tight and you generally cannot get the ball from him. Steph. is deliberately more reckless, but I feel like I've never seen him be the downhill ISO player CP3 was between 2008 and 2018. But maybe I'm off. (CP was *ridiculous* in ISO on the rockets his first year. I think he was at like 1.2 or 1.3 ppp).

[dhsilv2]

Steph is fascinating to evaluate on a handles level because I can tell he's got great control, but I feel like I never see him blow by set defenders that are comfortable playing shifty/explosive point guards. When I see him run or move in a straight line he never seems slow, he even seems adequately quick, but it's just not the same and I don't think he can get down hill in the same way. It could be a lack of burst and strength rather than handles though. I don't think he's ever been as good a ball handler as CP3, and then I think Trae Young and Kemba are also probably better. But Steph's apparent lack of great physical attributes for getting by people might be complicating things.

CP3's handle isn't that great imo. I've seen him have to pickup his dribble far too often (which btw imo is the real test here). But the two couldn't be more different. CP3 being the hyper conservative player, never looking to gamble, never looking to get into trouble, and extremely methodical in the half court. Meanwhile Curry just charges ahead into traffic, throws pointless behind the back passes because why not, and just in general seems to never stop moving, even if maybe he should just hang out and wait. Sure neither are as extreme as I implied but they're so different.

The more I think about it the more I see Nash as one of the great ball handlers and shooters. God he could have been so much more if he'd just shot it more.

Maybe we prioritize different things. It always seemed like CP3 was way better at beating good defenders off the dribble and getting downhill. I think a big part of why his turnover rate is so absurdly low is that his handle is too tight and you generally cannot get the ball from him. Steph. is deliberately more reckless, but I feel like I've never seen him be the downhill ISO player CP3 was between 2008 and 2018. But maybe I'm off. (CP was *ridiculous* in ISO on the rockets his first year. I think he was at like 1.2 or 1.3 ppp).

Going "downhill" requires a first step and speed. Or being strong enough to kinda turn your shoulder and go.

One of the reason's CP3's turnovers are so low is that he stops on his way to the basket and does his signature mid range jumper. Again he avoids traffic and risk. And yeah CP is a great iso player...but so is Curry.

Paul in 2018 for the rockets was 1.10 PPP in iso. https://www.nba.com/stats/players/isolation/?sort=PPP&dir=1&SeasonYear=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular%20Season

Curry last year was 1.13 PPP.

Of course the difference is the rockets were all iso and Paul is mostly used off ball, for obvious reasons, they're two completely different players. But more important they're in two worldly different systems. It's a lot harder to iso on the warriors due to the motion offense as it's not a well built "system". It's a chaotic system with a LOT of player mistakes which is kinda part of why it's so good...defenses can't really prep for it. But that's not the system you want a small guard to run a lot of iso. The rockets in 2018 had Harden lead the league in points per game in iso with Paul 4th.

The point isn't that I think you're wrong and I'm right. As "handle" is complex and lets be real, I don't know of a good handle stat and as we've already established there's a lot of noise for all of us here. But that trying to compare the two in iso doesn't really work. To me it's just back to how often can a single player or a light double force a guy to pickup their dribble, and Paul to me seemed to be a guy who'd pick it up more often....then again I ALSO said he wasn't into taking risks...and curry is. So maybe I'm wrong? But I've seen curry keep his dribble and just seem to do some crazy stuff more than with Paul, just crazy control and ability to dribble around difficult doubles and triples. CP3...I don't see him even in those situations that often.