Stephen Curry's Defense

[K3nny Pow3rs]

Stats don't measure defense, you have to actually watch the player in games to assess his defense.

[Flash Falcon X]

Even if Steph isn't guarding the opposing point guard, that means he's guarding someone much taller/bigger than him instead which is still hard to do. People always fail to mention this.

Warriors wouldn't be the #1 defensive team in the league if Steph was a below average defender, too. Their defense starts with guys like Draymond, Gary Payton II and Andre Iguodala, but if Steph was as bad on defense as haters say he is, they'd be absolutely killed every possession on the defensive end. The face that they're #1 on Defense without Klay Thompson guarding opposing point guards shows how much Steph Curry is contributing.

If Steph couldn't guard taller/bigger swingmen it would just ruin the entire Warriors defense. This is like when the We Believe Warriors would play Steve Nash's Suns... Baron Davis would be too big and fast for Steve Nash to guard, so D'antoni put Nash on Jason Richardson, then Don Nelson takes advantage of this by feeding J-Rich the ball and posting up Steve Nash to break down the defense once Nash needs a help defender to come in. And off the bench comes Monta Ellis in 2007, who is also too fast for Nash to guard (I remember Monta scoring a consecutive 12-14 points on Nash at one point.) You don't see that with Steph Curry when he's matched up with taller/bigger or quicker guys, he carries his weight most of the time which helps GSW continue their elite overall defense even without guys like Klay Thompson or a prime Iguodala.

[og15]

He's been pretty good on defense this year. The main difference I've noticed is that he's more physical and not getting called for fouls as much. Maybe the new rules are just allowing for more physicality so he's not getting punished for the same defense quite as much as he was under the old rules... (which lead him to play soft in order to stay out of foul trouble).

I think this is a very valid point. You're seeing the same thing with Jokic this season. The way the game was officiated in past seasons didn't make it sensible for offensive centerpieces to be aggressive on defense.

Rules have helped exactly Jokic and Steph more than others not get those ticky tacky fouls they always used to get. Both their defense looks better this year because of it.

There was a thread asking if the rule change made great defenders more valuable, and I responded to that poster saying that it might actually help average / below average defenders more as they can get away with more hand and body contact to stay with offensive players.

[og15]

Even if Steph isn't guarding the opposing point guard, that means he's guarding someone much taller/bigger than him instead which is still hard to do. People always fail to mention this.

Warriors wouldn't be the #1 defensive team in the league if Steph was a below average defender, too. Their defense starts with guys like Draymond, Gary Payton II and Andre Iguodala, but if Steph was as bad on defense as haters say he is, they'd be absolutely killed every possession on the defensive end. The face that they're #1 on Defense without Klay Thompson guarding opposing point guards shows how much Steph Curry is contributing.

If Steph couldn't guard taller/bigger swingmen it would just ruin the entire Warriors defense. This is like when the We Believe Warriors would play Steve Nash's Suns... Baron Davis would be too big and fast for Steve Nash to guard, so D'antoni put Nash on Jason Richardson, then Don Nelson takes advantage of this by feeding J-Rich the ball and posting up Steve Nash to break down the defense once Nash needs a help defender to come in. And off the bench comes Monta Ellis in 2007, who is also too fast for Nash to guard (I remember Monta scoring a consecutive 12-14 points on Nash at one point.) You don't see that with Steph Curry when he's matched up with taller/bigger or quicker guys, he carries his weight most of the time which helps GSW continue their elite overall defense even without guys like Klay Thompson or a prime Iguodala.

Meh, not really, it's usually going to be easier to guard a catch and shoot guy who spots up most of the game and takes 8 FGA regardless of height difference. There's a reason coaches move defenders to guys like that either to hide them or preserve energy, and it is not because it is difficult.

[Warriors Analyst]

I think this is a very valid point. You're seeing the same thing with Jokic this season. The way the game was officiated in past seasons didn't make it sensible for offensive centerpieces to be aggressive on defense.

Rules have helped exactly Jokic and Steph more than others not get those ticky tacky fouls they always used to get. Both their defense looks better this year because of it.

There was a thread asking if the rule change made great defenders more valuable, and I responded to that poster saying that it might actually help average / below average defenders more as they can get away with more hand and body contact to stay with offensive players.

To that point, people conveniently ignore the positive impact that rule changes would have on modern players in the silly hypotheticals like "what would happen if you dropped the Warriors into the 1990's?"

[Mamba Mentality]

[Teen Girl Squad]

Steph Curry has and will continue to get shade because he's probably the least 'athletic' (using traditional height/weight/speed and ignoring balance, coordination, smarts) elite player we've had since Bird (or Nash if you put him in that tier). This is especially true with other players/athletes, which is why Curry always catches shade and they keep falling for the Westbrook trap (the flipside is that athletes always overvalue raw athleticism).

[Hello Brooklyn]

Definitely above average.

He seems to have a reputation as a poor defender. Compare him to Lillard for example. Huge difference.

[khufure]

I saw him try to take that charge against the Nets. Don't see a superstar do that often especially in the regular season. All the screens they run probably got them lots of experience in practice on how to try to defend it. As a result (?) he seems more sticky to his man than in years past. He's not the most athletic but he got heart and easy to root for.

[TwoStarz]

Definitely above average.

He seems to have a reputation as a poor defender. Compare him to Lillard for example. Huge difference.

Lillard is one of the worst defenders in the league, definitely contending with Trae Young

[Impuniti]

Definitely above average.

He seems to have a reputation as a poor defender. Compare him to Lillard for example. Huge difference.

This season he's been elite.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense/?sort=DEF_WS&dir=-1&CF=GP*G*2&Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular%20Season

[nfmos]

For all the people saying he’s a weak defender, for gods sake just watch him play a game instead of going by your already baked in perception of him. You guys act like he’s some sort of pushover on that end and it’s just ridiculous. He’s solid and consistent and puts in full time effort on every play. Sure teams target him because they would love to get him in foul trouble but you don’t see teams stick with that strategy too long because he’s not just some easy take anymore. But it’s just real obvious the people who are just seeing his offensive highlights and not watching his defense.


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[Heej]

Steph's been an underrated defender because they took the fact that teams went at him in the playoffs as a sign of Steph's weakness rather than a sign of the Warriors' immense strength. Shows how broken that Warriors defense was when your best strategy was to grind out isos against a solid 85 defensive rating PG because everyone else was in the 90s. You think it's actually possible for the Warriors to have the number 1 defense if Steph was a legitimate negative on that end and played 30+ mins a game? That's not how basketball works.

I agree that Curry is far from liability, but I think it's possible to have number 1 defense with your PG being weak on that end.

It really depends how weak to be honest. There's no way Kemba Walker will ever be part of a number 1 defense playing the way he is right now, I'll tell you that much. Personally with the way basketball has changed and how important it is to defend people at the point of attack, I find it hard to believe you can be the best defense in the league if you're constantly giving up penetration into the paint.

I feel like you need to be at least average or slightly above average at the PG spot. To be a legit negative there is a lot to ask for your teammates to cover for.

[70sFan]

Steph's been an underrated defender because they took the fact that teams went at him in the playoffs as a sign of Steph's weakness rather than a sign of the Warriors' immense strength. Shows how broken that Warriors defense was when your best strategy was to grind out isos against a solid 85 defensive rating PG because everyone else was in the 90s. You think it's actually possible for the Warriors to have the number 1 defense if Steph was a legitimate negative on that end and played 30+ mins a game? That's not how basketball works.

I agree that Curry is far from liability, but I think it's possible to have number 1 defense with your PG being weak on that end.

It really depends how weak to be honest. There's no way Kemba Walker will ever be part of a number 1 defense playing the way he is right now, I'll tell you that much. Personally with the way basketball has changed and how important it is to defend people at the point of attack, I find it hard to believe you can be the best defense in the league if you're constantly giving up penetration into the paint.

I feel like you need to be at least average or slightly above average at the PG spot. To be a legit negative there is a lot to ask for your teammates to cover for.

Kemba Walker played in the Celtics in 2020 and although they weren't the best in the league defensively, they did finished 4th.

[eminence]

I agree that Curry is far from liability, but I think it's possible to have number 1 defense with your PG being weak on that end.

It really depends how weak to be honest. There's no way Kemba Walker will ever be part of a number 1 defense playing the way he is right now, I'll tell you that much. Personally with the way basketball has changed and how important it is to defend people at the point of attack, I find it hard to believe you can be the best defense in the league if you're constantly giving up penetration into the paint.

I feel like you need to be at least average or slightly above average at the PG spot. To be a legit negative there is a lot to ask for your teammates to cover for.

Kemba Walker played in the Celtics in 2020 and although they weren't the best in the league defensively, they did finished 4th.

The Celtics are closer to average (-3.6) than they are the Warriors (-8.2) so far.

[70sFan]

It really depends how weak to be honest. There's no way Kemba Walker will ever be part of a number 1 defense playing the way he is right now, I'll tell you that much. Personally with the way basketball has changed and how important it is to defend people at the point of attack, I find it hard to believe you can be the best defense in the league if you're constantly giving up penetration into the paint.

I feel like you need to be at least average or slightly above average at the PG spot. To be a legit negative there is a lot to ask for your teammates to cover for.

Kemba Walker played in the Celtics in 2020 and although they weren't the best in the league defensively, they did finished 4th.

The Celtics are closer to average (-3.6) than they are the Warriors (-8.2) so far.

Sure thing and by no means I wanted to compare Curry to Walker. It's just I don't agree that you can't build 1st defense with weak spot at PG.

This is from the older era, but 2004 Spurs with 21 years old Parker starting is another example - and they were actually better than Warriors.

[eminence]

Kemba Walker played in the Celtics in 2020 and although they weren't the best in the league defensively, they did finished 4th.

The Celtics are closer to average (-3.6) than they are the Warriors (-8.2) so far.

Sure thing and by no means I wanted to compare Curry to Walker. It's just I don't agree that you can't build 1st defense with weak spot at PG.

This is from the older era, but 2004 Spurs with 21 years old Parker starting is another example - and they were actually better than Warriors.

I agree with your general point of being able to build great defenses with weak defenders (especially at G slots), but disagree with that meaning much here as I don't find either situation particularly comparable to Curry/Warriors, Poole is the comp to Walker/Parker. If you can find a great defensive team with multiple weak guards it would be more comparable.

[dhsilv2]

I think this is a very valid point. You're seeing the same thing with Jokic this season. The way the game was officiated in past seasons didn't make it sensible for offensive centerpieces to be aggressive on defense.

Rules have helped exactly Jokic and Steph more than others not get those ticky tacky fouls they always used to get. Both their defense looks better this year because of it.

There was a thread asking if the rule change made great defenders more valuable, and I responded to that poster saying that it might actually help average / below average defenders more as they can get away with more hand and body contact to stay with offensive players.

100%, the physical defenders can get, the better poor defenders will look.

[dhsilv2]

I agree that Curry is far from liability, but I think it's possible to have number 1 defense with your PG being weak on that end.

It really depends how weak to be honest. There's no way Kemba Walker will ever be part of a number 1 defense playing the way he is right now, I'll tell you that much. Personally with the way basketball has changed and how important it is to defend people at the point of attack, I find it hard to believe you can be the best defense in the league if you're constantly giving up penetration into the paint.

I feel like you need to be at least average or slightly above average at the PG spot. To be a legit negative there is a lot to ask for your teammates to cover for.

Kemba Walker played in the Celtics in 2020 and although they weren't the best in the league defensively, they did finished 4th.

This season which was referenced. Walker in his 49% of minutes played as the team giving up 19.9 more points per 100 than with him off the floor. So yeah, no way in hell given how he's played THIS season, you could do that. They were only 6 points worse in 2020 with him on the floor.

[picc]

I think Curry's defense is similar to how Steve Nash's was. Both lack the size and athleticism to be truly good defenders, but their smarts and effort keep them from being complete liabilities. Jokic & Dirk are the same way for bigs.

His defense is similar to Nash’s in the same way Kemba Walkers offense is similar to Nash’s.