Some Quick Thoughts on Stephen Curry: The Greatest Show in Sports
It’s hard to find any words to say about Stephen Curry that haven't already been said, but here we are. For all intents and purposes, I grew up watching Stephen Curry. His historic, underdog run at Davidson occurred when I was first really getting into sports, waking up each morning and watching Sports Center. He was drafted by my local team, the Golden State Warriors and I witnessed those early career struggles throughout my middle school days as I fall deeper and deeper in love with sports. The iconic championship runs happened in my high school and college years where I began to get a more nuanced view and understanding of the game. And now as I enter a new phase of my life, going off into the post-college “real world” Steph enters a new phase of his career. He’s an elder statesman in the league now and is playing alongside players like Jordan Poole and Johnathan Kuminga who, like myself, grew up watching Steph. While many things have changed about Steph Curry, the Warriors, and just basketball in general over the last 13 years, one thing hasn’t: Steph Curry is still the best show in all of sports.
Night in an night out, Steph Curry shows us something special. A ridiculous pull up three, using his all-time great handles to dribble around multiple defenders, his remarkable floater, it is nearly impossible to watch a game Curry plays and not say to yourself, “wow” at least once. He’s in a rare group of players, in any sport, that are truly must see TV.
In the series finale of the hit sitcom The Office, theres a line where Andy Bernard says “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days, before you actually left them.” It’s a saccharine bordering on cheesy line that raises an important principle that many of us lose sight of: don’t take life for granted, enjoy the moment. We’re in the good old days of Steph Curry folks, appreciate them.
In the coming days, Steph will become the NBA’s all time leader in career three pointers made. He currently has 15 less 3’s made than Ray Allen in about 500 less games and roughly 19,500 less minutes played. It’s a remarkable accomplishment. So remarkable that it is not out of the question that he’ll knock down a ridiculous would be record 16 3’s tonight at home against Portland, simply to break the all-time record in front of a home crowd before heading out on a five game road trip.
Steph is far and way the greatest 3 pointe shooter to ever live. It is not debatable. Steph has the record for most games with Five or more 3 pointers, (276 with the next closest being James Harden at 166) most games with ten or more 3’s (22, next closest is fellow Splash-Bro Klay Thompson with 5) the most 3’s made in a single season (402) the 3rd, 4th, 5th most 3’s made in a season. The most consecutives games in a row with a 3, the second most consecutive games with a 3 I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Steph is the GOAT. There are very few players, let alone individuals who you can look at and say they are without a doubt the best person in the history of the planet at doing a particular task, and we are actually getting to live in a time where we get to witness that. There has never been anyone as better at shooting a basketball than Stephen Curry, and there probably never will be.
Every summer when the NBA draft rolls around there are what the kids would call “hot takes” about how “player x” is the next Steph Curry. From guys like Jimmer Fredette to CJ McCollum to Buddy Hield and Trae Young, every year we hear about some player who is going to get to Curry’s level. And while some of those players do turn out to be pretty darn good, it is unreasonable to expect them to even sniff Steph’s level of greatness. You wouldn’t expect a kid picking up a paint brush to be the next Picasso or your neighborhood garage band to be the next Beatles. The word generational gets thrown around too often. However Steph truly is a generational player. There have been right around 4500 players to ever play in the NBA, there are maybe ten of them who are better than Steph, and honestly when all is said and done and we look back on his career objectively, that number might be even lower.
Theres not a lot to say about Steph Curry that hasn’t already been said. He’s a Pantheon level player in NBA history who in many ways ushered in a new era of basketball. He is a two-time MVP, the only player in NBA history to unanimously win the MVP Award, a three-time NBA champion, two-time scoring champ, seven-time all-star. He is an icon. It has been an absolute joy to watch Steph over the last thirteen years. During his rookie season Steph tweeted out:
To watch Steph fulfill that promise, and turn a tumultuous franchise into one of the best in all of sports, to watch him go from the “Baby Faced Assasin” to the mature superstar he is now, to watch him grow up along side Klay Thompson and Draymond Green for the last decade in an era where players often don’t feel like they’re a part of the franchise but rather just mercenaries always looking for the next opportunity, has been a treat to watch. Steph’s career is far from over. He is playing like an MVP candidate once again this year and the Warriors are currently tied for the best record in the NBA. His resume is only going to continue to get more and more prolific and there's a chance that he may end up in the conversation for the greatest player of all time. But I’m not going to get into that today. I’ll let the folks on twitter argue about lists and rankings until they’re blue in the face. I’d much rather just sit back and appreciate the greatness that is Steph Curry.
