What Stephen Curry has been able to achieve in his NBA career is nothing short of remarkable. Before the 4 time NBA champion, it seemed outlandish to shoot the ball from such distances, yet Curry has somewhat normalized it over the last decade. However, this begs the question – could Curry hang out with the past generations of great ballers?
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Curry quickly made a name for himself during his brief three-year tenure at Davidson. He captured the hearts of many throughout the Wildcats’ captivating Elite 8 run in 2008. Many people doubted whether his style would translate well in the NBA.
Fast forward to today, and Curry is one of the best players in NBA history. He has four NBA championships under his belt, along with two MVP awards. His effective yet high three-point shooting clip sparked a revolution across the league. Now, the three-point shot is the most important offensive threat in basketball.
In hindsight, Curry entered the NBA at the perfect time. The league started to become more catered to offensive players, with the elimination of hand-checking. As a result, people have wondered how Curry would fare in an era which allowed defenses to be more physical. In an exclusive interview with The SportsRush’s Nickeem Khan, Rashad McCants tried to answer it.
“Steph could be tough. Um, it’s, it’s all simply because. We weren’t playing basketball where you could just let a guy come down and shoot from the f****** half-court,” McCants said. “That was a bad shot. You would probably get punched in the locker room by a guy who’s like, ‘What are you doing?”
McCants’ words seem a bit off the fence, but he is speaking the truth. Team structures were much different in the mid 2000s from what they are now.
If it weren’t the coaching staff keeping players in line, the veterans on the team certainly would. It also makes sense since the offensive philosophy was much different back then.
The majority of teams ensured their post player received a touch every possession down. Nowadays, only elite big men receive the privilege to play with their backs to the basket. Otherwise, they’re simply just a lob threat.
However, McCants would be a fool to dismiss Curry’s talent solely due to play style. Although it may not have the greatest reception at first. It wouldn’t be completely foreign to the NBA world.
“It’s always a bad shot, but he can make it. Then, having this one guy running around like Allen Iverson and you gotta chase him around shooting threes and stuff, that would be his advantage. Cause we did see that, and Allen wasn’t shooting threes, and he was still averaging 30. So that’s Steph’s advantage to be able to play in our era and be able to run off screens and do all that stuff,” McCants proclaimed.
People don’t seem to make the correlation much, but McCants believes Allen Iverson’s play style broke the ice for Curry to flourish. Of course, he is referring solely to Curry’s constant movement.
Iverson made up for his lack of size with his quickness off down screens for mid-range shots. Curry does the same thing, except at a much more extreme rate for three-point shots. The similarities are certainly there.
Would Curry experience consequences for playing against the grain? That will remain a mystery. However, even McCants can’t deny that Curry’s skill set is so good that it transcends eras.
