Stephen Curry is the greatest shooter of all time, and at this point, it’s not even a debate. The league’s only unanimous MVP, he changed the game for better or worse. Experts did not believe jump shooting teams could win championships, and here came the Splash Brothers. It was beautiful to watch, and it still is!
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The backcourt duo of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson took the league by storm in 2014, showcasing their 3-point shooting excellence. Each of them shot an average of 7 threes per game while converting them at an incredible rate of 40+ percentage points. This kind of volume and production from downtown had never been done.
NBA was put on notice, and what followed was a dynasty that would go on to win four championships while appearing in six finals. Richard Jefferson, a former teammate of Stephen Curry, was awestruck by his break trough quite early but never imagined he was going to be this special.
Nobody saw Stephen Curry coming
Richard Jefferson, a former NBA player, was fortunate enough to share locker rooms with Stephen Curry during the 2012-2013 season. He would go on to win a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers by beating Steph’s Warriors team in 2016.
Currently working as an NBA analyst for ESPN, he recently appeared in JJ Reddick’s podcast ‘The Old Man and the Three’ and was asked about Steph. Listen to what he had to say:
“This man had to run around 48 minutes every single night, doing what he does and no one saw it coming”
Richard talked about how Mark Jackson was the only person to foresee their talents and announced it to everyone in 2013. He says:
“In that series, Mark Jackson, f—in stood on the podium and said it’s the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game of basketball.”
Mark’s words would hold for over a decade, and even after major injuries to Klay Thompson, no one can compete with them.
All the decisions by Golden State Warriors fell in the right place
When a team is trying to win championships, important decisions need to go in their favor, and fate needs to intervene. Golden State Warriors made a few crucial decisions that worked while timely injuries came as a boon. In the podcast with JJ Reddick, Richard talks about one such instance:
“What if David Lee is not hurt to start that season? He was an All Star, he was the best power forward in the team. So they started with Draymond and they f–ing are gangbusters.”
Klay Thompson could have been traded for Kevin Love, Steph Curry could have been traded instead of Monte Poole prior to that, and Stan Van Gundy could have been the head coach instead of Steve Kerr. Despite the plethora of talent, a lot of decisions fell right for the Joe Lacob-led team, to eventually build a dynasty.
