It’s no longer accurate to say that Stephen Curry is being disrespected by his peers or the media or even random idiots on Twitter. It must have been before. For many, simply accepting his place in history unconditionally seemed like a long time. But there is still some residual absurdity. The latest example comes from former NBA player Mike James.
James, if you don’t remember, played 49 career NBA games for the Suns, Pelicans and Nets in 2017-18 and 2020-21, even though he’s playing in Europe these days. In a recent episode of the Players Choice Podcast, James named his league’s top five players: Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James and Luka Donchi strange. You’ll notice that Curry is gone.
That’s not a problem. Reasonable people might disagree, as it relates to the current top five players in this incredibly talented league. James’ reasons for letting Curry go were so exhausting and wrong.
“Stephen, how he plays and how he gets out of it, is just a dimension sometimes,” James said. “He’s not the primary ball handler, for a point guard that bothers me a little bit.”
“I think the other five can do whatever they want on any team in the world right now,” James added. “I just don’t know what’s going on with Stephen. It’s a little fuzzy for Stephen… If you put him in Minnesota, he’d still kill people, but I don’t know if it would be the same.”
here we go again. Stephen is just Stephen because the Warriors system. This is so ridiculous it hardly deserves a response, but it was a quiet weekend in early August and I didn’t have much to write about. Even more ridiculous is the one-dimensional label James is trying to put on Curry. James pointed out that he’s not the primary ball handler, which is exactly why he’s not one-dimensional.
In basketball history, there has never been a more lethal scorer in terms of off-ball ability. no way. Not far. If you want to say that Luka Doncic is better than Curry, that’s fine, but don’t back it up with something one-dimensional. Luka only knows how to play with the ball in his hand. Let him start going around screens and shooting 3-pointers after the catch and see how effective he is.
Curry is a third-level scorer. He’s great at the rim, the mid-to-long range and the 3-point line. He can score off the dribble, score on catch, score on transition, and yes, in singles, basketball players will be obsessed until the end of the game. TIME — In the most recent NBA Finals, 71% of Curry’s shots went unassisted.
Curry is a world-class ball handler, a fantastic passer — when he reins in his instinct to do whatever he wants — a terrific screener, and a great defender. Yes, I said it. He’s a great defender; though, if you want “Curry to be a product of the Warriors system and the players around him,” at least on the defensive end.
Trying to deny, question, or qualify anything Curry does offensively is a poor performance. I just love what Curry noticed. At his annual Curry camp, he was asked how some of his camp members would play against him in one-on-one games.
“Oh, it’s all bad for them,” Curry said. “It’s all bad for them, even one-dimensional like me.” There was a brief silence, and then Curry couldn’t help laughing. “Sorry, I’m stingy. I’m so stingy! Hold on, I love that.”
Again, I love this. Yes, it’s funny, but it illustrates the endless search for motivation from someone who has absolutely nothing to prove. Someone like Curry, who has been sidelined at any point in their life, never loses the chips on their shoulders, no matter how high they end up rising. That’s why they’ve stayed on top for so long.
