Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is the man. He’s the big kahuna, top dog, big man on campus, #1 stunna, boss baller, illest, dopest, sickest, most on fleek game-having athlete in the world. He is the best basketball player on the planet. When athletes like Curry reach the pinnacle of superstardom, they are guaranteed two things: amazing perks and an endless sea of haters.
First, let’s address the hate. Look back at all the NBAs greats and they all had detractors and naysayers. Regardless of how many records broken or championships won, people try to find fault with everyone: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and so forth. Nobody is immune.
Even I have strayed into Camp Hater a time or 10 during my brief career as a sports columnist. It’s easy to do because we are trained to be suspicious of new greatness. We often believe that it somehow fails to measure up to old, more familiar greatness. Therefore, even though Curry appears to be a marketer’s dream (young, nice-looking family guy who stays out of trouble) it was no surprise when the haters started to pop up left and right in the form of former NBA players. In recent weeks we’ve seen countless former players and coaches throw varying degrees of shade at Curry and his remarkable run as the new face of the NBA.
Oscar Robertson’s remarks got the most traction as “The Big O” is one of the greatest and most-versatile basketball players to ever lace up a pair of sneakers. On ESPN’s “Mike & Mike,” Robertson took shots at the throne with the following remarks:
“If I’ve got a guy who’s great shooting the ball outside, don’t you want to extend your defense out a little bit?” Roberson asked. “I just don’t think coaches today in basketball understand the game of basketball. They don’t know anything about defenses. They don’t know what people are doing on the court.”
Robertson didn’t stop there in his rant on why terrible coaches are the reason for Curry’s greatness. He continued to say, “When I played years ago, if you shot a shot outside and hit it, the next time I’m going to be up on top of you. I’m going to pressure you with three-quarters, half-court defense. But now they don’t do that. These coaches do not understand the game of basketball, as far as I’m concerned.”
Ah, there we have it. The good ol’ “when I played the game” comment. It’s right there, as clear as day. The envy and desperate cling to relevancy is easy to see.
Oft-hating Charles Barkley had similar sentiments, when Sir Charles told Dime Magazine that Curry is “not more than a shooter.” Barkley has also suggested that if defenses were allowed to be more physical with Curry, he would be an ordinary player. Sure, Chuck, the man who broke his own record for three-pointers made in a season, with a staggering 24 games remaining, would turn into Wally Szczerbiak, or better yet Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (Here’s looking at you Phil Jackson)with a few forearm shivers.
To make matters worse, Cedric Ceballos and Stephen Jackson both suggested that their average, non-championship teams of the 90s could beat this nearly unbeatable incarnation of the Warriors. Either these two have been kicking it hard in Colorado or need to be tested for CTE. Clearly both are better rappers than they are as basketball analysts and yes, that’s shade to the highest degree.
Almost anyone with hater-free vision can see that Curry is nearly unguardable. His shooting range begins the moment he steps over the half-court line, which is something the Oklahoma City Thunder found out the hard way. However, when teams sell out on the three-pointer by picking Curry up full, three-quarter or half-court as Robertson suggested, Curry often blows by them with his incredible quickness. His deft handles allow him to get to the hole and unleash those incredible, made for slow-motion, sky-high floaters. Better yet, he can simply pass the ball to one of his uber-talented teammates for an easy shot.
A big reason why Curry’s game is so ridiculous is that his teammates are talented enough to make opponents pay dearly for double teams. The Warriors roster currently contains 11 former first-round draft picks. Eight of those 11 were lottery picks. NBA coaches must make assessments on whether to allow a skinny 6’3” guard take fade away three-pointers with a 7-footer in his face or allow an easy dunk or open jumper to another very capable player. Using the traditional basketball IQ, the choice should be simple. It’s a testament to Curry’s greatness that he has made it a tough, no-win decision.
Think about this, at the pace he is on (more than 400 three-pointers this season), Curry could have more three-pointers in the past two seasons than Larry Bird had in his entire career (649)! With all due respect to Roberson and Barkley, do they honestly expect me to believe that it’s solely due to bad defense and dumb coaches? How about we ask Gregg Popovich, one of the greatest coaches and defensive minds in NBA history, who watched Curry drop 37-points in just three quarters during a 30-point shellacking in January.
As ESPN’s Ethan Strauss pointed out, Curry is a remarkable 35-of-52 from 28 to 50 feet from the basket. The three-point line is 22-feet away. That means Curry is shooting 67% when he shoots more than 6-feet behind the line. That stat alone is staggering. We don’t need Stan Lee to certify that Steph Curry is superhuman.
Now back to the perks that come with being “the man.” Remember that show Pros vs Joes that ran on Spike TV from 2006 to 2010? It allowed former athletes to take on amateurs in sports drills. Most of the time, the Joes got crushed by the retired guys and it gave them perspective on what it takes to be an elite professional athlete.
I say Curry should reach out to the creators for a special return episode, dubbed Pros vs Olds. In this episode, Robertson, Barkley, Ceballos, the Jacksons and any other former NBA players that question Curry’s greatness can take turns trying to defend Steph. Send them out two or three at a time to get a taste of the peril and misery NBA coaches go through trying to game plan for the league’s most unguardable player. Next, let all of them up from 28-feet and beyond and give them an hour to make 35 shots. I doubt they’ll make it. If they do, give Curry 10 minutes and watch him blow them out the water and shut them up. Of course, they could all do us a favor, save Curry and trouble and just zip it themselves.
Sit back and enjoy the show fellas. I don’t know how long the incredible Stephen shooting show will last, but I’m sure as heck going to enjoy it. Just as sure as haters gonna hate, Curry is going to get buckets and break records.
Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @IshmaelSistrunk
