Stephen Curry is more than just the reigning MVP; he’s the best in the world
The NBA MVP race in the 2014-15 season came down to Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Houston Rockets guard James Harden. As we all know by now, Curry took home the award after the votes were tallied. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of last season’s MVP race, however, is that the vast majority of NBA fans wouldn’t have considered Curry (or Harden for that matter) to be the best player in the world. That’s a honor that they would have reserved for LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or even Anthony Davis if they were getting frisky. The fact remains that Curry wasn’t seriously considered in that conversation.
It’s only seven games into the 2015-16 NBA season, but Stephen Curry should be the beginning and end of the conversation about the NBA and world’s best player. We should have all seen it coming with what he was doing last year, but he’s making sure there’s no mistake about it now.
Over the Warriors’ 7-0 start to this season, Curry has been just downright out of his mind. He’s leading the league in scoring at 33.9 points per game while also adding six assists, what would be a career-high 5.4 rebounds, and another career-high 2.3 steals per game over these first seven games (via Basketball Reference). But it’s how Curry is doing it that’s truly remarkable.
Curry isn’t out here just jacking every shot attempt he can get up; instead, he’s shooting 55.3 percent from the floor on 20.1 shots per game and incredibly is hitting on 47.5 percent of his three-point attempts. Just for good measure, he’s attempting threes at a record-breaking pace. The NBA record for three-point attempts in a season is 678—set by George McCloud in the 1995-96 season. Through seven games, Curry is on pace to attempt 937 threes this season (via Basketball Reference). Now consider the fact that he’s also converting on those attempts at an unprecedented rate.
Coming into this season, there had only been six seasons where a player had averaged eight or more attempts from three in a season. Of those six seasons, the highest conversion rate belongs to Curry, who shot 44.3 percent from deep last season. He’s averaging 3.3 more attempts per game this season and is hitting on 3.2 percent more of his attempts. That’s simply absurd.
However, you can’t call someone the best player in the world solely based on a seven-game sample size. That can simply be written off as a guy getting hot over a couple of weeks. This isn’t the case with Curry, though; this has been a hot streak that has lasted for the last six months of NBA action. When a player is playing at this high of a level and is only getting better over that length of time, it stops being an aberration and starts becoming the norm. That’s where we’re at with Steph.
Perhaps one of the reasons why we’ve been so hesitant to elevate Curry to this kind of status after last season is simply because we don’t know how to fully calculate what he’s doing. We’ve never seen a player who wreaks havoc on a basketball court in quite the same ways that Curry does. He’s a threat to shoot from anywhere across mid-court, but also has the ball-handling and speed to beat guys off the dribble and attack the rim. And if a defense somehow manages to contain all of that at any point, Curry also happens to be one of the most gifted passers in the league as well. No matter how he’s attacking, he can break down a defense in devastating fashion. You can’t overvalue what kind of talent that takes.
Even if Curry slows down in terms of his three-point shooting, he’s almost surely going to shatter his own record for made triples in a season. At this rate, he’s almost surely going to lead the league in scoring shockingly for the first time in his career. With how the Warriors have started in addition to Curry’s performance, it almost seems like the point guard is a lock for the MVP again, as well. There are 75 games left on Golden State’s schedule and all of those feel like comfortable statements, which is only more of a testament to where Curry is as a player right now.
Considering players like LeBron are in the league, it’s strange to think that a lanky 6-3 point guard who weighs in at less than 200 pounds is the best player in the league and the world now. That’s not something NBA fans are accustomed to seeing—someone who doesn’t appear physically dominant dominating every opponent put in front of him. It’s actually quite fitting for Curry, though. As much as we aren’t used to seeing a player with his build and frame proverbially destroy the rest of the NBA, we’ve also never seen a player do the things Curry is capable of. He’s revolutionizing the league and the game every time he steps on the floor right now, which is the true mark of greatness. Now it’s time to recognize it.