Mark Jackson’s Comments About Steph Curry And NBA Evolution Had A Point

Comments made by Mark Jackson about Stephen Curry and the NBA’s changing direction may have caused a stir, but there’s more than a shred of truth to them.

It’s not surprising that any comments made by the Golden State Warriors former coach about the team’s style of play, or their MVP point guard, have the potential to create controversy.

That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a surprise to see just how people have reacted to comments made by Mark Jackson during the NBA’s marquee Christmas Day broadcast, when the Warriors squared off with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Commenting on what he sees as a changing focus in the game, which has been a natural by-product of the astounding success of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, Jackson remarked:

"“Understand what I’m saying when I say this. He’s hurting the game. And what I mean by that is that I go into these high school gyms, I watch these kids, and the first thing they do is they run to the three-point line. You are not Steph Curry. Work on the other aspects of the game.”"

Reactions on Twitter, in the NBA media and from the Warriors themselves have all naturally gravitated to the phrase that jumps off the page when you read it.

Curry is a phenomenon, and to say he’s hurting basketball just isn’t true, and even if it proves to be with time, it’s far too early to make that judgement just yet. There’s a certain context that needs to be applied to Jackson’s words all the same, and one that he may have been able to do himself if he had been more selective with his phrasing.

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The NBA has long bred a culture of imitation, and more often than not, it’s a process that builds more watered down versions of what was truly unique in the first place.

The league has been flooded with teams that have tried to force greater pace and spacing upon themselves this season in order to compete with Golden State and the direction the league is perceived to be moving in, and the results of that strategy have been mixed to say the least.

The best example of that is the Washington Wizards. The Wizards have just reeled off a much needed four-game win streak to pull themselves back to a .500 record. Considering they were a 46-win conference semifinalist last season with a roster full of young players who should only really be improving as time goes on, that begs the question of what exactly has changed this year?

The answer, of course, is that the Wizards have tried to embrace the NBA’s sea change.

Per NBA Stats, Washington are attempting 24.3 three-pointers per game, up from 16.8 last season, while the difference in how they push the pace is equally striking. Going from being a middle of the pack team at 95.6 possessions per 48 minutes last season, the Wizards are now fifth in the NBA with an average of 100.4 possessions.

To be fair, it’s not just the Wizards either. There seems to be a much wider consensus that mirroring the style that has made other teams successful is a perfect recipe for success in the NBA. When you stop to think about it, logic would suggest the complete opposite of that.

If the Warriors are the unique group of players that most believe them to be, if they are the greatest jump shooting team ever, why tool a roster and a franchise to only be a lesser version of them?

Why live one step behind the masters?

This is the problem that so many have had in replicating the Spurs over the years, as a franchise can only employ copy-cat strategies to a certain point before there’s a need to leave their own stamp on proceedings.

That same way of thinking translates to individuals like Curry, and that’s where Jackson’s point becomes valid.

Curry is an outstanding jump shooter (among many other things), and he reached the point he’s now at — the pinnacle of basketball — by honing his own skill, not by being pigeonholed into what others said an NBA player should be.

The late 80s and early 90s saw a golden generation of big men with players like Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson due to the quality of those who went before them during their own times of learning the game, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The same goes for the legacy created by Michael Jordan that led to the emergence of Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson, among others. Curry’s own generation of imitators will arrive in time.

It’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with a player aspiring to be, or a team hoping to find, the next Stephen Curry, but the reality is that just as in the cases above, even if you find the best of those he’s inspired, they likely won’t match up to the original.

That makes an important part of the game’s development finding the next style that’s worth people trying to imitate. As much as it’s not a bad thing for young players to try to be as good as Curry, or for teams to play with the Warriors’ brand of basketball, it would be nice to see a focus on developing a style to beat them, or a style to advance the game even further.

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The NBA is an ever-evolving league, and that’s why even though Curry certainly isn’t a bad thing for basketball, it’s important not to forget that there’s a world of infinite possibilities beyond the style of the league’s current MVP.