5 Reasons Stephen Curry Is Criminally Underrated

Playmaking Ability

This doesn’t just refer to Curry’s ability to set up teammates for open looks, though he’s certainly quite adept at that too. No, this “playmaking ability” point is all about the severely underrated knack Curry has for making basketball so damn sexy. The prospect of trying to put together a “Top 10 Stephen Curry Plays Of The 2014-15 Season” is enough to make your head (and your Mac’s pinwheel of death) spin.

This seems trivial. Lots of NBA players generate memorable highlights, after all. On any given night Joe Schmo from The Team You Weren’t Watching could knock down a game-winner. But unlike Joe Schmo, Curry’s highlight reel plays aren’t few and far between. On a nightly basis, he provides two or three unbelievable plays in a way that we haven’t seen since the days of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.

In fact, Curry’s unstoppable shooting off the dribble and his dynamic passing ability really makes him some sort of unfair combination of Magic and Bird when it comes to art of the highlight reel.

Take for example, the time he left the entire Los Angeles Clippers roster in their undershorts with his nifty dribbling ability, but even that wasn’t enough, so he decided to razzle-dazzle and fire up a random fadeaway three with nine seconds left on the shot clock:

That’s some carefree, playground s**t. Except this isn’t Rucker Park; it’s the freaking NBA, against one of the best point guard defenders in the world in Chris Paul. Monday night against the Suns, Curry lit up US Airways Center with 25 second-half points, but the manner in which he did it made the whole performance that much more unbelievable.

First he started with this:

Then came this:

Followed by this:

And as if the Suns hadn’t learned yet, he then supplied them with this:

And even when they did try to stop him by practically truck-sticking him, he still wound up doing this to call it a night:

And that’s just from one half of one game in an 82-game regular season. I’m actually glad someone documented all those shots because I’m pretty sure I blacked out somewhere in between the third and fourth triple.

We could go on and on here. There were those magnificent scoop shot layups against the Washington Wizards. There was the time he shot a three and turned away to start running back down the court because he already knew it was in. There’s been an array of spectacular passes, from behind-the-back showstoppers to “How the hell did he know he would be there?” jaw-droppers.

Every single night, Curry is going to give you a Vine-worthy moment. Not even LeBron James, Anthony Davis or James Harden can say that (maaaaybe Russell Westbrook can this season).

That’s a severely underrated talent, especially in a league that’s become so driven by Twitter and social media. Word of mouth is great, but because thousands of people are literally watching Curry so they can document every Top 10 play he makes, everyone can know how great Curry is.

We watch basketball because it’s entertaining and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. There’s not a single player on this earth more aesthetically pleasing with a basketball in his hands than Stephen Curry, and the fact that his collection of highlight-worthy plays have almost become saturated tells you just how unique he is in that regard.

Next: Effective Without The Ball