Stephen Curry: Greatest Shooter In NBA History?

Off The Dribble:

There are a lot of great stand-still shooters in the league, however, so in order to understand why Curry’s last three seasons are prompting “greatest shooter ever” debates, it’s important to examine just how good he is off the dribble. After all, that’s what puts him in a league of his own.

When we think of effective players off the dribble in NBA history, we typically think of guys who terrified their opponents in isolation like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, or maybe wings who could get to the basket at will like LeBron James or Allen Iverson.

But make no mistake about it, Curry is becoming the new standard in terms of players who can not only beat you off the dribble, but drain a three in your face in the process. Actually, “standard” isn’t fair to the rest of the league. If we’re grading on a Steph Curry curve, everyone else would flunk. I mean, this kind of stuff is just plain stupid, except Curry does it regularly:

Pull-up shots constitute 44.6 percent of all shots that Stephen Curry takes, with 25.8 percent of them coming from three-point territory. That’s a pretty high number, but not quite as eye-popping as the absurd 42.5 percent that Curry shoots on pull-up three-pointers — the best mark on such shots in the NBA.

Curry takes 4.4 pull-up threes per game. The next closest is Damian Lillard at 3.9 per game…but Lillard only converts at a 33.3 percent rate.

Pull-up statistics aren’t the only way to evaluate Curry as the NBA’s most lethal shooter off the dribble, however. On three-point shots that come from one dribble, per NBA.com, Curry converts at a 45.3 percent clip, indicating his intelligence with shot fakes. When defenders come flying at him, he’s capable of pump faking his man into the air, taking a dribble to relocate, and draining the more wide open look.

But it’s his ability to manipulate his defender in one-on-one situations that makes him such a magnificent shooter. Curry is the ultimate heat check, but it’s the manner in which he makes some of those step-back three-pointers that ignites Oracle Arena into a frenzy.

On attempts resulting from 3-6 dribbles, Curry is a 40.1 percent shooter from downtown. On attempts resulting from seven or more dibbles, Curry is shooting an absolutely insane 50.6 percent from three-point range, and it’s not like such shots are completely rare, since he shoots them at a 6.7 percent frequency.

Think about that: 6.7 percent of this guy’s shots are three-point shots after seven or more dribbles and he makes more than half of them. “Chef Curry” couldn’t be a more perfect nickname for a guy who shakes and bakes his defenders before sprinkling in some extra humiliation by draining a three in their eye.

So in addition to being a tremendous pure shooter, Curry is a master off the dribble and can pull-up from virtually anywhere.

By comparison, pull-up threes only constitute 8.6 percent of Kyle Korver’s shot selection. Catch and shoot threes, however, comprise 65.1 percent of his shots, and he shoots 50.3 percent on such shots. Catch-and-shoot shots in general comprise an absurd 73.8 percent of the shots Korver takes.

This serves as a testament to how effective Korver is as a spot-up shooter coming off cuts and screens, but it’s also a testament to how tremendous Curry is that he’s posting comparable three-point percentages with so many of his coming off the dribble.

Next: All-Time Pace