The Hamptons 5, part 5: Stephen Curry
Welcome to the conclusion of the“Hamptons 5” series, a five-part look at the Golden State Warriors’ legendary lineup. We have been breaking down each player, looking at where they rank in the league as well as on their own team, what they’ve accomplished as well as where they are headed. We conclude with a look at Stephen Curry.
When the Golden State Warriors announce their superstar point guard before home games, the team is already huddled up. Years ago, Stephen Curry elected to hop down the high-five aisle directly behind Klay Thompson, diverting the cheers and attention to the clustered roster. This routine never changed.
Virtually every NBA superstar claims that their teammates come first. For Curry, it appears true.
Praising a player’s unselfishness sounds trite, but the impact is real. Curry’s talent is enough to make any team a contender, but his team-before-self mentality is just as responsible for the Warriors’ dominant three-year run that has no end in sight.
In the final part of the Hamptons 5 series, we take a look at Curry’s spectacular career and status within the NBA, now and moving forward.
What Curry has accomplished
Career stats: 22.8 points, 6.8 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 0.2 blocks, 3.2 turnovers, 47.6 FG%, 43.8 3P%, 90.1 FT%, 3.3 3PM
Resume: 2014-15 NBA MVP, 2015-16 NBA MVP, one-time NBA scoring champion, four-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA First Team, two-time All-NBA Second Team, two-time NBA champion
Highlights: 54 points at MSG, 17 points in OT after returning from injury, NBA-record 13 threes in a game, more game-winning shots than can be hyperlinked, every record tied to 3-pointers imaginable
I’ll start with one more highlight, because it is too difficult to explain in list form.
On Feb. 27, 2016, Curry tied the NBA record for made threes in a game (12), set the NBA record for made threes in a season (his 11th three was No. 287), set the NBA record for made threes in a season in February and hit a 38-foot shot with less than a second remaining to win the game in overtime.
That shot was, fairly definitively, the greatest regular season highlight in NBA history. It moved the Warriors to 53-5, and in retrospect served as the exclamation mark on the league’s first-ever 73-win season and unanimous MVP campaign.
More than anything, however, the play is an illustration of what makes Curry so unique. It isn’t that he made a miraculous shot, it’s that he expected to make it. You expected him to make it. Most pertinently, the Thunder expected him to make it.
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As wide-reaching and easily-relatable as Curry’s game is, many fail to grasp the actual impact of that reality. When a guy is as dangerous from 30 feet as Michael Jordan was from 15 or Shaquille O’Neal was from five, that player alters defensive gameplans in a way that no one ever has.
This is also true of the Thunder shot: It was in the regular season. For many, the moment is as ominously illustrative as anything. Curry ended that year’s Finals with a 6-for-19 performance, missing three threes in the final 1:14 to drop the biggest game of his life. The loss led to a perception that he was a choker, a regular-season god turned human under pressure.
While his Game 7 failure was real, the notion birthed from it was anything but. Every player — LeBron James and Kevin Durant included — has had playoff collapses. A very select few have outweighed those collapses with successes to the extent Curry has.
From the corner three in New Orleans to the 62-footer in Memphis, from “I’m Back” to “We Ain’t Going Home,” from upsetting the Denver Nuggets and pushing the San Antonio Spurs in his playoff debut, to winning two titles in which he averaged 26.4 points and 4.0 threes per game, Curry has nothing left to prove.
Where Curry ranks on the Warriors
I just always go back to this:
and this:
Curry was hurt. It is not an excuse, simply a an acknowledgement that he was playing on a sprained MCL that he returned from early with no rehab time. And he still thoroughly outplayed Kevin Durant in the two biggest games of Durant’s life to that point. It was also the last time Durant played without Curry.
An entire season has since passed. If there was a compelling reason to move Durant ahead of Curry, those two games from 2016 would not stop us. But what is that reason?
Durant was better than Curry in terms of individual stats during the regular season and playoffs. Yet, opponents consistently opted to take the ball out of Curry’s hands before Durant’s, which both explains and invalidates those numbers being superior.
Durant is a far better defensive player. Yet the Warriors were better with Curry on the floor than with Durant, and worse without Curry than without Durant. Even with that defensive gap, Steph’s overall impact on the game is greater.
Many acknowledge this, and still believe Durant is the superior player. The only remaining explanation, it seems, is rooted in the playoff series that Curry played directly after he took down the Thunder on one leg.
Where Curry ranks in the NBA
From the early stages of the Warriors’ 24-0 start to the 2015-16 season to midway through that year’s NBA Finals, Curry was seen as the best player in the NBA.
The Cavaliers won the title, and LeBron James seized back his crown. After arguably the greatest three-game stretch in NBA history, he deserved it.
However, the starkness of the shift was disproportionate to the events that transpired. People felt ashamed for falling into Curry’s allure, and guilty for doubting James’ ultimate supremacy. Curry suddenly became known as a regular season tease, just one of many pawns in the King’s league. He not only fell from No. 1, but from No. 2, and on many lists, down to No. 4 or 5.
Meanwhile, James has a greater stranglehold on the “Best Player in the World” moniker than ever. Even in his peak years, that status was always open to challengers. Now, those who moved Curry’s way appear likely to stick with James no matter what happens.
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But what if we actually look at this with no shame, guilt or preconceived notions?
James certainly has a tremendous case to being the world’s best. He had a fantastic 2016-17 season, and was the best statistical player in the Finals for the third straight year.
Curry is still in the mix, though. He just won his second title in three years, capping off one of the best statistical postseasons ever. He played on a top-10 all-time regular season team for the third straight year. Even with Durant out, the Warriors were the class of the league.
Yes, that’s the regular season. Yes, James has a higher ceiling. But if he has to play at 75 percent intensity from November to April in order to reach those heights come June, is that not a demerit? Does the fact that he plays in a significantly weaker conference than Curry — allowing him to save himself for the Finals — not enter the equation?
Is the fact that stars have to find a way to fit in around him, compared to Curry’s willingness to fit in around teammates not worth anything? Are NBA Finals stats, win or lose, really all that matter?
If you want to view this as a title belt, that’s fair. James knocked out Curry in 2016, and Curry has yet to definitively take it back. However, if the question is not who deserves to be called the best player, but rather who is the best player, Curry has a great case.
Projecting Curry’s 2017-18 numbers
It is safe to assume that Curry’s relative down year statistically was due to a mental adjustment period rather than any sort of physical decline. The evidence is circumstantial, but overwhelming.
Curry took a major confidence hit in the 2016 Finals, and followed it with a summer of rehab. He had to overcome rustiness and doubt while also figuring out how to play with a four-time scoring champion.
Shortly after Durant got hurt, Curry’s final month was almost identical to his 2015-16 season statistically. By the postseason, his confidence and rhythm were clearly back, hence him averaging 28.1 points on 65.9 percent true shooting.
Adding Durant should in theory increase Curry’s open looks. A year of familiarity between the two will only add to that. Curry’s comfortability is the only potential negative variable, so if that’s gone, his efficiency will be as scary as ever.
Durant will continue to suppress Curry’s scoring and rebounds, while his assists should remain consistent. As he enters his age 29 season, a slight downturn in steals is possible. His minutes certainly won’t go up, barring significant injuries to other key players.
2017-18 Projections: 26.2 PPG, 6.5 APG, 4.4 RPG, 1.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 2.9 TOV, 48.7 FG%, 45.1 3P%, 90.1 FT%, 4.4 3PM
Where Curry is headed
A year after the most devastating chapter of his career, Curry found redemption of sorts. He had a dominant postseason and won another title. However, he has not rebuilt his image to a level where we no longer feel compelled to wonder “what if?”
Had Curry not gotten hurt, two likely outcomes have been discussed ad nauseum: The Warriors winning the 2016 championship, and Durant staying in Oklahoma City.
Anything beyond that is pure speculation, and thus, has been less explored. However, we can still deduce what might have happened in a best, worst and most-likely scenario.
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The best case? After cruising through the 2016 playoffs as they were expected to, the Warriors run it back, dominate the league again and win their third-straight title. They fail to four-peat — surely, fatigue would catch them — and they re-shuffle their rotation. They win one more title over the following two seasons (those being 2018-19 and 2019-20). Curry, as the hands-down best player on the best team, wins another MVP at some point. They win one more post-prime title, á la the 2013-14 Spurs. Curry retires with five rings and three MVPs.
The worst case? Tension brews between an overpaid Harrison Barnes and an underpaid Green. Age catches up to Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, and they fail to three-peat. Capped out for the foreseeable future, the team either slowly declines or makes a major trade that doesn’t solve their problems. Curry retires with two rings and two MVPs.
This question will always follow Curry, a player unlike any we had ever seen. He interrupted what was supposed to be the James/Durant era, seizing shoe sales, popularity, trophies and rings. He was a 6’3″ point guard who was the best player in the NBA.
Maybe he still is. We’ll never know how far he could have ascended, if he would become a top-10 all-time player, or stake a claim as the greatest point guard ever. We’ll also never know if he and the Warriors would have declined, ultimately being remembered for just two brilliant seasons.
In the real world, his legacy already seems clear: He will be remembered as a game-changer. A shooter who shaped modern strategy, an icon who influenced future generations. A force equal parts dominant and non-domineering. The perfect blend to pull together the Hamptons 5, a lineup that has already changed the league as we know it.
Next: Ranking the 10 NBA teams who have 'next' after the Warriors
One thing still in play: Curry winning enough titles to erase those “what ifs” entirely. It would take an unprecedented run, but Curry is accustomed to making history. As the Warriors’ driving force, he is still in control of his destiny.