Stephen Wardell “Chef” “Baby-faced assassin” Curry is a NBA player for the Golden State Warriors. He is a 3x NBA champion, he is 2x MVP (including 1 unanimous), a member of the 50/40/90 club. And is often considered the greatest shooter ever.
Like many great players, Curry has his fair share of haters. But most “haters” still acknowledge the greatness of the players they hate. LeBron haters still acknowledge him as a top 5 player, top 10 at worst. Kobe haters still put him in their top 12. But Steph Curry haters?
They think he’s a one-trick pony that can’t accomplish or hasn’t accomplished anything without Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and only won his rings because Kyrie and KLove were hurt and Kevin Durant joined him and can’t do anything other than shoot threes and once you defend him he’s useless.
Obviously not every “hater” is this scathing, but the reality is that a rather large number of haters – and even the average fan (at least online) and media critic surprisingly does not think that much of Curry.
Many people seem to forget or don’t realize that Steph Curry was leading the Warriors to the playoffs well before Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
In 2013 – before many people even knew of Curry, let alone the Klay and Draymond, Steph Curry let the Warriors to their first playoff appearance since 2007, with David Lee being his only all-star teammate. We forgot how much of a sorry franchise the Warriors were viewed as before Curry. Curry averaged 23/7/4, while breaking the record for most threes in a regular season with 272 (while shooting at 45% from three). They beat the 3rd Denver Nuggets in 6 in the first round, and went on to push the Western Conference Champion Spurs to 6 games in the next round in a hard fought series.
The next season, Curry was the only all-star on his team, and averaged 24/9/4. He was the first all-star starter for the Warriors since 1997 with Latrell Sprewell. He led his team to a 6th seed in the tough Western conference, and lost in the first round the Lob City Clippers, pushing them to 7 games – in a series where the end of game 3 featured a no-call that could sent the game to overtime, and where Bogut got injured. Klay Thompson had his breakout season this year, but Draymond Green had not yet broken out.
That’s not too bad. Keep in mind the 2013 and 2014 were Curry’s 4th and 5th season.
His first two seasons saw him split the rock with Monta Ellis – which was a REALLY bad combo, given Ellis was an inefficient, iso-heavy guard with poor facilitating and unwillingness to pass the ball to and make it work with Steph Curry. Imagine a rookie LeBron playing with a rookie Ben Simmons. (Keep in mind LeBron missed the playoffs in his first two seasons, just like Curry, for anyone who wants to knock Curry for this for some reason.)
In addition they had a revolving door of coaches. Then in Curry’s third season, he missed games with an ankle injury. So Curry’s first fully healthy season with a decent team and coach saw him go to the second round in the Western Conference. With David Lee being his best teammate that year. And him breaking records. Not bad for someone who “who is only good because of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green”.
Let’s skip ahead. A great example of Stephen’s greatness can be found by looking at his performance in the 2019 NBA Finals. People will tell you he didn’t play well, that he choked in this series. Steph Curry managed to average 31 PPG against the Raptors with their box and one scheme, without KD, and while also missing Klay for a game, to help dilute the defensive strategy. Compare that to other guards that have gone up against that similar box-and-one defense, like multi-time all-star Kemba Walker who was scoring in the single digits against them despite playing next to all-star caliber wings like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum (who made All-NBA third team).
Despite this, the narrative that Curry “choked” against the Raptors and that he isn’t a good playoff performer remains. Why is this the case, when we have footage and stats that clearly show otherwise? Why is this the case when we not only have footage, but it also happened so recently?
People say he doesn’t have many good playoff moments. Ignoring him coming back from injury against Portland in the 2016 playoffs and breaking the record for most points scored in an overtime period. (And winning that series.) Ignoring him dropping 33 points in the second half along with two game-icing buckets to win the Rockets 4-2 in the 2019 semi-finals, without Durant, in a series where many people thought Houston could win. We can go on.
So taking all this into account. Why is Curry disrespected? Is it Curry’s playstyle, the emphasis on shooting 3s? Does he seem like a “one-trick pony”? That can’t be it: we already established his great passing, finishing, off-ball, and dribbling abilities. Is it because Curry makes it look too easy? Is it his appearance (e.g. “Baby-faced assassin”, as he was called in college)? His defense? It can’t be that. James Harden used to be a bad defender, but that didn’t stop people from trying to think highly of him. Same with Damian Lillard. Heck, Magic Johnson was not a very good defender either. So that can’t be why some people think Curry wouldn’t even lead his teams to the playoffs if he didn’t play for the Warriors.
It can’t be the 3-1 meltdown: Virtually every player except Michael Jordan has had a playoff collapse: LeBron James 2011 Finals, Kawhi Leonard this year, Kevin Durant blowing a 3-1 lead to Curry in 2016, Kobe and Shaq in 2004 to the Pistons, Kyrie Irving to the Bucks in 2019, “Tragic Johnson”, Chris Paul against the Rockets in 2015, Karl Malone missed free throws against the Bulls, etc. James Harden and Russell Westbrook speak for themselves. So choking can’t be it.
Or is it simply the fact that, seemingly out of nowhere, he got in the way of what was supposed to be many players’ “time”? LeBron was supposed to rule the 2010s decade. James Harden was supposed to get some rings and MVPs. The OKC Thunder were supposed to be a dynasty, instead of just being a repeat of the 90s Magic. Steph Curry got in the way of Chris Paul. And Dame Time. Speaking of Dame, he has a somewhat of a similar playstyle, but gets more “respect” from fans (despite being much more of a “playoff choker” than Curry).
Maybe it is a personality thing? He doesn’t play with or look like he has that “edge”: when Curry is getting guarded well, he doesn’t jack up contested, low-percentage shots like Westbrook, Kobe, or other players do; he would simply just make the smart pass. So maybe it makes him look “passive”?
Either way, when it comes down to it, Curry’s resume and legacy is is often undervalued. Every year, we play this same song and dance where we try to argue which guard of the month is better than Curry. “Ooh, it’s Kyrie Irving! No wait, it’s Damian Lillard! No, it’s James Harden! Wait, it’s Russell Westbrook! Chris Paul!”. And everytime, as the season goes on, we stop saying it. There’s a reason for that. Because like it or not, as much as people criticize him, he still is a very good playoff performer, who still commands more defensive attention than anyone in the league, and has changed the game. He has redefined what it means to take a “bad shot”. He expanded the range of 3-pt shots. He proved that you can win with the 3-ball. His elite off-ball movement and screens have served as perfect models for many teams. He has inspired generations of fans across the globe; people shout “Curry” when shooting a basket. We all just have to accept his greatness.
