Making a case for Steph Curry. Photo by Harry How/Getty Images.
It's a staple of sports talk radio, bar arguments and the comments section online.
Who's the greatest basketball player of all time? The debate invariably comes down to Michael Jordan (six NBA Finals, six titles) vs. LeBron James (10 NBA Finals, four titles), with fans of the vintage game calling from Memorial to throw Bill Russell (11 NBA titles in 13 years) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six MVP awards, six titles, career scoring leader) into the mix.
With Jordan usually coming out on top.
But let me toss another name into the debate, my favorite player ever, and should be fresh in fans' minds: Wardell Stephen Curry II, who just led his Golden State Warriors to their fourth NBA championship in eight years. At 34, Curry is still going strong, although he looks like he should be trying out for his high school team ... the junior varsity. They don't call him the "Baby Faced Assassin" for nothing.
If it pleases the basketball court, I'm going to present the case for Steph Curry as the best player today, which in practically every measurable, quantitative sport, would mean the best player ever. Of course I'm going to cherry pick statistics and accolades, but there's no denying his feats. Facts is facts.
Much like baseball has become a tedious sport of home runs, walks and strikeouts, the modern NBA game has evolved into a contest of dunks, 3-pointers and free throw shooting.
I submit to you that Curry is undeniably the greatest ever in two of those categories: 3-pointers and free throws. Curry has made 3,117 (and counting) from behind the arc over his 13 years in the NBA. His career percentage from long range is .428. He won the 3-point contest twice during All-Star Week. For comparison, Jordan wasn't really a 3-point shooter, averaging 33 percent. Strange fact: his first four years in the NBA, Jordan never shot better than 20 percent on 3-pointers. He did get better and was clicking on more than 35 percent the second half of his career. King James who does attempt them, only 34 percent for his career.
Curry's percentage at the free throw line is .908, the all-time best. Jordan, .835. James is not so impressive at the line, only .734, and in three of the last four seasons he's dipped below 70 percent.
Jordan's Bulls went to the NBA Finals six times and won all six. James has gone to the Finals a total of 10 times, with three different teams, and has four titles. Curry's Warriors are 4-1 in Finals, they're the current champs, and Vegas has the Warriors as one of the favorites to win next year.
There is no disputing the supreme greatness of Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Both have dominated their generation of basketball. But did they change how the game is played? Steph Curry has.
In 2015-16, only six teams took more than one-third of their field goal attempts from 3-point land. Five years later, 28 of the NBA's 30 teams were jocking it up from beyond the arc better than one-third the time. Thank you, Steph Curry. In 2017-18 the Houston Rockets became the one and only team to attempt more than half its shots from 3-point land. Thank you, Coach Mike D'Antoni.
During the 1989-90 season, the heart of Jordan's career, NBA teams attempted 6.6 shots from behind the arc per game, connecting on about 33 percent of them. Last year, NBA teams attempted 35 3-pointers. While teams have increased the number of 3-point attempts, their accuracy hasn't improved very much. Last year, the league hit about 35 percent.
Curry's career average from distance is .428. He is acknowledged as the greatest shooter in basketball history.
Curry's team has met James' team four times in the NBA Finals. Curry has a 3-1 advantage.
Here's important evidence in Curry's favor. Much like Babe Ruth set all of his home run records without having to face black pitchers, Jordan played most of his career when international players were a rarity. In 1993, the year Jordan's Bulls won their third title, there were only 23 international players on NBA rosters.
In 2021-22, when Curry's Warriors won their fourth title, there were 121 foreign-born players representing 40 different countries in the NBA. Think these international players don't make a difference? Since 2017-18, all four Most Valuable Player awards went to a player born and raised outside the U.S. (Giannis Antetokounmpo won twice, Nikola Jokić the most recent two honors). I'll go you one year better, an international big man has been named Defensive Player of the Year the last five seasons (Rudy Gobert three times, the Greek Freak twice). Last year, three of the five All-NBA First Team members were foreign-born (Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić.
More Curry: in 2015-16, Curry led the NBA in scoring, the Warriors won a record 73 games and Curry became the first - and still only - unanimous Most Valuable Player. He also joined the 50-40-90 club, meaning he shot 50-percent from the field, 40-percent from 3-point land, and 90-percent from the free throw line. Only 11 players have accomplished the 50-40-90 feat. Jordan and James are not on the list.
Jordan has 10 scoring titles, Curry has two, curiously James only one.
Curry has plenty of intangibles, which really don't count on the floor, but they're noteworthy. Curry's teammates apparently love him. Jordan's teammates feared him. James doesn't stick around with a team long enough for his teammates to form an opinion.
Curry appeared on Sesame Street this week. The lesson was the letter C. Curry hosted the ESPYs last week. Can you imagine Jordan hosting the ESPYs? If someone else won NBA Player of the Year, Jordan might punch him and go on for 15 minutes how he's better than that bum.
While Jordan and James are physical forces who out-muscled and overpowered their opponents, Curry wins with incredible shot-making and ball-handling wizardry. He's fearless and cocky, dazzling and entertaining. Above everything, he's a winner. Kids in the playground can dribble behind their back like Curry and attempt long-distance shots from the water fountain. Kids can't do what Jordan did and James does. They can't do what Curry does, either, but it's more fun to pretend. I'm not saying that Curry is the greatest player ever. I'm just saying he deserves to be in the discussion.
My final ranking: James is the greatest, followed by Jordan, Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Magic, Bird, Chamberlain, then a little guy with a mouthguard hanging from his mouth named Curry.
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Sixteen may be sweet, but it isn’t the only relevant number as the NCAA Tournament heads into the regional semifinals.
Here are some other numbers worth knowing for each team. These statistics will help you learn more about each of the remaining teams and could explain how some of them got this far.
EAST REGIONUCONN: In UConn’s second-round victory over Northwestern, Donovan Clingan became just the third player in tournament history to get 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks in a game. The others to do it were Hakeem Olajuwon for Houston in 1983 and David Robinson for Navy in 1986. The blocks also were the most ever by a UConn player in a tournament game.
SAN DIEGO STATE: The Aztecs’ Sweet 16 matchup with defending national champion UConn will mark the fourth time that two teams have faced each other in the tournament a year after meeting in the final. The losing team from the championship won the rematch in one of the three previous instances, when Duke beat UNLV in a 1991 semifinal. Cincinnati won two straight championship games over Ohio State in 1961-62. Florida beat UCLA in the 2006 championship game and in a 2007 semifinal.
ILLINOIS: Illinois has won six in a row, and Terrence Shannon Jr. has scored at least 25 points in each of those games. The 6-foot-6 guard has averaged 30.5 points and has shot 52.8% (56 of 106) from the floor during that stretch. He also shown an uncanny knack for drawing fouls during the streak. Over his last five games, Shannon has gone 51 of 58 on free-throw attempts.
IOWA STATE: Iowa State is allowing just 61.2 points per game to rank fourth among all Division I teams in scoring defense. Since falling 73-65 to Houston on Feb. 19, the Cyclones haven’t allowed any of their last 10 opponents to exceed 65 points. The Cyclones next face Illinois, which ranks ninth in points per game (84.6) and has averaged 91.3 points over its last four contests.
WEST REGIONALABAMA: Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada were the first set of Division I teammates since 1996-97 to both have at least 410 points, 125 assists, 120 rebounds, 50 3-point baskets and 40 steals during the regular season. Sears is averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals. Estrada has 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
NORTH CAROLINA: Armando Bacot had seven straight tournament double-doubles and six consecutive tourney games with at least 15 rebounds before he ended up with 18 points and seven boards in a second-round victory over Michigan State. His seven straight NCAA double-doubles matched Tim Duncan and Olajuwon for the NCAA record.
ARIZONA: Arizona’s first-round triumph over Long Beach State marked the 19th time this season the Wildcats had five different players score in double figures. No other Division I team had that many games this season in which five different players had at least 10 points.
CLEMSON: Each of Clemson’s first two tournament opponents has shot below 40% against the Tigers. Clemson won its first-round game by limiting New Mexico to 29.7% shooting, the lowest percentage the Tigers had ever allowed in an NCAA tourney game. Clemson now faces Arizona, which shot 52.8% in its second-round victory over Dayton.
MIDWEST REGIONCREIGHTON: Baylor Scheierman is the first Division I men’s player in history to have at least 2,000 career points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 3-point baskets. Scheierman, who is in his second season at Creighton after playing three seasons at South Dakota State, has 2,208 points, 1,250 rebounds, 578 assists and 352 3-pointers.
TENNESSEE: Tennessee is making its 10th Sweet 16 appearance – including its seventh in the last 18 years – but the Volunteers have never reached the Final Four and earned their lone regional final berth in 2010.
GONZAGA: Gonzaga is in the Sweet 16 for the ninth straight time, the longest active streak of any Division I team. Going back to 1975 – the first year that all teams had to win at least one game to reach the Sweet 16 – the record for consecutive Sweet 16 appearances is owned by North Carolina with 13 straight from 1981-93.
PURDUE: Zach Edey is the first player since Kareen Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) in 1968 to have at least 50 points and 35 rebounds while shooting 65% from the field in his first two games of an NCAA Tournament. Edey has shot 67.9% (19 of 28) and has totaled 53 points and 35 rebounds in victories over Grambling State and Utah State.
SOUTH REGIONDUKE: Jared McCain has gone 10 of 17 from 3-point range through the first two rounds. In the Blue Devils’ second-round blowout of James Madison, McCain became the first freshman to score at least 30 points without committing a turnover in an NCAA Tournament game since the event expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
HOUSTON: The Cougars showcased their depth by surviving a second-round matchup with Texas A&M in overtime even after four of their five starters fouled out. They became the first team to win an NCAA game while having at least four players foul out since 1987, when UTEP overcame foul trouble to beat Arizona.
MARQUETTE: Marquette owns a 75-29 record under coach Shaka Smart despite posting a negative rebound margin in each of his three seasons. The Golden Eagles have been outrebounded in each of their last eight games but have gone 5-3. They’re getting outrebounded by 3 boards per game this season. The only other Sweet 16 team with a negative rebound margin is North Carolina State (minus-0.8), which faces Marquette on Friday.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE: Mohamed Diarra has 6.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season, but he’s averaged 11.7 points and 13.5 rebounds over his last six. Michael O’Connell scored in double digits three times and totaled 14 3-point baskets in 31 regular-season games. He’s reached double figures in six of seven postseason games and has gone 12 of 22 from 3-point range during that stretch.