Why Steph Curry is the Greatest Scorer in NBA History

When we hear in the phrase “Greatest Scorer”, names like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant come to mind. Some hard-core basketball fans might argue Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar put up unparalleled scoring numbers (Wilt’s 50.4 points per game in 1961–1962 season, Kareem’s 38, 387 points scored during the course of his career) in their day. A few may even say that LeBron James is the greatest scorer ever, for he could be the first basketball player to score 40,000 points.

Surely it must be blasphemy to anoint a skinny, 6 foot 3 point guard, who has yet to score 10,000 points in his career, as the greatest scorer ever. Well, it isn’t and here’s why.

By the Numbers

Through 29 games this season, Wardell Stephen “Steph” Curry II has averaged an NBA-leading 30.8 points per game while shooting 51.3% from the field, 44.5% from beyond the arc and 90.5% from the charity stripe. If Steph were to maintain these numbers for the rest of the season, he would become the first player in NBA history to have a “50–40–90” season while averaging at least 30 points per game.

When looked at from an advanced statistics perspective, Curry’s statline looks even more impressive: he leads the league in Player Efficiency Rating (32.22), True Shooting Percentage (.680), Value Added (320.8) and Estimated Wins Added (10.7). Even if Steph’s shooting were to cool off dramatically, it is unlikely that he would fall out of the Top 5 in any these categories. While these advanced stats take into consideration other variables besides scoring, one has to score very efficiently (and very often) to lead the NBA in four different advanced statistical categories.

Curry’s dominance as a scorer hasn’t just been evident this season either. For much of his career, he has combined efficiency and volume at an elite level. In every season of his career, Curry has had a true shooting percentage of at least .565, well above the league average of .540. Last season, Curry recorded a True Shooting Percentage of .638, the highest of any high-usage NBA player. This True Shooting Percentage is higher than Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant ever had in any season of their careers. Additionally, Curry has averaged at least 22.5 points per game each of the last four seasons.

This season is no aberration; Curry is truly a special scorer.

Offensive Repetoire

While there are a few players who have matched Curry’s combination of volume and efficiency (Lebron, Durant and a few others), Curry has an unprecedented array of offensive moves at his disposal.

Curry’s indefatigable floater makes him a truly elite finisher around the rim. He can make the floater with either hand and has a quick release, making it very difficult to block. Additionally, Curry can use the backboard on his floater, allowing him to convert a very high percentage of such shots. Because of his floater, Curry is shooting 64.4 percent from 10 feet and in. To put this number into perspective, Lebron, who is regarded as one of the best finishers in the NBA, is shooting 62.0 percent from that area of the floor.

As we all know, Curry’s hot shooting extends well beyond the paint. For his career, Curry has shot 45 percent from the “dreaded” midrange (between 10 feet from the rim and the three point line) area . This number compares favorably with Durant’s (43 percent), Kobe’s (42 percent) and Lebron’s (37 percent). In addition to his marvelous midrange, Curry is perhaps the greatest three point shooter of all time. His career mark 44.1 percent from deep is second all time (behind just Steve Kerr) and he has shattered the mark for the number of made threes in a season twice, and is on his way to doing so a third time. By comparison, historically great shooters such as Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and Larry Bird shot 39.5, 40.0 and 37.6 percent from the three point line respectively.

Curry’s incomparable shooting is made all the more deadly by his crafty ball-handling and lightning-quick release. Curry posesses a tighter handle than contemporaries Lebron and Durant, giving him the ability to get into paint and create his own shot at any time in the game better than either of Lebron or Durant ever could. He releases the ball at a near-unprecedented speed making his shot a nightmare to defend. The combination of these two attributes, allows him to get off a shot even against the tightest defense. If you want evidence of this, look no further than what Curry did to Matthew Dellavedova in Game 6 of the 2015 NBA finals.

One knock against Curry is his inability to get to the free throw line. For his career, Curry has only averaged 3.7 free throw attemps per game, much less than high volume scorers like LeBron (8.5 free throw attempts per game), Durant (8.2), Jordan (8.2) and Kobe (7.5). This, however, can be accounted for by the fact that Curry attempts more long range shots than all of them (making it harder for him to draw contact) and that he (earlier in his career) avoided contact because of fears of injuring his knee. Nevertheless, Curry has improved his ability to drive the lane to the point where he now gets to the free throw line 6.5 times per game. When he does get to the line, he’s nearly automatic, for he has hit on 90.05% of his attempts, which is the the third-best mark in NBA history.

Fear-Inspiring Trademark Move

Kareem’s skyhook. Olajuwon’s dream shake. Dirk’s one-legged midrange fadeaway. And now Curry’s catch-and-shoot three.

Of the above mentioned signature moves, Curry’s may be the most deadly. Curry’s shot borders on unblockable (like Dirk’s and Kareem’s), because of his aforementioned release and ball-handling ability. Curry hits on 48 percent of such shots, the majority of which are a couple feet beyond the three point line. This is the equivalent of Kareem hitting 72 percent of his skyhooks or Dirk nailing 72 percent of his midrange fadeways. While I don’t exactly know what percentages either man had on their respective signature shot, it is fair to say that neither hit 72 percent of those shots.

The impact of Curry’s catch-and-shoot three, however, stretches far beyond the scoreboard. To an opposing defense, a made 27-foot catch-and-shoot jumper is far more demoralizing than a made 9-foot skyhook or 18-foot fadeaway midrange jumper. Whereas shots are made from 9 and 18 feet regularly, relatively few shots are made from 27-feet (yes, even in today’s three-happy NBA) giving them a “How Did That GO IN?” mystique. As soon as one goes in, opposing defenders will now think “Great, now they are hitting circus shots on us”. In addition to sucking the life out of the defense, they can re-energize an offense like few plays can. Seeing a fellow teammate hit a shot like that can boost your team’s confidence, especially if your team is down. Regardless of location or score, a shot like that has nearly unmatched effect.

And Steph Curry is the undisputed king of that shot.

Conclusion

Simply put, there has never been a scorer quite like Steph Curry.

Many of the great big men (Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain) were as efficient as Steph, but needed competent guards to get them the ball in certain places and were generally constrained to the paint. The few big men who didn’t have such limits on their game (Dirk Nowitzki, Hakeem Olajuwon) had ball-handling skills that pale in comparison to Steph’s.

The transcedent, hyper-athletic stars whose collective brand has defined the NBA for decades (Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James) lack Steph’s all-around shooting prowess.

Players whose careers was (and is) defined by their subliminal shooting (Jerry West, Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Kevin Durant) lack Steph’s ball-handling ability and his ability to get off tightly contested shots.

The elite few who’s combination of ball-handling and shooting rival those of Curry’s (Pete Maravich, Gilbert Arenas, Jamal Crawford, Kyrie Irving) are nowhere near as efficient as Curry is.

Perhaps it’s a little early to crown Curry as the greatest scorer ever. But, his pre-eminent combination of efficiency and skill is without precedent in NBA history.

(Note: All statistics are from http://www.basketball-reference.com/)