Steph Curry Is Intelligent Design
Evolution rarely follows predictable patterns. It’s a system built on optimization and efficiency rather than increased physical attributes. The chief concern is long-term sustainability, not world domination. It’s the reason dolphins developed echolocation, elephants can communicate from up to two miles away, and why octopus have every useful defense mechanism from God’s lost & found. It‘s also why Steph Curry isn’t just an all-time great basketball player—he’s intelligent design.
Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins phased out the Era of the Dominant Big-Man by being insanely gifted above-the-rim talents while in smaller, agile, more economical bodies. Kobe Bryant came along, added a dagger of a jump shot, and became a dominant sub-species within this new classification. Then evolution spawned its Great White in human form with LeBron James. He is the summit of bigger, stronger, faster — and as a result became the apex predator of counting stats.
Although the league is peppered with players who possess radical skillsets in unrelated bodies—like Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook—a spindly 6’3” 175lb (listed at 190 but we all know better) point guard with average muscle definition is currently the NBA’s most un-guardable player.
And it’s LeBron’s fault.
At 6'8" and 260lbs and often the highest jumping and fastest running player in the arena, LeBron is the edge of the map of natural, physical capacity. But the other part of James’ makeup — the part that separates him from Jordan and Kobe — stresses the value of being part of a construct, rather than the construct itself. Seemingly capable of lowering a shoulder and scoring 40 points whenever he damn well pleases, James remains aware and insistent of the better basketball play. Efficiency was introduced into the design process.
The result created the petri dish intelligent design had been waiting for, and Stephen Curry is what it came up with.
Curry’s control of the basketball is unique. It’s not the herky-jerky lateral movement of basketball charmer Allen Iverson. The Answer excelled at bringing out the inner-clumsy of defenders, but it was laborious and took a toll as games wore on. All of the sharp feints and fakes, aggressively seeking the right combination to unlock his opponent’s ankles eventually eroded his late-game efficiency. Steph is different, he just owns the basketball. In such a way that makes it seem simple, the ball is his, and he never seems too concerned about it being taken away. That confidence is rooted in a second-nature understanding of a moves effect before its execution. Since every defender’s stumble is premeditated, Steph has the time and awareness to unleash his other weapon: his shot.
Steph’s shooting form is pure, direct, intentional and efficient. Its quickness and fluidity is that of something typically found in the sea. Because it’s simple and requires a minute amount of energy, he can replicate it from unorthodox angles and varying levels of fatigue, without compromising efficacy. A Steph Curry 30-foot shots looks effortless because the entire motion looks “right.” It’s too fluid, too beautiful to be wrong.
The combination of the two abilities create moments of pure silliness we’ve only seen in video games with cheat codes.
Also outstanding is Curry’s uncommon efficiency around the rim, period—but particularly for a player his size. Despite giving up six inches, 50+ pounds, and enough body mass to grow another Nate Robinson, Curry (61%) has just a 3% difference in field goal percentage on shots within five-feet of the rim when compared to LeBron (64%). Steph has also outscored LeBron in these Playoffs, on fewer shots and in no-less impressive fashion. Curry turned 317 shots into 438 points while LeBron’s 386 points needed 346 shots.
As good as LeBron has been this Playoffs, Steph has been better. That may not feel true, but that’s evidence that our thinking has yet to catch up with the world we’re presently occupying—Steph Curry’s World.
When evolution replaces old models for more efficient ones it usually isn’t much of a fair fight. Dinosaurs never had a chance against the asteroid, mammoths couldn’t withstand the need for human survival, and Thursday LeBron will head into an NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors and Evolution.
