September 3, 2025 • 26 mins
Jason dives into Stephen Curry's greatness, how his age factors into his NBA ranking, his chemistry with Golden State Warriors co-stars Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, how Steph compares to a younger star like Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and why his impact goes beyond the box score.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops and I here
at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you
guys are having a great start to your week. We
are continuing our player rankings today with number six Steph Curry.
(00:25):
I'm very excited to dive into Steph Curry today. I
think he's actually becoming a little underrated again. It's kind
of a weird thing that has followed Steph Curry around
in his career as weird things happened, like he didn't
receive any finals MVP votes in twenty fifteen, or many
people thought Kevin Durant was better than him, or people
(00:45):
thought that he was going to fail right after Kevin
Durant left the team, and for whatever reason, it took
the twenty twenty two championship for people to properly respect
Steph Curry. But in his old age, similar to what
we were talking about with Lebron, I think Steph's entering
into a phase where he's being underrated by many folks
who follow the NBA right now. So I'm excited to
(01:07):
talk about Steph at number six in today's list. You
guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to
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(01:27):
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them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the year. All right,
let's talk some basketball. So Steph at number six actually
(01:50):
ended up being my toughest pick for the Superstar Tier.
There are some other tough ones, obviously, when we get
up into that trio that's like Shake Gilders, Alexander Giannis
and Lou That was a really tough one for me.
The group we just passed like that Donovan, Mitchell, kd
ad Lebron, Jalen Brunson, like that group. That was a
really tough group for me to rank. But this spot,
(02:12):
or more accurately, the five spot between Anthony Edwards and
Steph Curry, that was the toughest decision I had to make.
I you know, when I start this list, I always
do it like a week or two prior, and then
I forced myself to sleep on it a bunch of times,
and I keep reapproaching it with the fresh mind and
with the fresh at eyes, and I changed it a lot.
(02:35):
There were several things that moved around, but this was
the one that I moved around just about every time
I looked at it. There were several versions of this
list where I had Steph at five and Aunt at six,
but I ended up landing with Ant at five and
Steph at six, And it really came down to the
totality of the criteria for me, if both players were
healthy for a playoff series tomorrow, I would take Steph.
(02:56):
It's a small margin, but I would take Steph. I
think the OKC series last year for Aunt, as well
as the Dallas series the year before both the last
two Western Conference finals. I think they exposed Ant as
a guy who has some issues with high level half
court shot creation against the truly elite defenses in this league,
and we're obviously going to get into more detail about
(03:17):
that on Wednesday. I still think Steph's ability to break
defenses just simply by running around and drawing two to
the ball is still one of the most valuable pieces
of advantage creation in the entire NBA. In fact, I
think Steph right now, going into this next season, is
still the third best offensive engine in the entire NBA,
(03:41):
behind Nikoley Jokich and Luka Dancic. Ant has closed the
gap in a lot of ways. As much as he
struggled against Oklahoma City, which was obviously one of the
great defenses in modern NBA history, he was pretty good
against Golden State, and they weren't as good as ok
se defensively, but that was a very good defense. They
were the number one defense in the league after the
(04:02):
All Star Break, and Ant, you know, you guys remember
especially Games three and four, when you desperately needed one
game to extend that series so that Steph could potentially
come back. Ant was the guy driving the nail in
the coffin and the second piece of it. I think
Steph is, similar to what we were talking about with Lebron,
(04:23):
underrated in terms of his availability. He actually start to
dig into most of the guys on this tier, Kevin Durant,
Donovan Mitchell, Anthony Davis, Victor Women, Yama Giannis, and Tennakuombo.
These guys all missed more games. Luka Doncic, like, these
guys all missed more games than Steph Curry did over
the last couple of years. So like I think, similar
(04:46):
to what we were talking about with Lebron, I think
I think these guys are actually underrated in terms of
their availability. But Ant, to put it very simply, Ant
is the safest bet in the entire NBA this year
to actually make it through an entire regular season in
playoff run. Simple stat to demonstrate this. Steph missed sixteen
(05:06):
games last year, which is not that big of a deal.
I mean, the four playoff games obviously were bad, but
Steph missed sixteen playoff games sixteen games total last year.
Ant has missed nine games total in the last three years.
He's played seventy nine games in each of the last
three seasons. So again, this is the one where I
flip flopped the most, but to me Ant's overall availability
(05:28):
closed the gap and gave him a slight edge here.
And by the way, if your take is but Jason
Steph is a better playoff player than Ant, like, I
would agree with you. That's just not how this list
works though. So Steph comes in at number six this year.
Let's go over his last season really quick. And this
is where a lot of people are gonna lose their
shit because we have a lot of box score watchers
(05:49):
out there, because Steph didn't have a very statistically impressive season,
but I still view him as one of the very
best offensive engines in the NBA, which we're going to
talk about in more detail later and to end the season,
this is where it gets a little bit lost in
those statistics. Steph over the final twenty eight games of
the year, was producing at a substantially higher level than
(06:10):
he did the first two thirds of the year. But
again we'll talk about that in a little bit. I
want to start with the large sample first. So he
played seventy games, second consecutive season with over seventy games played. Again,
he's been more reliable in terms of his regular season
availability than most of the players in the Superstar tier.
The only real counterpoint here is the Timberwolve series when
he pulled his hamstring. That's certainly worth mentioning. If you're
(06:30):
unavailable in a playoff game, that's certainly a down mark.
He averaged twenty five points, four rebounds, and six assists
per games per game this season one point one steals
per game. That was his highest steals mark since twenty
twenty two. Kind of a resurgence for Steph on the
defensive end this year for a better Warriors defense. In
that post All Star Break stretch when Jimmy Butler was
(06:51):
on the roster, Steph averaged one point four steals per
game as he became a very useful part of the
number one ranked defense in the NBA after the All
Star Break. Here's the thing with Steph on the defensive end.
I wanna spend just a couple minutes talking about defense,
and they'll spend the rest of the show talking about offense.
He obviously has some limitations on the ball. He's smaller, right,
(07:15):
But I think a lot of this is overblown by
most folks When you actually look at All Star guards
shot creating guards like skill guards in the NBA, almost
all of them get targeted. There are a handful of exceptions,
like you're not going to try to attack ant one
on one, right, then he's technically a skill guard who's
(07:38):
initiating offense. But most of the All Star guards in
the NBA are also smaller, are also guys that have
a lot of offensive workload and don't devote all their
energy to the defensive end of the floor. That's kind
of inherent to that position group. And I actually think
Steph does better than most All Star guards as an
(07:59):
on ball defender. When you try to attack him on
an island, he's surprisingly strong, he's surprisingly big, He's like six',
three he moves his feet very well, laterally and he's
a super smart defender that knows how to anticipate what
direction you're. Going you, know he's had a funnel as
part of their defensive. SCHEME i Think steph's a good
on ball defender for his position. Group he's obviously not
going to be the same level of impact as the,
(08:19):
bigger better athletes in the, league but again compared to
small to compared to skill, GUARDS i think he does really.
Well WHERE i Think steph has actually managed to become
a quality defender for his position group is as an
off ball. Defender he's very good at reading plays as they,
develop getting out in front of, them and breaking them
up with his. Hands most of his steels come from
playing passing lanes or from tagging. Rollers we covered this
(08:41):
in film sessions last, year but he's really good at
like kind of sitting behind the roller and making him
look like he's open and then shooting the gap at
the last second and poking the ball, away which is
igniting fast breaks going the other. Way so, again like
all skill guards in THE, nba come with certain, limitations
BUT i Think steph does better there than most guys.
Do his percentages last year forty five percent from the,
(09:02):
field forty percent from three to ninety three percent from
the line that came down to fifty seven percent and
effective field one, percentage and sixty two percent in true.
Shooting now let's talk about his late season. SEARCH i
preached for two years that The warriors desperately needed to
upgrade in terms of their star. Talent RIGHT i have
(09:22):
complimented The warriors front office for the work they've done
on the back end of their. ROSTER i think them
being able to like reasonably find fifteen dudes who could
play last, year fourteen fifteen dudes who could, PLAY i
think is a testament to the two. Things one the
way That steph can invert spacing and make shooting less,
important but two which we'll talk about more in a.
Minute but the second piece of it is The warriors
(09:44):
front office has tracked down a lot of these like
veteran minimum to way like end of the roster type
of guys who are like pretty high BASKETBALL, iq pretty
athletic and quick laterally who all can like step in
and play rotation. Minutes so to their, credit the front
office has been. GOOD i, mean at the kaminga, SITUATION
i blame On Joe. LACUB i don't think that's a
(10:05):
front office. ISSUE i think that's A joe lacub issue
and really them. Mismanaging that is why they haven't had
the star. Talent but there's been a gaping hole in
terms of like that high level offensive player that can
play Alongside. Steph ever Since Kevin durant left And Klay.
Thompson Klay thompson was able to carry that load And
(10:26):
Jordan poole was able to carry that load in that
championship run in twenty twenty Two Andrew wiggins as, Well
but As wiggins, declined As Jordan poole declined and was,
traded and As Klay thompson, declined them mismanaging the kaminga
situation made it so that they weren't able to replace
that specific. Role but in that as a result of,
that for the majority of last, season in the previous,
(10:47):
SEASON i don't Think steph had a great deal of
belief in what they were. Doing we talk about this
all the, time but, like as a, competitor it's very
important to believe in your ability to achieve the ultimate.
Goal there's a lot of, blood, sweat and tears that
goes into reaching that peak of basketball. Performance and like
it's hard to put yourself through that if you don't
(11:07):
think there's going to be a payoff at the. End
The warriors roster before The jimmy trade had no. Shot
but they bring In jimmy all of a, sudden Both
steph And DRAYMOND i like lit a fire underneath. Them
it moved him firmly into that group of second tier
contenders that had a Legitimate puncher's chance to win the,
(11:28):
title and both of them locked. In draymond was amazing
down the stretch as he anchored the number one defense
in the league in that, span and Then steph went
up a level again to start the. Year Before Jimmy
butler joined the, Team steph average just twenty twenty two
point seven points per game on fifty nine percent true.
Shooting over those final twenty eight. Games After jimmy joined the,
(11:50):
Team steph's production skyrocketed to twenty seven point three points
per game on sixty six percent trough shooting sixty six.
Percent The warriors went twenty two to six over those
twenty eight games With steph on the, floor and they
beat the two seed in The Western conference first round
on the. Road, now that insane workload ended up Wearing
(12:14):
steph down and he ended up breaking down in That timberwolve.
Series but during that, Stretch steph was able to reach
a level that matched the top tier superstars in the. League,
again that's the criteria for this tier of players From
ant that group from five all the way down to.
Fourteen whether It's ant And wemby for youthful, inconsistency or
(12:35):
It's kawuhi And joel embiid age related Or Lebron steph
kd age, related you, Know Jalen, brunson a little bit
of shot variance and this lack of size and ability
to impact the game, defensively whatever it. Is those groups that,
group all of them have, inconsistency but they have to
(12:55):
in order to be in that tier for, me they
have to be able to reach that top tier level
for stretches And STEPH i thought reached that over the
the final third of the. Season. Essentially All, right some
quick play type data and then we'll dive more into
the idea Of steph as an offensive. Engine he ran
eight hundred and ninety nine pick and rolls last year including.
(13:15):
Passes he got one point zero five points per possession in.
Them that was in the seventy seventh, percentile ranked thirteenth
out of the twenty six players to log at least
seven hundred and fifty pick and. Rolls, now that may
not seem like a super impressive, statistic but, again when
you're talking about pick and roll including, PASSES i think
that's pretty incredible considering the level of offensive talent that
(13:35):
he was surrounded. With, again for a large chunk of the.
Year it was Like Andrew wiggins not the best version
of him, Either and you, Know Brandon pajemski And Moses
moody and Inconsistent Jonathan kaminga and a lot of, young
flawed role players in the lineup like it was not you,
Know Buddy yield was out there with his inconsistent, shooting
(13:57):
like it was not the best set of offensive talent
that he was playing, with and he was still producing
at a high level offensively when he was on the
floor with those. Guys, now similar To, lebron he's not
the same one on one player he was in years.
Past when he shot out OF. Iso last year he
got to zero point eight seven points per, possession which
was below. Average now, AGAIN i think it's just more matchup.
(14:18):
Oriented if you Give steph an upright, wing someone like
Of Dylan, Brooks Sir Jabari Smith junior like we saw
in The rocket, SERIES i think he can shake those
guys and get good looks one on. One but the,
smaller quicker, Guards steph's having a lot harder time getting
separated from those guys than he used. To that is
obviously reflecting in the one on one. Numbers, So, jason
(14:42):
If steph's production in play type data is generally mediocre
compared to his, peers why do you have him all
the way up at number? Six for similar reasons to
why Had Tyrese haliburton in the top ten Despite tyree
said even less impressive statistical production Than. Steph really comes
down to this simple idea THAT i want to dive into.
(15:02):
Here the threat Of Steph curry as a shooter coming
off of an on or off fall screen is still
so substantial that it breaks defenses and creates countless advantages
for his teammates to benefit. From let's start with the
simple fact that the fear Of steph in these situations is.
(15:25):
Legitimate these coaches are scared for a. Reason these players
are scared for a. Reason here are three basic stats
that demonstrate this. Fact, first you simply cannot Leave steph
open an unguarded catch and shoot. Threes last year he
shot fifty two percent in more than half of. Them
that's more than one point five points per. Shot you
(15:47):
cannot leave him. Open, secondly you have to play up
on his shot when he's. Dribbling he was the best
pull up jump shooter in THE nba last. Year he
was the only player in the ENTIRE nba last year
to attempt a. Lease he's five hundred shots off the
dribble and to get over one point one points per
attempt on. Them thirteen players attempted that many the other
(16:08):
twelve were below one point one points per. Attempt so
when he's, dribbling you gotta be up on the. Shot
and then, lastly when it comes to off ball screens
or dribble, handoffs anything that Has steph running into the,
ball you simply have to have someone meet him on
the other. Side if you let him come off free
and clear and, shoot it's going to go poorly for.
(16:29):
You on both dribble handoffs and off screen. Possessions last,
Year steph shot forty four percent from three on off screen.
Plays in, particular he was by far the best player
in the. League he made one hundred and nine shots
coming off of off ball. Screens that was twenty one
more Than Devin booker in second, place and he was
(16:50):
far and away the most. Efficient there were eighteen players
that logged at least one hundred possessions shooting off of
off ball. Screens steph was the only player to log
over a one point two offensive, rating he was at
one point two to. Two second place Was jokic at
one point one, seven five points better than the second
best player in the field per one hundred. Shots, again
(17:11):
if you Let steph come off of an off ball
screen and, shoot it was a one to twenty two offensive.
Rating so, Yeah steph's overall scoring numbers weren't as impressive
over the last couple of. Years why because he was
surrounded by extremely limited offensive, talent which forced him to
take a lot of really difficult shots and to do
it against some pretty absurd defensive. Coverages but the problem
(17:36):
for defenses. Persists if you Leave steph, open he's gonna
hit more than half of his. Threes if you Give
steph space when he's, dribbling he's the best pull up
shooter in THE. Nba and if you let him come
clean off of a dribble handoff or a wide pin,
down he's literally gonna hit forty four percent of his.
Threes so what does that? Mean it means THAT nba
(18:00):
coaches don't give a shit about what His Basketball reference page.
Says it MEANS nba players who have to guard him
don't give a. Shit what His His Basketball reference page,
says they know how Good Steph curry is and they
always account for. Him when he catches at the three point,
line they panic chase him off the. Line when he's,
(18:21):
dribbling they play up on the shot. Aggressively those two
things allow him to generate a ton of dribble penetration
as those defenders go past. Him they make mistakes on
switches because they never want to leave him, open which
leaves countless openings on the other side when the other
guy is wide. Open and then every time he comes
(18:43):
off of an on or off ball screen of any,
type there's always the big or whoever it, is meeting
him on the other side because they cannot allow him
to come off free and clear because he's going to
hit forty four percent of those, threes and so as a,
result they generate countless four on three advantages on the back. End, so,
(19:05):
Yeah steph didn't reach the same individual ceiling he did
in years past, statistically but he was still one of
the very best advantage creators in the ENTIRE nba last,
year and the proof is in the. Numbers according To
cleaning The, glass which just filters out garbage, time The
warriors With Steph curry on the floor last year loggeday
one twenty offensive. Rating that Group, Pajemski, Wiggins, Moody Jimmy
(19:33):
butler for a third of the Year buddy yield one
twenty offensive. Rating they were thirteen points per one hundred
possessions worse on offense When steph stepped off the. Floor
so to put it very, simply just the threat Of steph's,
shooting even when he's not producing at a super high level,
(19:54):
individually is enough to make a mediocre group of offensive
players and elite offense in THE. Nba, again just for,
perspective The cavs had the number one offense in THE
nba last year at a one twenty one offensive Rating
steph on the, floor according To cleaning The glass one.
Twenty by the, way we talked about this in the,
intro but the failure to understand this very simple concept
(20:18):
is what led To steph being so underrated for most
of his. Prime you want to know Why steph didn't Win, FINALS,
mvp or even receive a single vote in twenty. Fifteen
you want to know why everyone THOUGHT kd was better
than him when they were. Together you want to know
Why Damian lillard and so many others thought The warriors
were just going to fall apart AFTER kd. Left you
(20:41):
want to know why it took the twenty twenty two
title for people to properly Respect Steph and you want
to know why so many people are going to hate
this ranking and view him as less than what he
is to this. Day it was this, concept this idea
Of steph running off of, screens running off of on
(21:02):
and off ball, screens and the threat of his shooting
creating all of these openings in people being unable to see.
It people literally Watched steph draw two to the ball
over and over again at the end of the twenty fifteen,
finals but Because Andre guodala was the beneficiary with wide
open corner threes and cutting, dunks he Won FINALS. Mvp
(21:25):
that's how much it broke people's. Brains it became a,
buzzword right, gravity so much so THAT i think it
almost became something that people made fun Of warriors fans.
For but it is the reality of what it's like
to play basketball on the same team As Steph curry
time and time. Again year after, year people saw The
warriors play basketball and they couldn't see what he was
(21:47):
doing to make things work for their, offense even in
THE kd. Years in twenty, seventeen When stepha was on
the floor AND kd was, off they had a one
to nineteen offensive, rating which was incredible for that. Era
WHEN kd was the floor And steph was off one
oh nine offensive rating a ten point. Difference it was
a nine point difference in twenty. Eighteen, LOOK i Think
(22:11):
steph fans get carried away when they start trying to
stack him up Against lebron and trying to say that
he's better Than, Lebron but they aren't far off in
their assessment of. HIM i think he's the fifth best
perimeter player of all. TIME i think he's the second
best offensive Engine i've ever, seen Behind Nikola jokic And,
(22:31):
FRANKLY i just don't understand why so many people have
struggled to see it over the. Years steph always also
provides you with a great deal of team building flexibility
Without steph on the. Floor this, YEAR i should, say
if you Take steph's threes out of the, equation The
warriors shot nine hundred and fifty three for twenty six
(22:53):
hundred and ninety one from three that was thirty five,
percent which is already not very good under any circumstances
before you factor in that most of those threes were
essentially conceded by the defense as they Overplayed steph and
tried to force guys Like draymond And Brandon pazemski to
shoot and knock down. Threes, right how do you get
(23:14):
away with having that level of shooting and still post
a one to twenty offensive rating with steps on the
Four it's because of his ability to invert. Spacing him
constantly pulling bigs out to the, perimeter as they had
to show on, screens created four on threes without rim.
Protectors that Allowed Golden state's management to focus onloading up
(23:38):
on smart athletes that can defend rather than needing. Shooters
not to be, clear if they want to reach championship,
CEILING i think they're gonna need to add more. Shooting
it's Why i'm stoked about them potentially Adding Al. Horford
it's Why i'd be great if they could get some
shooting talent back and A Jonathan cominga signed in. Trade
but the amount of shooting they need is less than
most teams need because of this unique dynamic That steph
(24:01):
creates again we talked about it, earlier but like he
created a role on offense That draymond can thrive. In
there are many teams in this league That draymond could
immediately make better on, defense but there aren't too many
teams in this league that he could be a functioning
(24:21):
part of. Offensively not the case In Golden. State he's
been wonderful there because of that inverted spacing dynamic we're
talking about. Now one last copyat Was steph before we
kind of get into closing things up. Today there is
a big difference Between steph when he's being an offensive
engine versus when he's being an offensive engine that is
(24:43):
also hanging twenty seven points per game on sixty six
percent through. Shooting The warriors offense last, year even just
looking from Before jimmy joined the team to After jimmy
joined the, team When steph won up a, level The
warriors offense was four. Points it's better per one hundred
possessions in that stretch After february eighth than it was
(25:04):
the entire season before. That so as we look at next,
season one of the biggest swing factors For stephan The
warriors in terms of the level of success they will,
reach and how much of a chance they have to
compete for the. Title it's going to come down to
what version Of steph are we. Getting are we getting
twenty two point per game fifty nine percent true Shooting
steph or are we getting twenty seven point per game
(25:27):
sixty five percent true Shooting. Steph that's going to be
a big swing. Factor the threat Of steph shooting is
enough to make any offense, good but it will take
the threat of step shooting and him managing to hit
high volume and efficiency numbers as an individual for them
to hoist the trophy this. Year if that's your ultimate
goal to something to keep an eye, ON i just
(25:49):
Use steph as a player that is far more valuable
than his box score production would lead you to. Believe
just the sheer threat of his shooting ability turned an
incredibly limited offensive roster last year until one twenty offensive
raiding unit when he was on the. Floor according To
cleaning The, glass he's still one of the very best
offensive engines in the ENTIRE. Nba LIKE i mentioned, Earlier
(26:12):
i'd rank him third Behind Nikola jokic And Luka, doncic
and he demonstrated last year down the stretch that he
can still hit that superstar volume in efficiency as a.
Score you combine that with him being one of the
better defenders among skill guards in the, league an incredibly
stable leadership. PRESENCE i think he's one of the best
leaders in THE. Nba he's more experienced than many of
(26:35):
the players in this. TIER i Have steph holding down
the number six spot in this year's player. Rankings All, right,
guys that's ALL i have for today is always to
sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us in supporting the.
Show we will be back On wednesday with a deep
dive Into Anthony. EDWARDS i will see you guys then
The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops and I here
at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you
guys are having a great start to your week. We
are continuing our player rankings today with number six Steph Curry.
(00:25):
I'm very excited to dive into Steph Curry today. I
think he's actually becoming a little underrated again. It's kind
of a weird thing that has followed Steph Curry around
in his career as weird things happened, like he didn't
receive any finals MVP votes in twenty fifteen, or many
people thought Kevin Durant was better than him, or people
(00:45):
thought that he was going to fail right after Kevin
Durant left the team, and for whatever reason, it took
the twenty twenty two championship for people to properly respect
Steph Curry. But in his old age, similar to what
we were talking about with Lebron, I think Steph's entering
into a phase where he's being underrated by many folks
who follow the NBA right now. So I'm excited to
(01:07):
talk about Steph at number six in today's list. You
guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to
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sure you guys follow us there. In the last, but
(01:27):
not least, if you guys want to get mail bag
questions into our mail bags, drop them under our full
episodes in the YouTube comments right mail bag with a
colon and then drop your question in there. It can
be about this player rankings list, it can be about
literally anything. Drop them in there and we'll get to
them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the year. All right,
let's talk some basketball. So Steph at number six actually
(01:50):
ended up being my toughest pick for the Superstar Tier.
There are some other tough ones, obviously, when we get
up into that trio that's like Shake Gilders, Alexander Giannis
and Lou That was a really tough one for me.
The group we just passed like that Donovan, Mitchell, kd
ad Lebron, Jalen Brunson, like that group. That was a
really tough group for me to rank. But this spot,
(02:12):
or more accurately, the five spot between Anthony Edwards and
Steph Curry, that was the toughest decision I had to make.
I you know, when I start this list, I always
do it like a week or two prior, and then
I forced myself to sleep on it a bunch of times,
and I keep reapproaching it with the fresh mind and
with the fresh at eyes, and I changed it a lot.
(02:35):
There were several things that moved around, but this was
the one that I moved around just about every time
I looked at it. There were several versions of this
list where I had Steph at five and Aunt at six,
but I ended up landing with Ant at five and
Steph at six, And it really came down to the
totality of the criteria for me, if both players were
healthy for a playoff series tomorrow, I would take Steph.
(02:56):
It's a small margin, but I would take Steph. I
think the OKC series last year for Aunt, as well
as the Dallas series the year before both the last
two Western Conference finals. I think they exposed Ant as
a guy who has some issues with high level half
court shot creation against the truly elite defenses in this league,
and we're obviously going to get into more detail about
(03:17):
that on Wednesday. I still think Steph's ability to break
defenses just simply by running around and drawing two to
the ball is still one of the most valuable pieces
of advantage creation in the entire NBA. In fact, I
think Steph right now, going into this next season, is
still the third best offensive engine in the entire NBA,
(03:41):
behind Nikoley Jokich and Luka Dancic. Ant has closed the
gap in a lot of ways. As much as he
struggled against Oklahoma City, which was obviously one of the
great defenses in modern NBA history, he was pretty good
against Golden State, and they weren't as good as ok
se defensively, but that was a very good defense. They
were the number one defense in the league after the
(04:02):
All Star Break, and Ant, you know, you guys remember
especially Games three and four, when you desperately needed one
game to extend that series so that Steph could potentially
come back. Ant was the guy driving the nail in
the coffin and the second piece of it. I think
Steph is, similar to what we were talking about with Lebron,
(04:23):
underrated in terms of his availability. He actually start to
dig into most of the guys on this tier, Kevin Durant,
Donovan Mitchell, Anthony Davis, Victor Women, Yama Giannis, and Tennakuombo.
These guys all missed more games. Luka Doncic, like, these
guys all missed more games than Steph Curry did over
the last couple of years. So like I think, similar
(04:46):
to what we were talking about with Lebron, I think
I think these guys are actually underrated in terms of
their availability. But Ant, to put it very simply, Ant
is the safest bet in the entire NBA this year
to actually make it through an entire regular season in
playoff run. Simple stat to demonstrate this. Steph missed sixteen
(05:06):
games last year, which is not that big of a deal.
I mean, the four playoff games obviously were bad, but
Steph missed sixteen playoff games sixteen games total last year.
Ant has missed nine games total in the last three years.
He's played seventy nine games in each of the last
three seasons. So again, this is the one where I
flip flopped the most, but to me Ant's overall availability
(05:28):
closed the gap and gave him a slight edge here.
And by the way, if your take is but Jason
Steph is a better playoff player than Ant, like, I
would agree with you. That's just not how this list
works though. So Steph comes in at number six this year.
Let's go over his last season really quick. And this
is where a lot of people are gonna lose their
shit because we have a lot of box score watchers
(05:49):
out there, because Steph didn't have a very statistically impressive season,
but I still view him as one of the very
best offensive engines in the NBA, which we're going to
talk about in more detail later and to end the season,
this is where it gets a little bit lost in
those statistics. Steph over the final twenty eight games of
the year, was producing at a substantially higher level than
(06:10):
he did the first two thirds of the year. But
again we'll talk about that in a little bit. I
want to start with the large sample first. So he
played seventy games, second consecutive season with over seventy games played. Again,
he's been more reliable in terms of his regular season
availability than most of the players in the Superstar tier.
The only real counterpoint here is the Timberwolve series when
he pulled his hamstring. That's certainly worth mentioning. If you're
(06:30):
unavailable in a playoff game, that's certainly a down mark.
He averaged twenty five points, four rebounds, and six assists
per games per game this season one point one steals
per game. That was his highest steals mark since twenty
twenty two. Kind of a resurgence for Steph on the
defensive end this year for a better Warriors defense. In
that post All Star Break stretch when Jimmy Butler was
(06:51):
on the roster, Steph averaged one point four steals per
game as he became a very useful part of the
number one ranked defense in the NBA after the All
Star Break. Here's the thing with Steph on the defensive end.
I wanna spend just a couple minutes talking about defense,
and they'll spend the rest of the show talking about offense.
He obviously has some limitations on the ball. He's smaller, right,
(07:15):
But I think a lot of this is overblown by
most folks When you actually look at All Star guards
shot creating guards like skill guards in the NBA, almost
all of them get targeted. There are a handful of exceptions,
like you're not going to try to attack ant one
on one, right, then he's technically a skill guard who's
(07:38):
initiating offense. But most of the All Star guards in
the NBA are also smaller, are also guys that have
a lot of offensive workload and don't devote all their
energy to the defensive end of the floor. That's kind
of inherent to that position group. And I actually think
Steph does better than most All Star guards as an
(07:59):
on ball defender. When you try to attack him on
an island, he's surprisingly strong, he's surprisingly big, He's like six',
three he moves his feet very well, laterally and he's
a super smart defender that knows how to anticipate what
direction you're. Going you, know he's had a funnel as
part of their defensive. SCHEME i Think steph's a good
on ball defender for his position. Group he's obviously not
going to be the same level of impact as the,
(08:19):
bigger better athletes in the, league but again compared to
small to compared to skill, GUARDS i think he does really.
Well WHERE i Think steph has actually managed to become
a quality defender for his position group is as an
off ball. Defender he's very good at reading plays as they,
develop getting out in front of, them and breaking them
up with his. Hands most of his steels come from
playing passing lanes or from tagging. Rollers we covered this
(08:41):
in film sessions last, year but he's really good at
like kind of sitting behind the roller and making him
look like he's open and then shooting the gap at
the last second and poking the ball, away which is
igniting fast breaks going the other. Way so, again like
all skill guards in THE, nba come with certain, limitations
BUT i Think steph does better there than most guys.
Do his percentages last year forty five percent from the,
(09:02):
field forty percent from three to ninety three percent from
the line that came down to fifty seven percent and
effective field one, percentage and sixty two percent in true.
Shooting now let's talk about his late season. SEARCH i
preached for two years that The warriors desperately needed to
upgrade in terms of their star. Talent RIGHT i have
(09:22):
complimented The warriors front office for the work they've done
on the back end of their. ROSTER i think them
being able to like reasonably find fifteen dudes who could
play last, year fourteen fifteen dudes who could, PLAY i
think is a testament to the two. Things one the
way That steph can invert spacing and make shooting less,
important but two which we'll talk about more in a.
Minute but the second piece of it is The warriors
(09:44):
front office has tracked down a lot of these like
veteran minimum to way like end of the roster type
of guys who are like pretty high BASKETBALL, iq pretty
athletic and quick laterally who all can like step in
and play rotation. Minutes so to their, credit the front
office has been. GOOD i, mean at the kaminga, SITUATION
i blame On Joe. LACUB i don't think that's a
(10:05):
front office. ISSUE i think that's A joe lacub issue
and really them. Mismanaging that is why they haven't had
the star. Talent but there's been a gaping hole in
terms of like that high level offensive player that can
play Alongside. Steph ever Since Kevin durant left And Klay.
Thompson Klay thompson was able to carry that load And
(10:26):
Jordan poole was able to carry that load in that
championship run in twenty twenty Two Andrew wiggins as, Well
but As wiggins, declined As Jordan poole declined and was,
traded and As Klay thompson, declined them mismanaging the kaminga
situation made it so that they weren't able to replace
that specific. Role but in that as a result of,
that for the majority of last, season in the previous,
(10:47):
SEASON i don't Think steph had a great deal of
belief in what they were. Doing we talk about this
all the, time but, like as a, competitor it's very
important to believe in your ability to achieve the ultimate.
Goal there's a lot of, blood, sweat and tears that
goes into reaching that peak of basketball. Performance and like
it's hard to put yourself through that if you don't
(11:07):
think there's going to be a payoff at the. End
The warriors roster before The jimmy trade had no. Shot
but they bring In jimmy all of a, sudden Both
steph And DRAYMOND i like lit a fire underneath. Them
it moved him firmly into that group of second tier
contenders that had a Legitimate puncher's chance to win the,
(11:28):
title and both of them locked. In draymond was amazing
down the stretch as he anchored the number one defense
in the league in that, span and Then steph went
up a level again to start the. Year Before Jimmy
butler joined the, Team steph average just twenty twenty two
point seven points per game on fifty nine percent true.
Shooting over those final twenty eight. Games After jimmy joined the,
(11:50):
Team steph's production skyrocketed to twenty seven point three points
per game on sixty six percent trough shooting sixty six.
Percent The warriors went twenty two to six over those
twenty eight games With steph on the, floor and they
beat the two seed in The Western conference first round
on the. Road, now that insane workload ended up Wearing
(12:14):
steph down and he ended up breaking down in That timberwolve.
Series but during that, Stretch steph was able to reach
a level that matched the top tier superstars in the. League,
again that's the criteria for this tier of players From
ant that group from five all the way down to.
Fourteen whether It's ant And wemby for youthful, inconsistency or
(12:35):
It's kawuhi And joel embiid age related Or Lebron steph
kd age, related you, Know Jalen, brunson a little bit
of shot variance and this lack of size and ability
to impact the game, defensively whatever it. Is those groups that,
group all of them have, inconsistency but they have to
(12:55):
in order to be in that tier for, me they
have to be able to reach that top tier level
for stretches And STEPH i thought reached that over the
the final third of the. Season. Essentially All, right some
quick play type data and then we'll dive more into
the idea Of steph as an offensive. Engine he ran
eight hundred and ninety nine pick and rolls last year including.
(13:15):
Passes he got one point zero five points per possession in.
Them that was in the seventy seventh, percentile ranked thirteenth
out of the twenty six players to log at least
seven hundred and fifty pick and. Rolls, now that may
not seem like a super impressive, statistic but, again when
you're talking about pick and roll including, PASSES i think
that's pretty incredible considering the level of offensive talent that
(13:35):
he was surrounded. With, again for a large chunk of the.
Year it was Like Andrew wiggins not the best version
of him, Either and you, Know Brandon pajemski And Moses
moody and Inconsistent Jonathan kaminga and a lot of, young
flawed role players in the lineup like it was not you,
Know Buddy yield was out there with his inconsistent, shooting
(13:57):
like it was not the best set of offensive talent
that he was playing, with and he was still producing
at a high level offensively when he was on the
floor with those. Guys, now similar To, lebron he's not
the same one on one player he was in years.
Past when he shot out OF. Iso last year he
got to zero point eight seven points per, possession which
was below. Average now, AGAIN i think it's just more matchup.
(14:18):
Oriented if you Give steph an upright, wing someone like
Of Dylan, Brooks Sir Jabari Smith junior like we saw
in The rocket, SERIES i think he can shake those
guys and get good looks one on. One but the,
smaller quicker, Guards steph's having a lot harder time getting
separated from those guys than he used. To that is
obviously reflecting in the one on one. Numbers, So, jason
(14:42):
If steph's production in play type data is generally mediocre
compared to his, peers why do you have him all
the way up at number? Six for similar reasons to
why Had Tyrese haliburton in the top ten Despite tyree
said even less impressive statistical production Than. Steph really comes
down to this simple idea THAT i want to dive into.
(15:02):
Here the threat Of Steph curry as a shooter coming
off of an on or off fall screen is still
so substantial that it breaks defenses and creates countless advantages
for his teammates to benefit. From let's start with the
simple fact that the fear Of steph in these situations is.
(15:25):
Legitimate these coaches are scared for a. Reason these players
are scared for a. Reason here are three basic stats
that demonstrate this. Fact, first you simply cannot Leave steph
open an unguarded catch and shoot. Threes last year he
shot fifty two percent in more than half of. Them
that's more than one point five points per. Shot you
(15:47):
cannot leave him. Open, secondly you have to play up
on his shot when he's. Dribbling he was the best
pull up jump shooter in THE nba last. Year he
was the only player in the ENTIRE nba last year
to attempt a. Lease he's five hundred shots off the
dribble and to get over one point one points per
attempt on. Them thirteen players attempted that many the other
(16:08):
twelve were below one point one points per. Attempt so
when he's, dribbling you gotta be up on the. Shot
and then, lastly when it comes to off ball screens
or dribble, handoffs anything that Has steph running into the,
ball you simply have to have someone meet him on
the other. Side if you let him come off free
and clear and, shoot it's going to go poorly for.
(16:29):
You on both dribble handoffs and off screen. Possessions last,
Year steph shot forty four percent from three on off screen.
Plays in, particular he was by far the best player
in the. League he made one hundred and nine shots
coming off of off ball. Screens that was twenty one
more Than Devin booker in second, place and he was
(16:50):
far and away the most. Efficient there were eighteen players
that logged at least one hundred possessions shooting off of
off ball. Screens steph was the only player to log
over a one point two offensive, rating he was at
one point two to. Two second place Was jokic at
one point one, seven five points better than the second
best player in the field per one hundred. Shots, again
(17:11):
if you Let steph come off of an off ball
screen and, shoot it was a one to twenty two offensive.
Rating so, Yeah steph's overall scoring numbers weren't as impressive
over the last couple of. Years why because he was
surrounded by extremely limited offensive, talent which forced him to
take a lot of really difficult shots and to do
it against some pretty absurd defensive. Coverages but the problem
(17:36):
for defenses. Persists if you Leave steph, open he's gonna
hit more than half of his. Threes if you Give
steph space when he's, dribbling he's the best pull up
shooter in THE. Nba and if you let him come
clean off of a dribble handoff or a wide pin,
down he's literally gonna hit forty four percent of his.
Threes so what does that? Mean it means THAT nba
(18:00):
coaches don't give a shit about what His Basketball reference page.
Says it MEANS nba players who have to guard him
don't give a. Shit what His His Basketball reference page,
says they know how Good Steph curry is and they
always account for. Him when he catches at the three point,
line they panic chase him off the. Line when he's,
(18:21):
dribbling they play up on the shot. Aggressively those two
things allow him to generate a ton of dribble penetration
as those defenders go past. Him they make mistakes on
switches because they never want to leave him, open which
leaves countless openings on the other side when the other
guy is wide. Open and then every time he comes
(18:43):
off of an on or off ball screen of any,
type there's always the big or whoever it, is meeting
him on the other side because they cannot allow him
to come off free and clear because he's going to
hit forty four percent of those, threes and so as a,
result they generate countless four on three advantages on the back. End, so,
(19:05):
Yeah steph didn't reach the same individual ceiling he did
in years past, statistically but he was still one of
the very best advantage creators in the ENTIRE nba last,
year and the proof is in the. Numbers according To
cleaning The, glass which just filters out garbage, time The
warriors With Steph curry on the floor last year loggeday
one twenty offensive. Rating that Group, Pajemski, Wiggins, Moody Jimmy
(19:33):
butler for a third of the Year buddy yield one
twenty offensive. Rating they were thirteen points per one hundred
possessions worse on offense When steph stepped off the. Floor
so to put it very, simply just the threat Of steph's,
shooting even when he's not producing at a super high level,
(19:54):
individually is enough to make a mediocre group of offensive
players and elite offense in THE. Nba, again just for,
perspective The cavs had the number one offense in THE
nba last year at a one twenty one offensive Rating
steph on the, floor according To cleaning The glass one.
Twenty by the, way we talked about this in the,
intro but the failure to understand this very simple concept
(20:18):
is what led To steph being so underrated for most
of his. Prime you want to know Why steph didn't Win, FINALS,
mvp or even receive a single vote in twenty. Fifteen
you want to know why everyone THOUGHT kd was better
than him when they were. Together you want to know
Why Damian lillard and so many others thought The warriors
were just going to fall apart AFTER kd. Left you
(20:41):
want to know why it took the twenty twenty two
title for people to properly Respect Steph and you want
to know why so many people are going to hate
this ranking and view him as less than what he
is to this. Day it was this, concept this idea
Of steph running off of, screens running off of on
(21:02):
and off ball, screens and the threat of his shooting
creating all of these openings in people being unable to see.
It people literally Watched steph draw two to the ball
over and over again at the end of the twenty fifteen,
finals but Because Andre guodala was the beneficiary with wide
open corner threes and cutting, dunks he Won FINALS. Mvp
(21:25):
that's how much it broke people's. Brains it became a,
buzzword right, gravity so much so THAT i think it
almost became something that people made fun Of warriors fans.
For but it is the reality of what it's like
to play basketball on the same team As Steph curry
time and time. Again year after, year people saw The
warriors play basketball and they couldn't see what he was
(21:47):
doing to make things work for their, offense even in
THE kd. Years in twenty, seventeen When stepha was on
the floor AND kd was, off they had a one
to nineteen offensive, rating which was incredible for that. Era
WHEN kd was the floor And steph was off one
oh nine offensive rating a ten point. Difference it was
a nine point difference in twenty. Eighteen, LOOK i Think
(22:11):
steph fans get carried away when they start trying to
stack him up Against lebron and trying to say that
he's better Than, Lebron but they aren't far off in
their assessment of. HIM i think he's the fifth best
perimeter player of all. TIME i think he's the second
best offensive Engine i've ever, seen Behind Nikola jokic And,
(22:31):
FRANKLY i just don't understand why so many people have
struggled to see it over the. Years steph always also
provides you with a great deal of team building flexibility
Without steph on the. Floor this, YEAR i should, say
if you Take steph's threes out of the, equation The
warriors shot nine hundred and fifty three for twenty six
(22:53):
hundred and ninety one from three that was thirty five,
percent which is already not very good under any circumstances
before you factor in that most of those threes were
essentially conceded by the defense as they Overplayed steph and
tried to force guys Like draymond And Brandon pazemski to
shoot and knock down. Threes, right how do you get
(23:14):
away with having that level of shooting and still post
a one to twenty offensive rating with steps on the
Four it's because of his ability to invert. Spacing him
constantly pulling bigs out to the, perimeter as they had
to show on, screens created four on threes without rim.
Protectors that Allowed Golden state's management to focus onloading up
(23:38):
on smart athletes that can defend rather than needing. Shooters
not to be, clear if they want to reach championship,
CEILING i think they're gonna need to add more. Shooting
it's Why i'm stoked about them potentially Adding Al. Horford
it's Why i'd be great if they could get some
shooting talent back and A Jonathan cominga signed in. Trade
but the amount of shooting they need is less than
most teams need because of this unique dynamic That steph
(24:01):
creates again we talked about it, earlier but like he
created a role on offense That draymond can thrive. In
there are many teams in this league That draymond could
immediately make better on, defense but there aren't too many
teams in this league that he could be a functioning
(24:21):
part of. Offensively not the case In Golden. State he's
been wonderful there because of that inverted spacing dynamic we're
talking about. Now one last copyat Was steph before we
kind of get into closing things up. Today there is
a big difference Between steph when he's being an offensive
engine versus when he's being an offensive engine that is
(24:43):
also hanging twenty seven points per game on sixty six
percent through. Shooting The warriors offense last, year even just
looking from Before jimmy joined the team to After jimmy
joined the, team When steph won up a, level The
warriors offense was four. Points it's better per one hundred
possessions in that stretch After february eighth than it was
(25:04):
the entire season before. That so as we look at next,
season one of the biggest swing factors For stephan The
warriors in terms of the level of success they will,
reach and how much of a chance they have to
compete for the. Title it's going to come down to
what version Of steph are we. Getting are we getting
twenty two point per game fifty nine percent true Shooting
steph or are we getting twenty seven point per game
(25:27):
sixty five percent true Shooting. Steph that's going to be
a big swing. Factor the threat Of steph shooting is
enough to make any offense, good but it will take
the threat of step shooting and him managing to hit
high volume and efficiency numbers as an individual for them
to hoist the trophy this. Year if that's your ultimate
goal to something to keep an eye, ON i just
(25:49):
Use steph as a player that is far more valuable
than his box score production would lead you to. Believe
just the sheer threat of his shooting ability turned an
incredibly limited offensive roster last year until one twenty offensive
raiding unit when he was on the. Floor according To
cleaning The, glass he's still one of the very best
offensive engines in the ENTIRE. Nba LIKE i mentioned, Earlier
(26:12):
i'd rank him third Behind Nikola jokic And Luka, doncic
and he demonstrated last year down the stretch that he
can still hit that superstar volume in efficiency as a.
Score you combine that with him being one of the
better defenders among skill guards in the, league an incredibly
stable leadership. PRESENCE i think he's one of the best
leaders in THE. Nba he's more experienced than many of
(26:35):
the players in this. TIER i Have steph holding down
the number six spot in this year's player. Rankings All, right,
guys that's ALL i have for today is always to
sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us in supporting the.
Show we will be back On wednesday with a deep
dive Into Anthony. EDWARDS i will see you guys then
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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