NBA legends say Stephen Curry is the best shooter of all time
Despite the fact that Stephen Curry has played only six seasons in the NBA, the Warriors guard already has been anointed by many, including Steve Nash, as the greatest shooter of all time.
“Truly, from the eye test, he’s the greatest there’s ever been,” Nash told the Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher for a story in which three other sharpshooters — Kiki Vandeweghe, Dana Barros and Chuck Person — agreed Curry is the best ever.
“The only pause I have is from fear of being ignorant,” Nash said. “Am I missing someone? Does he need to play longer or do it longer? Does he have to do it in the playoffs more years? But my first reaction is, ‘Why not?’
“He’s as good as anyone I can think of on every level — pure shooting, array of shots, percentage, getting hot, plays to the end — he checks all the boxes.”
Nash knows of what he speaks. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player is one of only six members of the league’s 50-40-90 club — which only accepts players who have shot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent on free throws for an entire season with the minimum amount of makes to qualify for the league leaders in each category.
Nash notched those numbers four times in five seasons and narrowly missed five straight. Larry Bird compiled two consecutive 50-40-90 seasons in the 1980s and is the only player besides Nash to reach the gold standard more than once.
The other players in the club are Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki.
Curry came close to joining them this season — shooting 48.7 percent from the field, 44.3 on 3s and 91.4 from the line — but Nash put the percentages into perspective.
“He’s probably going to shoot a lower percentage than me his whole career because he’s going to take more shots and he should,” Nash said. “It’s just a difference in mentality. I would shoot a higher percentage than Steph because I was much more conservative. I would try to shoot as high a percentage as possible to save shots for my teammates and then shoot more in the fourth quarter.
“I had coaches tell me I was hurting our team at times by trying to set up my teammates, but I always thought I got it back by how I made them feel and incorporated them into the offensive scheme and the chemistry of the team.
“He’s capable of that, but he’s more inclined to score. There are things he can do that I can’t. He’s such a beautiful shooter with such an array of shots and such a quick release, you wouldn’t want to take that away from him at all.”
Nash and Curry — who incredibly made 77 straight 3-pointers in practice this season — share an uncanny ability to shoot off the dribble.
“Steph takes it to another level,” Nash said. “He can do it from deeper and, frankly, I never took a step-back. He has no trouble taking a step-back and making it. You add that to all the other shots. It could be a clincher in this game of deciding who’s the best.”
Barros and Person both ranked Miller and Ray Allen among the best shooters ever, with Bird, Glen Rice and the late Drazen Petrovic also making the list, while Vandeweghe named Nash, Jerry West, Dale Ellis and Curry’s father, Dell.
“I played HORSE with Nash and he’s the best I’ve played with,” Vandeweghe said. “Steph reminds me of Steve in some ways.
“I’ve never seen anyone better (than Curry). The difficulty of some of the shots he makes is incredible, and no matter where he is, he can always get off a good shot.”
Person, aka “The Rifleman,” said Curry’s quick release sets him apart.
“I don’t think there’s ever been anybody better,” he said. “He can shoot the ball quicker than the spot-up guys. That’s unprecedented.”
Of the five players interviewed for the piece, Hall of Famer Rick Barry — who led the Warriors to their only NBA title in 1975 — was the only one who didn’t crown Curry king.
“You can’t even do it because you can’t compare guys who played before the three-point line was introduced,” said Barry, whose last NBA season, in 1979-80, was the league’s first with a 3-point line adopted from the ABA. “You can only pick from the modern era. I had to learn how to shoot that shot.”
Not that Barry isn’t impressed with Curry’s style.
“It’s the way he does it,” Barry said. “It’s such a quick release with range. And his confidence is off the charts. He’s fun to watch. And he’s made himself into a great basketball player. He’s a shooter, a scorer and a facilitator.”
