Dude finished 4th in Most Improved Player the year after winning the MVP. That season was simply insane

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Mfer was a flamethrower. I couldn’t believe some of the shit that guy was making.

hitting 400 threes at 45 percent is definitely not normal

I’ve gotten into debates with people thinking that someone current will break his record. I highly disagree, the volume is just too high. We basically need to see another 3pt specialist superstar, otherwise you’re not going to be shooting 800-1000 3pt a game as an individual.

Even if you played all 82 games and averaged 50% from 3pt range, you’d need to average 9.75 3’s per game to hit the 400 mark. Only Luka and Lamelo exceeded that number of attempts per game last season when the league is playing at a pace and a level of chucking we’ve never seen before.

A ball dominant player would just start getting the ball forced out of his hands if he was hitting at a clip like that, and a catch and shoot player would just get face guarded at the perimeter unless they were a good enough rim attacker or in a system that created open 3’s for him - Steph had all of that other than elite rim attacking.

Maybe I’m underestimating the evolution of the game but I think think people are assuming this is an easier record to break than other unbeatable records just because everyone is running up and down and chucking like crazy these days.

One could also argue that as teams have gotten better at defending the 3pt line the ability to have both volume and accuracy has gone down to an extent it might be unlikely even a prime Curry could manage it now

Furthermore.

Steph has had 6 seasons with 300+ 3PM.

Only 7 players in history have 6 or more seasons of 200+ 3PM. One of them being him.

Its mind boggling how good he has been at shooting the 3.

In the thread about Rodman they said the difference between Rodman and the 2nd best rebounder was much larger than Steph and the 2nd best 3pt shooter. I still call bullshit.

Ant is the only current player that even has a chance of topping that and I don’t think he will raise his shooting percentage enough to do it.

He thought he did but he wasn’t wearing his contacts.

Garbage player

See, that’s part of the conundrum. 2019 Harden took 1027 threes. He averaged 36 ppg that season. How do you get to 1200 threes in a season without throwing up absolute bullshit for the last 200?

someone shooting like 35% on 1200 attempts or some shit

Analytics salivating.

Defenses have adapted much more than when Steph was hitting this insane stat. Though he was getting doubled basically at half court for half the games. More teams have length at the perimeter and are selling out to prevent the 3 ball than ever before.

Anyone who puts up the volume and can hit at a high percentage will no doubt see double teams. Then it becomes a question of will that player be able to beat those doubles with off ball movement like Steph and will the teams offensive strategy put all its weight on getting that player the shot.

A lot of things have to line up to hit 400 3’s without even factoring the sheer natural talent the individual needs.

Will it happen? Probably at some point but not sure we see it until someone with the pure shooting ability like Steph shows up and a team buys into it with all their might or if a complete chucker who shoots lower percentage has the green light on a losing team. lol my opinion though.

Ironically I kind of hope that the person who chucks up 1400 attempts is Steph himself. If the warriors are pretty bad his last season in the league and he’s just there for his swan song why not have him sit in the corner and just chuck up random threes and see what he can accomplish in an otherwise meaningless season?

A large part of it was defenses not being ready to handle that kind of shooting. Somebody today wouldn’t be able to get off those looks at that volume.

Don’t want to take away from Steph’s greatness one bit, though.

Despite pace going up last year, 3 point attempts were down slightly. Now, it’s not the first time in recent years that attempts have gone down (they later kept going up). But, there is somewhat of a natural limit to the 3FGA/2FGA balance. All of the threes open up the floor for high-quality twos. The three point FG% was 36% last year. Very high! The two-point FG% was 55%. Using the actual totals to minimize rounding issues, the points per attempt for three pointers was 1.079 and 1.100 points per 2 point attempt, which doesn’t factor in the increased likelihood for and-1s.

So you need the 3 pointers. They get you points and open up the floor. But if you aren’t taking enough 2 pointers, you’re leaving points on the table.

However, it’s not clear (to me at least) what the balance is. Also not clear what the limit to pace is. Highest pace in recent years is 2019-2020, but that was the bubble year (not sure how that affected pace) and more teams are moving back to two-big lineups now.

NBA League Averages - Totals | Basketball-Reference.com

Probably will be a Celtic over the next couple years. Those mofos love spamming

Kyle Korver Jr.

It would also just straight up take a ton of luck. Even the best shooters go on slumps. Steph couldn’t hit a shot when he was chasing the all time 3pt made record. Ray Allen used to go cold for like half a season. Not to mention healthy enough to play close to 80 games.

Harden is the only player to shoot over 1000 3s. No one else even cracked 900 attempts. So to even get to 400 3s made u have to take 900 3 first.

Also as teams run out lineups with more and more shooters you’re spreading those attempts across players.

No one has shot 10+ 3s at over 40% since Steph in 23-24. To get to 400 you basically need to shoot 11+ 3s at 45% for close to 80 games.

Wait til you see the 26-27 Celtics. This team is going to be above 50% of their shots from 3 pt land. I think we are going to break the record again.

Scoring champion who also led the league in efficiency.

Without a doubt the GOAT regular season. And barring injuries, he could have pulled off the GOAT season ever imo

Honestly this is quite possibly the best NBA season of all time. So much crazy shit happened.

it’s important to note too that harden got >350 on a usage rate of 40% (i.e., the offense was “give the ball to james harden and get out of the way”), and even then he fell 24 threes short. steph had a usage rate of 32.6% when he hit 402 threes in the season

Counterpoint: Steph appeared after growing up in a time that didn’t worship 3-pointers. Maybe sometimes really talented people just come along. 

He sat in 20 4th quarters that year

League was different tho, watching old Steph highlights and the defense being played against him would have had players sitting on the bench if they gave him that much space.

Pick and pop baby

undefeated season players in NBA Jam rise up

300 has been done by other players, I think Ant hit 320 in the ²⁴⁄₂₅ season. 400 though is probably not going to be touched for a while.

There has been players who shot the high percentages that Steph does (guys like Kerr, Korver, Redick etc.), there has been players who shoot the volume that Steph does (Harden, Ant), there has also been players who take the sort of absurd shots that Steph does (Dame)

But nobody has combined all 3 aspects of percentage, volume and ridiculous shot diet like Steph Curry.

That’s why Steph is the best shooter of all time and it’s not close imo. To have as high of a percentage as he does while taking the difficulty of the shots he took into account is just unmatched. Truly one of the most exciting things to watch in all of sports when he gets on a heater. 

The 3pt line was shortened for a bit at that time.

Yeah I think being in the GOAT conversation requires a certain element of cultural impact, and maybe even changing the game. Steph is firmly in that conversation, and in terms of changing the game, he has had more impact than any other modern player including LeBron.

.343 from 3 is still a better shot than hitting 50% from mid range. Volume 3s like that is still generally the right shot for a guard. Stretches defenses and is still actually efficient. 

Better than who? Steph?

He’s saying that, given Herro’s total 3pt attempts, he would’ve had to shoot 59.7% to make 400.

The tricky bit is that the more you’re trying to make in a season the harder it gets to get each incremental make. Going from 300 makes in a season to 350 is way easier than going from 350 to 400. You’ve got to have great health (Steph played 79 games that season), as well as the volume and the efficiency. Any one thing going wrong: a minor injury, offensively gifted teammates to take shot attempts, even just 1-2 cold shooting games, can derail an attempt at that single-season record and you’ve got to start all over again next year

Right lmao. The top 28 seasons in NBA history for most 3s made are ALL in the last decade, except for 12-13 Steph Curry,  and 14-15 Curry.

Steph is better than Dame at like 5 things that are non shooting wtf

Harden played in a team that either shot 3s or lay ups, no in between. He’s definitely not on the same level as a shooter as Steph (no one is) but pretty much all his 3PA were unassisted and came from iso plays.

Regarding the TOs: he was almost always the solo offensive creator on the Rockets during his tenure. There’s context behind those stats.

He averaged 36.1 ppg and finished 2nd in MVP votings that year.

Coby white just isn’t going to generate him good enough looks