The Rockets are all in on analytics and routinely use their D-league team to experiment with, frankly, cheesey min-maxing strategies.
The high pick-and-roll and four-out sets everyone runs now are pretty monotonous.
The worst part is the style spills over to the way ordinary people play in pickup and rec ball. Not many with the requisite talents at that level, but boy do they try.
The fact that Steph Curry, who is a limited player, is regularly in the running for MVP, is a joke. There was a guy almost identical to him, with better overall talent, in the 90s. His name was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and he didn't exactly have an illustrious career.
Curry is a generational shooter and transcendent offensive talent. 2x MVP, 8 seasons of 20+ PER. Over 20 ppg over the last 7 seasons.
Abdul-Rauf averaged 14.5 ppg in 9 seasons in the NBA, never breaking 40% 3P% or 20 PER.
Curry has NEVER shot below 40% 3P% in a season.
Abdul-Rauf’s closest comparison on BBall Reference is Rafer Alston. Most non-fans will respond to that with “...who?” To that I say “exactly.”
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/abdulma02.htm...
Agreed with your commentary - Steph is one of the greatest NBA players ever, and a variety of regular stats and advanced stats (i.e. gravity measurement) reflect that. It's why guys like him, Harden, and Dame make 1st team all NBA - the pressure they exert on defenses is insane.
Yeah these guys are on another level. Comparing them to Abdur-Rauf is like comparing Jalen Rose to Kawhi Leonard.
Reggie Miller? Shooting guard. Ray Allen? Shooting guard. So was Jordan, Kobe, Wade, etc. Scoring point guards didn't exist with the exception of Iverson, who is a completely different animal than the step-back 3 point shooters of today.
How much of a threat do you think Curry would be if he were asked to take 7 or 8 20-24 foot shots all game long like the PGs of that era? It erases him offensively.
Now, you didn't watch Rauf play, so all you have to go on are the stats. I did. I was a huge fan of him in college. He averaged over 30ppg as a freshman (his scoring dipped in year 2 because he had to share the court with Shaq) and had the prettiest stroke I've ever seen. He had some of the best ball handling skills since Maravich. He was a basketball savant.
So what happened?
He went to the league and was asked to do what point guards did back then: move the ball down the court and pass it away. He was the 3rd overall pick in the draft and was asked to pass the ball to Mutumbo and Antonio McDyess in an offense predicated on scoring a lot of points quickly with a ridiculous pace for the era. He also caught a ton of heat for not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, which ultimately caused him to get blackballed from the association.
But don't take my word for it.
Go look up abdul-rauf curry on google.
Oh, look, there's a tweet by Phil Jackson:
"Never seen anything like SCurry? Remind you of Chris Jackson/ Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who had a short but brilliant run in NBA?"
Yeah, Phil only coached against him. He totally doesn't remember the time that the 72 win Bulls lost to the Nuggets because of Rauf's performance, or the time that Rauf torched Stockton for 51.
Sure, there's players like Trae Young that just launch 3s. But if you don't make them, either your coach or the opposing team will fix that. Except for Buddy Hield and maybe Kyrie, we're not seeing a wave of high volume and high percentage (say over .4) 3 point shooters.
If you don't like watching Kyrie, I don't think you like basketball.
Maybe I didn’t watch as much as you, sure, but Magic Johnson also didn’t fit the traditional mold of a point guard. He still somehow found a way to become a legend.
At this point we have almost a decade of evidence on both players, and the evidence is clear. Even if Abdur-Rauf may have been great now, not even Phil will call him as great as Curry:
> After his original tweet set the Internet ablaze, Jackson provided a follow-up message to clarify things and confirm he wasn't placing the two players on the same level:
> How does commenting on Rauf mean I'm comparing him to Curry? Remind, yes, quick release, cross over, Yep, MVP, nope. Get a grip!
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2625417-stephen-curry-co...
> So what happened?
I mean, mostly what happened is that he got blackballed out of the league for refusing to stand for the national anthem, but also, yes, I don't think Phil's comparison was crazy. I do think Abdul-Rauf, in a modern run and gun/SSOL offense would have been Steph-before-Steph (I also think Nash would have been much the same if he'd hunted for his own shot more).
Oh! Forgot to add, tho, that your initial comment was wack; every player is limited in some way and Steph is probably the best shooter who's ever played and he bends the gravity of the game in a way that basically nobody ever has before, which would be reason enough to put him in the running for MVP even if he wasn't routinely among the leaders in counting and advanced stats.