Curry

For the past six or seven years I have been low-key rooting for the Warriors. A frontrunner. A bandwagoner. I lived in Chicago during the Jordan era and got to watch the GOAT on a nightly basis for a little while, rooting hard for Jordan's Bulls even though I should have been a Pacers fan. I guess I'm easy to bait. Just give me a transcendent player to watch and I'm buying League Pass to catch all the games I can. 

So it's been with Steph Curry. Sure, I'm a burgeoning Klaytheist, but he went to WSU so he could take a long walk off a short pier as far as I was concerned (though I respect the hell out of his game now and wish him a speedy recovery). Sure, Steve Kerr was on those Bulls teams I loved and the bone-deep racist in me was happy to root on a white guy back in the 90s--an instinct I still have to be mindful of today: just because Payton Pritchard is a short white dude does not mean I should root for him (plus he went to U of O, so fuck him); between the lines of that thinking is a Sarlacc pit of terror. But it's really just Curry. 

It started with the Davidson run back in the aughts. I knew Dell Curry from my 90s bball obsession, so was interested to see the progeny look so exciting. What I first noticed about Curry is that he channeled some Pistol Pete (my other all-time favorite player, who, yes, happens to be a white dude--looks like I'll need to do another post on the latent racism I've battled with my whole life). I was interested in Curry's shooting ability, but it was his vision and ballhandling that stole my heart. 

We spend so much time talking about Curry being the best shooter of all time that we can forget that he may also be the most effective ballhandler of all time too (not necessarily the best, since that's so subjective). Passing is part of that too. He has some of the surest handles and hands of any player I've watched. And he has perfected passes that I would love to be able to throw. The one-handed lefty over shoulder pass in particular is incredible to watch. 

Maybe the magic of Curry is summed up by this: if he were to solely focus on being a Reggie Miller style 2 who only runs off screens to get his shot, he'd be the best ever at that. If he were to solely focus on being a Magic Johnson style point solely focused on setting up his teammates and making the right decision, he'd be the best ever at that (though arguably Magic's size would still keep him top). We'd see Curry unleashed to be even flashier and more poetic than he is now. 

But he's a hybrid. He has to be. It wouldn't be right for him to be anything else because of his talent. He is a pure point guard who happens to be the best shooter of all time. So I tune in, because I want to watch every moment I can before it's all relegated to replays on NBA TV. 

There are things to dislike about Curry, for sure. Things I'm not a huge fan of. There's a level of entitlement in his swag that's distasteful. But I also see so much of myself in him. I see someone with incredibly high expectations (though only one of us is really working hard toward those). Someone with resilience, yes, but who is visibly upset with himself when he misses a tough contested layup. Curry almost never gets upset with his teammates, but is upset with himself all the time. Channeling his inner Mitch. 

So maybe I watch Curry because he's the closest approximation to the player I want to be on the court. I spent my youth trying to be Pistol Pete, then a knock-kneed John Stockton, and feel like since college intramurals I've been doing my best Steph impression. 

Lastly, I'd argue the element that makes Steph must-see TV for me, that makes me follow the Warriors like they're my team, is not the shooting or the dribbling or the passing. It's the grace. Steph is all the best things about Ozil, Bergkamp, Pires, and Henry on the court at the same time. It's like he's zoomed in just that much further than any other player, but also that he wants to marry aesthetics and outcome. He flows like honey then stings you. 

We may only have a year or two left of this if we're lucky. His body will quit on him, despite his conditioning. He asks a lot of it, and his game depends on quickness and alacrity. So I'll keep buying League Pass until his watch has ended.