Can Steph carry his own team thread.

The Rockets won 41 games in 2016. They won 56 games in 2015 with essentially the same core. The 2016 collapse happened in part because of the feud between Harden/Dwight.

Also, Curry's shooting efficiency this year relative to his volume was tremendous, and his supporting cast turned out to be pretty underwhelming, especially Wiseman and Oubre. To put it in perspective, 2021 Curry's EFG% was higher than 2016 Harden's TS%.

 

Goal post has definitely been moved. It was originally claimed that Curry wouldn't be able to get open looks without Klay and Durant. (Remember what Lillard said after Curry had a bad shooting night?) Then when it became clear that Curry could still shoot lights out all by himself, the argument shifted to how good his supporting cast was. Then the Warriors supporting cast went 1-7 without Curry. And the argument changed to how the team has mediocre winning records. When the mighty Lakers barely beat them last night, it was argued that this Lakers team was not the same as last season's.

I predict that if the Warriors lose to Memphis tomorrow, this thread will grow several pages. If GSW does get into the first round and gets bumped by #1 seed Utah, the same will happen. "See! Curry can't carry his own team!" They will finally find a place for the goal post.

But the problem is not just the definition of carrying a team. You can arbitrarily say that it means winning at least two rounds in the playoffs. The problem is how you measure the help surrounding a star player. Is this Warriors supporting cast Curry is playing with better or worse than say Harden's in 2017? (Everybody knows Harden's 2018 team was better.) How about LeBron's earlier Cleveland teams? What about Dirk's Mavs? (Remember Dirk was mocked by Rockets fans for years?) What about KG's Timberwolves, Chris Paul's Pelicans and Clippers, Lillard's Blazers?

 

curry can do wrong in the media’s eyes. That’s why some players don’t like him. It’s obvious curry is playing by a different set of rules than any other player. Harden in 2016 was one of 4 players in league history at the time to average 29/7/6, the other 3 players made first team all-nba and lebron even won the mvp. Now harden was completely left off all-nba. This past 3 seasons harden has been so good to the point where they couldn’t deny him a spot. But any little chance the media has to put a stain on harden. When given the chance they will, contrast that with curry who always seems to get the benefit of the doubt. I mean when is the last time a player on an 8th seeded team won or finished top 3 in mvp voting in the modern era

 

Among the factors that seem to matter with voters, but is often overlooked by fans for whatever reason, is performance versus expectations, and particularly team performance difference compared to previous year. With Harden in 2016, the team under-performed and was significantly worse than in the preceding year. And despite Harden's "ridiculous numbers", he was particularly awful that year on defense. Like, comically so.

Curry is getting a bump this year because the Warriors are better than most people thought they'd be, and significantly better than they were a year ago.

 

the players seem to agree with me that steph curry gets a pass a lot of time. Last year dame was the 8th seed and had arguably the same type of explosive offensive season. But look at the what the media said. Like i said, players dont hate on curry just to hate. ITS THE MEDIA. And until we change on who votes on these nba awards which are largely based on narrative and bias then we will continue to see goal posts being moved for the players they like. The media didnt like westbrook more when he won mvp over harden in 2017, they just didnt want to vote for harden. If you rememeber prior to that 2017 season, many predicted that the rockets would'nt even make the playoffs and or finish in the 8th seed. The rockets and harden blew past expectations, and harden still was'nt rewarded. Now replace harden with curry on that rockets team and if the rockets win 55 games like they did, does russ still win it over curry??????. Based on the narrative surrounding curry this year as an 8TH SEED, i find it hard to believe that curry doesnt come away with that mvp in 2017

 

I would bet that Curry would get more first place votes from players than the media, if players were voting.

That said, Curry shouldn't be top 3. Surprised Giannis wasn't included.

 

No they aren't. Go look at the preseason predictions. They are right around where most thought they would be.

Curry is getting a bump because:

- he's popular and has an entertaining style
- injuries to other players like LeBron, Harden, etc

 

I think they are slightly better than the preseason expectations for the team. Individually, I doubt many people predicted Curry would lead the league in scoring. Curry averaging 37 points a game in the last two months of the season also helps. Voters remember the finish to a season better than the early parts.

 

Well in that case Airemy Lin should have won the MVP when he was on the Knicks.

 

Dame has 2 digit iq and proves it everytime he weights in on something. He really can't see the difference between his Portland roster and this years GSW roster? Even rookie Wiseman is not playing. Dame with players that he has should be top3 in the west every time if he wants to know how mvp candidate looks and impacts good team let him see what Jokić is doing. Its like LeBron would take current Lakers to 8th seed and then moaned to the media that he can't get mvp because of it while some guy on the scrub lotery-projected team takes them to playoffs and can.... it's like these people can't comprehend that context exists

 

dame is speaking facts, the warriors have the highest payroll in the league, so the talent is there. Not his fault curry cant elevate his teammates and make them better

 

A lot of that cap is linked to Klay Thompson and with him in the squad GSW would absolutely kill in the west. Also Wiseman isn't playing so you have 2 of your core s5 players sitting on the bench.

Right now GSW is fighting for 8th spot to go against Utah in first round. TBH after watching GSW playoff version for years and what I saw against lakers I would take a bet they will go past Utah. Theres no AD to throw at Steph, there's no AD you should worry under the basket for Dray... Theres Gobert which is easy money everytime he switches to Steph. Mitchell is really good but its different tier for now

 

warriors had everybody healthy this year sans klay and was still getting run outta gyms by 20 to 30 points mid season

 

Whilst I agree with you Dame is the epitome of low IQ.

This specific quote from Dame isn't the hill you want to die on.

You've literally singled out one of the only times Dame is right.

 

I can't stand watching him just because of his super annoying chewing on his mouthpiece, his towel draped head, and the whole smirkness. I could only take watching the last 2 minutes of that Lakers game, because King LeBron and Curry are two players I can't stomach watching for long. I would actually root for Curry over that man who calls himself King. Ugh

That being said, I respect Curry's work ethic and lifestyle, and it doesn't surprise me at all that he is doing so well.

Steph consistently puts up 300 shots after each practice during the season, and during the offseason Curry will ramp up his shooting to over 500 shots a day.

Steph Curry’s Off-Day Schedule
8:00 AM: Wake-Up
8:15 AM: Play with Kids
8:30 AM: Breakfast
9:30 AM: Basketball training & practice
12:00 PM: Neurocognitive training
2:00 PM: Lunch
3:00 PM: Recovery Work
5:00 PM: Nap
6:30 PM: Dinner
8:00 PM: Family time
9:30 PM: Movies
10:30 PM: “No screen time”
11:00 PM: Bed

https://owaves.com/day-plan/day-life-stephen-curry/

 

The whole point of this thread is that Curry can't get it done when he has less. He absolutely did have a nice statistical season. Also he absolutely did not play in such a way that it got him into a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. He can't carry a bad team like Harden has several times. There are no excuses other than "Curry isn't good enough to do that" in this thread.

Curry: good season, but failed his team
Harden: good season, team is in the playoffs every year no matter what the injury/excuse train drags him through

No one is saying Curry sucks, he's just not good enough to carry a bad team to the playoffs. He's close, but he's not there.

p.s. I don't care what happens in the elimination game. He had more help than Harden did many of those years. Debate is over.... Harden >>>> Curry... even though Curry is a great shooter. It's not enough. He's just inferior to Harden. Debate over.

 

There’s pretty good evidence that the Warriors are a bad team without Curry on the floor. Not sure how you are going about comparing their teammates.

I do agree that Harden was better equipped to “carry a bad team” in the regular season than 32 year old Curry since he was super durable and his style of offense translates particularly well to the regular season. Whether that made him better equipped to lead his team to a championship is, I think, an unresolved question.

 

@jiggyfly you should have defined exactly what "carrying a team" means. Cuz now we're at the end and different people have different definitions and those who thought he couldn't say he didn't, and those who thought he could are saying he did.

Oh well. Lesson learned for next year!