Steph Curry is not a good defender and never has been. He is on a very good defensive team, which helps erase and minimize his defensive deficiencies. This isn't unique to Curry.... often times terrible defenders on really good defensive teams get a pass. Another classic example is Derrick Rose. He is and has been a God awful defender his entire career. However, under Thibs the Bulls had excellent communication and a great defensive system. That allowed the other four players on the court to cover the sins of Rose. However, when you have a questionable defender, on a team that is a poor defensive team, with poor chemistry.... you end up with a star player getting more scrutiny. Also, with so many switches, help defense... it is very hard for a statistical evaluation of quality of defense. An example is Mike Conley. The advanced stats show his defense slipped this season...... but did it really, or is it because of all the injuries and the help defense not being as effective?
Harden's poor man-to-man defense isn't what gets people talking, it's his complete inability to even attempt to make an impact on transition defense. That and he falls asleep frequently in half court sets. Curry cant play great defense. Harden can but doesn't. That's the difference.
You guys are silly, all the metrics back up Steph is a good defender. And those who say curry doesn't put in the same amount of effort on offense clearly doea not watch curry play. He runs tirelessly both when he has the ball and doesn't. You guys claim hardens teammates suck at defense except he plays with bev, Dwight and Ariza.
