In Reply to: News Flash: Steph Curry is a bad, bad man... posted by Born2BBruin on August 10, 2024 at 14:21:08
Very good article from Nate Silver's "Silver Bulletin" comparing Curry, Magic, and Bird and making the argument that while Curry may not be at their level, he's a lot closer than some people think.
Here is the beginning of reasonably long and statistically detailed article.
"Growing up in East Lansing, Michigan in the 1980s, we idolized Magic Johnson. How couldn’t we? A superstar at Everett High School in Lansing and then at Michigan State University, Magic was always going to be our guy. Plus, since the Lakers were in the Western Conference, Magic didn’t present the conflict of interest that Larry Bird or Michael Jordan did to the Detroit Pistons — until, of course, the Pistons took on the Lakers in the 1988 and 1989 NBA Finals, losing the first bout in seven games but winning the second time in a sweep.
So it’s no faint praise from me to suggest — after he iced the Gold Medal Game for Team USA against France yesterday with a series of 3-pointers that could only be described as completely and utterly ridiculous — Steph Curry belongs in the same vicinity as Magic in the conversation about the greatest basketball players of all time.
In February, 2022, The Athletic ranked Johnson as the 5th-best player of all-time and Curry 'just' 15th. That was before Curry’s fourth title with the Warriors and three more All-NBA appearances, so he’d surely rank higher today (certainly higher than his teammate Kevin Durant, then #13 on the list). But as a basketball history buff and a reader of NBA vibes, I generally don’t get the sense that Curry is a consensus top 10 all-time player, and I think he very much should be.
The point is demonstrated by a tale-of-the-tape comparison between Magic and Steph — a comparison that (spoiler alert) I think Johnson wins, although Curry could plausibly draw things to a tie with some further late-career heroics. But it’s close — really close. They both revolutionized the sport, and I don’t think you can have Magic as your #5 all-time player and not have Steph somewhere in your Top 10.
Perhaps the clearest indication of this is when we bring the third wheel into the conversation: Johnson’s rival, Bird. Johnson probably also wins the tale-of-the-tape against Bird — however, Bird is an undisputed Top 10 player (#7 on The Athletic’s list) and that’s probably about where Steph belongs. Because the tale-of-the-tape comparison between Bird and Curry very much looks like a draw, a matter of taste, and if anything Lean Curry..."
The details are in the link below.
Enjoy.
PS "Silver Bulletin" is a GREAT name.