Steph Curry is pretty good at basketball. There are all sorts of statistics to back that statement up. Standard stats, advanced stats, double advanced stats, etc. You are welcome to look them all up if you like, but the takeaway in doing so will assuredly be that I’m not exactly blazing a new trail here when I take that position. On the contrary, the path we’re on is well-worn, and so popular that previous travelers have started setting up little rest stations every quarter mile or so. There’s bottled water and snacks. Someone left chocolate bars, marshmallows, and graham crackers in one of them. We’ll make smores around the campfire later. It’ll be nice.
And while we’re doing that, roasting our marshmallows and trading stories as we take a brief respite on our trip to Steph Curry Is Pretty Good City, let’s all take a few minutes to focus on one other thing: It is really fun to watch Steph Curry play basketball.
It’s not just the insane highlights, either, or things like him hitting 77 straights threes in practice. (Although it is definitely also that.) It’s also the little things, how he’ll put a little mustard on his ball-handling coming out of a pick-and-roll, or take an off-balance 30-foot three with 12 seconds left on the shot clock, or casually fling the ball toward an empty spot across the court only to have it end up exactly where his teammate is. It’s almost like he does some of it just to keep himself entertained, so he doesn’t get bored. You can even see it in his body language, the way he always seems to be moving 20-30% slower than the professional athletes who are killing themselves to try to stop him. Between that and the fact that he still looks like a teenager, he sometimes gives off the vibe of a child prodigy surrounded by civilians. He just makes it look so easy. It’s like…
You remember that scene in Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon ruins the snooty professor’s entire life? This one.
It’s kind of like that. It’s not a perfect analogy, I admit. Steph takes his job more seriously, and seems to enjoy it more, and I don’t feel particularly comfortable with any situation where Klay Thompson is forced to be Ben Affleck. (I think it makes Steve Kerr Robin Williams’s character, too, and Steve Kerr couldn’t grow that beard if you gave him 10 years and a dose of weaponized testosterone.) But it’s pretty close, right down to the way Steph jogs up and down the court with his mouthguard hanging out the same way Damon lets his cigarette dangle. I mean, Chris Paul is one of the best in the world at what he does, and look at what Steph Curry did to him this season.
If you want to take it even further, imagine Steph shouting “DO YOU KNOW HOW EASY THIS IS FOR ME?” DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW F*CKING EASY THIS IS FOR ME? THIS IS A F*CKING JOKE!” as he’s weaving through everyone in that Vine. Or picture the professor’s scarf around Chris Paul’s neck in this one, just fluttering in the air in slow motion as he tumbles to the ground.
Anyway, my point is this: Watch Steph Curry play basketball. A lot. As much as you can. We’re in a really cool era of the NBA where there are a ton of super watchable players, from Russell Westbrook and his crusade to murder every rim he sees, to Anthony Davis quickly becoming frighteningly good at everything, to LeBron just flat-out dominating. But for my money, none of that can match the Steph Curry experience. Because you never know when he’s going to do something awesome like put up 30 points in a quarter or make an All-Star fall down on his tush, or do something small like take a goofy angle on a pass that makes your jaw drop or flip a floater off the backboard six inches outside the square. But you can be pretty sure something is coming. Soon. And it’s going to be fun as hell.
