Explosive off the dribble, jaw-dropping athleticism, overwhelming physique. These are all traits that come to mind when one thinks of the MVPs of recent years, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose; these are also all attributes that the current frontrunner for the MVP, Stephen Curry, lacks. However this isn’t the first time that Curry has gone up against the norm and proved doubters wrong.
On Mar. 30, 2008, the clock struck midnight for Cinderella, or in this case, Curry and the Davidson Wildcats. Curry lifted the 10 seeded Wildcats all the way to the Elite 8 to take on the top seeded Kansas Jayhawks, a place no one expected them to be. However, Curry lifted his team to new heights during the tournament while making himself a household name to be taken down by NBA scouts. Relatively unknown before that miraculous tournament run, Curry was not your typical NBA ready player with his skinny, lanky frame and questionable athleticism. The NBA was just transitioning to more physically imposing guards with Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook being drafted just a year before; however, Curry would be ready to prove that hard work, skill, and high basketball IQ could trump those natural gifts.
In the 2009 NBA Draft, Curry was drafted after four other guards and fell to the seventh pick because of questions about how his game would transition at the pro level, once again, due to his lack of size and athleticism. Scouts questioned whether he would be able to get past defenders, get his jump shot off, and be able to do what he did while at Davidson. Would Curry end up like Adam Morrison who failed to pan out in the NBA after questions about athleticism or would he prove to be different? The Golden State Warriors were the team to take that shot on a player who had these questions, and well, the rest is all history.
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Curry is having a tremendous season with his team atop one of the strongest Western Conferences we have ever seen in the history of the NBA. Hardly do we ever see such quality and depth of teams from a conference top to bottom. This makes Curry’s season that much more incredible, to be doing it against the best in the better conference. Curry is currently averaging 23.6 PPG, 7.9 APG, 4.6 RPG, and 2.2 STLPG, while shooting over 90% from the foul line and over 40% from beyond the arc. Those stats are great, but might not even begin to do justice of how crucial Curry has been to his team. Whether is dishing out assists, throwing up a floater, or everyone’s favorite, knocking down his signature 3-point shot, Curry has been the spark that gets his team going. He’s helped other players on his team realize their potential in Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, two players having career years. At the same time, he’s helped new head coach, Steve Kerr, fit right in with the team that was missing its old beloved head coach, Mark Jackson who was fired for front office tension.
Curry has proven all season he is the top dog for MVP, and he’s doing it with the new age of team-play and 3-pointers as the nucleus for winning championships. The old days of isolation, feeding big men, and midrange jumpers are over, and Curry is the face of that movement; so lets give him the MVP he deserves as he proves the doubters wrong again, this time, on the highest platform possible.