Mark Jackson: Curry's 3-point-heavy style has 'hurt the game'

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors doesn't look like he's the best basketball player on the planet - a title he deservedly feels belongs to him - at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, but with the deadliest shot in the game and an unparalleled knack for handling the rock, it's hard to deny him the crown during his hottest stretch yet.

Current ESPN analyst Mark Jackson coached "The Chef" for three seasons (2011-14), so any opinion he has concerning the reigning league MVP is certainly worth listening to.

Then again, Jackson's take on how Curry's brand of basketball - specifically his 3-point-heavy arsenal - has a negative effect on young ballers everywhere may elicit a few moans and groans.

"To a degree, he's hurt the game," Jackson said during ABC's Warriors-Cleveland Cavaliers telecast. "And what I mean by that is I go into these high school gyms, I watch these kids and the first thing they do is run to the 3-point line. You are not Steph Curry. Work on your other aspects of the game. People don't think that he's just a knock-down shooter. That's not why he's the MVP. He's a complete basketball player."

Fellow ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy agrees with Jackson's sentiment.

"Those shots that he takes, if some high school joker takes them, and it's allowed by their coach, shame on them," he said.

Curry helped the Warriors improve to 28-1 with a narrow 89-83 win over the Cavaliers on Christmas Day, scoring 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting.

Not every player can be blessed with the genes of LeBron James, size of Dwight Howard, or length of Kevin Durant. Shooting is a fundamental skill that favors those who apply their craft in gymnasiums and practice their form. Being physically gifted isn't needed to light it up from long range.

Now some of the shots Curry makes are well-beyond the realm of reason, but even so, the mere fact that he excels at the level he does as a pure shooter should give hope to aspiring NBAers of all statures.