Can an NBA player be declared the greatest of all time in one facet of the game with fewer than 500 outings on their professional resume?
That question is being put to the test by MVP Stephen Curry, who is thrusting himself into the conversation for the title of NBA's finest shooter ever just six seasons into his career.
The Chef may not be the most efficient shooter the league has ever seen, but he could very well be the flashiest, drilling ambitious attempts that most snipers wouldn't dare take.
His career 44-percent 3-point average is third-best in NBA history - a mere 1.4 points behind his Golden State Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr. No one can touch Curry's attempts, though, as his 6.5 tries from behind the arc are tops among players with at least 300 games.
Numbers like that have helped convince several of the NBA's elite marksmen from years past to anoint Curry as the best of the best in their field of expertise.
Two-time Most Valuable Player Steve Nash is definitely on the Curry bandwagon, praising his range and ability to free himself up for open looks for Bleacher Report's Ric Bucher:
Steph takes it to another level. I was able to do it going left and right, and we can both do it at speed, but I was always trying to get to the three-point line. He can do it from deeper and, frankly, I never took a step-back. He has no trouble taking a step-back and making it. You add that to all the other shots. It could be a clincher in this game of deciding who's the best.
Truly, from the eye test, he's the greatest there's ever been.
The Canadian basketball icon was worried that Curry may not fit some of the unofficial criteria to be eligible for such a title, but running through his body of work and skill set helped validate his initial opinion:
The only pause I have is from fear of being ignorant. Am I missing someone? Does he need to play longer or do it longer? Does he have to do it in the playoffs more years? But my first reaction is, 'Why not?' He's as good as anyone I can think of on every level - pure shooting, array of shots, percentage, getting hot, plays to the end - he checks all the boxes.
Kiki Vandeweghe, a two-time All-Star and current senior vice president of basketball operations for the NBA, believes Curry's 2014-15 campaign is the greatest single-season shooting display he's ever witnessed.
| Playerr | Year | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | TS% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Curry | 2014-15 | 23.8 | 48.7 | 44.3 | 91.4 | 63.8 |
"Comparing year to year, people at their peak, I've never seen anyone better," Vandeweghe told Bucher. "The difficulty of some of the shots he makes is incredible. He makes shots I wouldn't even think of taking, and I took a lot of shots (11,699, to be exact)."
Curry, who turned 27 years old back in March, is entering his basketball prime, which is a scary thought for the 29 other teams who have to defend him over the course of any given season. The Cleveland Cavaliers will have an up-close-and-personal look at what Dell Curry's eldest offspring is capable of when they visit Oracle Arena for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
