5 reasons why Stephen Curry is an anomaly unlike any we've ever seen before
Stephen Curry is well on his way to exhausting superlatives. He has shattered decades worth of conventional wisdom about what constitutes a good shot so many times in such a consistent manner, that the only surprising element in watching him is when he fails to send our jaws to the floor.
His accuracy has spoilt us to the point that when Curry misses a long-ranger, it comes as a surprise. No one ever thought they'd hear a crowd let out a collective sigh and moan upon a player missing a thirty-feet bomb. He’s making the inexplicable a commonplace occurrence on a nightly basis.
Curry’s game is predicated on getting his own shot from almost anywhere inside the half court line, and he's disrupted the entire ecosystem of the sport in a league still trying to adjust to the ripple effect of his presence.
Here is a look at 5 reasons why Stephen Curry is a statistical anomaly unlike any we've seen before:
#1 Lightning quick release
Dr. James Naismith put up peach baskets in Springfield in 1981 but it would take another half decade before the jump shot was invented by Kenny Sailors. The jump shot was borne out of necessity to get the back over the outstretched hands of the defense. That has been the conventional method for ages. Honed and tweaked over the ages and passed down generations.
Stephen Curry has no use for conventional wisdom. In becoming a trend setter, he's taken the game back to its roots by developing a lethal jumper which is almost a set shot, instead of a jump shot.
The NBA rules dictate that if there are 0.3 seconds left on the clock, the only form of shot which will be allowed is a tip in or an ally oop. This rule has been set because it's not considered feasible for a player to catch and shoot in that limited time.
According to Sports Science, Curry can get his shot off in just under 0.4 seconds. The average release time of a jump shot in the NBA is 0.54 seconds, by when Curry’s shot is already 12 feet airborne. This allows him to let if fly over the outstretched hands of giants with just a sliver of daylight.