You can tell them anything if you just make it funny, make it rhyme.
Bo Burnham, Make Happy
Steph Curry ruined basketball1. I am not mad at him nor do I blame him. If my jump shot was better, I too would want to compete for Larry O’Brien trophies. In many ways, Curry has improved the game of basketball, but his style of play has certainly destroyed what the game once was.
Historically, basketball has been dominated by freakishly tall centers: George Mikan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and many more. With Bird and Magic in the ‘80s, this became less true, but we are still talking about a power forward and a 6’9” point guard who could play any position on the floor. In the ‘90s and ‘00s, the most popular players were Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but centers and power forwards were still superstars in the league: Hakeem Olajuwon, Karl Malone, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, etc.
Steph, however, changed that2. No player has ever been so effortless at shooting threes, and the second most dangerous 3-point shooter in the league was his teammate, Klay Thompson. No longer could players keep their distance from a ball handler past the 3-point line. Even a half-court shot needed to be contested. The Splash Brothers widened the field of play. In doing so, the paint and the centers who dominated it became less important3.
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