The commentators at ESPN have spent all week evaluating the legacy of Stephen Curry ahead of the 2022 NBA Finals, as the Warriors superstar tries to win his fourth championship ring.
Stephen A. Smith has gone on record as saying that should the Warriors win a title, Curry will vault ahead of Kevin Durant in the all-time ranking of NBA stars – but Smith said on Wednesday that the talk of Curry’s individual impact on the game of basketball has been overstated.
Curry is the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-point makes, and is commonly credited for helping to revolutionize the modern game and lead teams around the league to launch far more 3-pointers than they were before Curry became a star. According to Stephen A. Smith, though, it’s Mike D’Antoni, not Curry, who deserves credit for the 3-point revolution.
“People say that he changed the game. No, no. He elevated it to a point where it was acceptable because you’re looking for somebody to produce somewhere close, in the vicinity of what he does and what Klay Thompson does to a slightly lesser degree.
But the reality is, you know who the biggest culprit for all of this is? It’s Mike D’Antoni…. Mike D’Antoni wanted you to shoot threes or layups. He ain’t want no mid-range game. He would consider benching you if you took a mid-range shot.”
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