Steph Curry’s in the middle of an offensive explosion, but it’s his defense we should be talking about

Golden State Warriors superstar guard Stephen Curry is in the midst of another MVP campaign and his defense is one of the reasons why.

Steph Curry’s already one of the all-time greatest scorers, shooters and players of all time, and as we’re seeing this year, he’s in the middle of an MVP campaign.

But it’s not just because of his offense. We should be talking more about the improvements he’s made on the other end of the court.

Remember, the Cleveland Cavaliers made a point to exploit Curry’s defense during the 2015 NBA Finals. When the Warriors played in the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016, Russell Westbrook laughed when asked about Curry’s defense. The Houston Rockets targeted Curry on defense during the postseason in 2018.

Even as recently as last year, when LeBron James’ business partner Maverick Carter bluntly stated that Curry couldn’t play defense.

Carter likely forgot that in 2016, the last time that Curry won the league’s Most Valuable Player, Curry led the league in both scoring and in steals. Even though he is a bit undersized at 6-foot-3 and under 200 pounds, he has actually long held his own on the defensive end of the floor.

At this point in his career, though, he is physically stronger than ever and adding muscle to his frame. It has allowed him to take a fairly massive step forward on the defensive end of the floor.

Curry is enthusiastic about the idea of earning All-Defense consideration, as he said during a press conference on Thursday night. While a bit surprising, it’s actually not an entirely unrealistic goal.

Overall, per dunksandthrees.com, Curry’s defensive estimated plus-minus ranks in the 83rd percentile. Compare that to last season (34th percentile) and you’ll see the progress he has made.

If you were to ask former NBA Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green about Curry’s defensive abilities, here is what he would say (via The Athletic):

“The stuff that he has (done) on that side of the ball has been incredible. Teams will try to post him up, and he’s too [expletive] strong now. They can’t post him up anymore. He’s gotten much quicker laterally. And most importantly, he don’t reach every play anymore. So his growth on that side of the ball (is significant). But because he’s been so good offensively, no one talks about it. His growth on that side of the ball has been insane.”

Most importantly, as Green explained, Curry simply isn’t fouling as often as he used to foul opponents. He is fouling on a career-best 1.9 percent of team plays, per Cleaning the Glass, which is half as often as it was when he first came into the league.

Also, as noted by Green, opponents no longer feel that they can post Curry up. Back when Curry first came into the league more than a decade ago, according to Synergy, 9.3 percent of the possessions that Curry defended were a post-up. But so far this season, that rate is just 4.9 percent.

He has become a more versatile defender and over the past few seasons, he is now spending more time defending big men than he did earlier in his career.

Joe Viray recently offered a solid explanation and put that into context for us (via SB Nation):

“Curry is used to opponents trying to exploit him on defense. He has almost always been relentlessly hunted on switches, which gives him plenty of experience with trying to nullify attempts to get him switched onto a potential mismatch. Against LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and the Harden-era Houston Rockets, Curry perfected a hard hedge-and-recover on ball-screens involving James and Harden. Several playoff battles between Curry and his rivals have sharpened his mismatch-prevention skills.”

During his first MVP campaign in 2016, per Synergy, Curry finished just 2.7 percent of his defensive possessions defending the big when in pick and roll coverage. This season, in Kerr’s switch-heavy defensive scheme, that is now as high as 16.2 percent.

Fortunately, he has held his own during these opportunities and opponents are not demolishing him.

It’s also worth noting that Curry has blocked a career-high 0.8 percent of opponent shots, including back-to-back blocks against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Specifically, Curry is averaging 0.66 blocks per 100 possessions on shots between four and fourteen of the basket, according to PBPStats. Before this season, his personal best was 0.28 per 100. In fact, he is currently blocking short midrange shots six times more often this season than he did last season.

He has rebounded on 16.3 percent of his opponent’s missed field goals, via Cleaning the Glass, which puts him in the 85th percentile among all point guards. Meanwhile, his steal percentage ranks in the 75th percentile for all players at his position.

Even though he isn’t always defending the best player on the other team, which may limit his consideration for NBA All-Defensive honors, he has excelled in shutting down his man. He defended Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier for approximately 30 possessions on Nov. 3 and Rozier was held to just 2 points while shooting 1-for-6 from the field.

Golden State currently has the best defense in the NBA — more than three points per 100 possessions better than any other team — and their team defensive rating is better when he is on the floor compared to when he is off.

Curry may not ever earn a trophy for his defensive efforts. But that’s not what matters.

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