Would Curry be this Good in the 90s?

The short answer is yes, and it’s weird to think otherwise.

Curry is by far the best shooter that the world has ever seen, and some people think that he couldn’t survive in the 90s? Curry might even dominate! The 90s was a time where three point shooting wasn’t as prolific as it is in today’s game. The Golden State Warriors have broken several three point attempt and three pointers made records. A big reason being Curry. Curry transcended the game that we see today. Many people thought that a team couldn’t win a championship mainly shooting jump shots including myself. Taking shots more than 30 feet away from the basket would have definitely been frowned upon in the 90s, now it’s a shot that Curry takes with regularity that many people have confidence in. The biggest reason why Curry would be successful is because he was something that that era had never seen before. Defenses weren’t designed to stop somebody from pulling up from 33 feet.

Many people in order to rebuttal these claims would say that it’s a more physical era where hand checking was legal, and some players would even guard him 94 feet. All these statements are true. Nothing to be concerned about though. When mentioning this, people don’t talk about the assumption that playing in a more physical era would also encourage Curry to play more physical. If you play in a tougher era, you don’t expect the players to be tougher? Curry would have gotten more physical and with his ball handling ability it wouldn’t be wise to pick him up 94 feet. I wouldn’t be too concerned with hand checking, as it’s hard to hand check from 35 feet away from the basket. People also underestimate how well Curry moves without the ball. This combined with his lightning quick release doesn’t give the opposition any time to rest. Not to say that every field goal Curry takes will be from 35 feet, and not to say that hand checking won’t slow him down some. We can’t ignore the facts that the era would have to adjust to Curry, just as much as Curry would have to adjust to it. We also can’t ignore that in that era there was nothing remotely close to the likes of a Steph Curry. If we’re being honest we all know that Curry would have an easier time playing in the 90s, than the 90s getting used to Curry.

Generally speaking just about any great player in any era would be great in any other era. We can play the what if game all day, but there’s a reason that those players were great and the rest weren’t. The biggest thing that great players have that the rest don’t is the work ethic. That is the biggest reason I believe that they would great in any era. If you work the hardest you likely to exceed at a level beyond your peers. People also don’t take into account that the play in the eras vary. It would be safe to assume that if they grew up watching basketball and educating themselves on the way it was played during that era, that their play styles would adjust to better suit that era.