Now the star of the Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry Won his fourth championship and first-time Bill Russell Finals MVP, how high has he risen in the rankings for the NBA point guards?
The much-anticipated Finals MVP award filled the only hole left in Curry’s resume. He’s already won a pair of MVPs of the regular season, appeared on eight NBA teams (four of them first-team nods) and became the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers earlier this season.
When ESPN’s all-time NBArank put Curry fourth among the point guards in 2016, during the mid-season he was named unanimous MVP for helping the Warriors win 73 games, his status ahead of Isaiah Thomas was controversial.
Given all that Carey has accomplished since then, that’s no longer the case. When we recently ranked the NBA’s list of the 76est players in league history, Curry ranked third among point guards behind Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson.
With yet another title in the books, it’s time to reconsider Carrey’s standings throughout his position.
Curry rank added, by tournaments
In conjunction with those 2016 rankings, I unveiled my metric additive tournament, which uses Basketball Win – Reference.com – Recognized from the beginning of NBA history – Awards are voted on for how many leagues a player could have added to an average team over the course of their career, adjusted for the quality of the league.
Since we’re looking at player performance and not team results specifically, winning another title doesn’t affect Curry’s score. Finals MVP does not count towards the calculations either.
However, Curry’s .18 added championship this year brings him up to 1.85 in his career, a good 17th all-time number. That’s about where Curry finished in our recent rankings (16th), although he will definitely go up after a post-season run.
If that sounds too low, remember that Carrey is still adding to his ledger. He will likely jump on Dirk Nowitzki (1.9) next season and have a good chance of climbing into the top ten by the time it is over.
Already, Curry ranks in the top 15 in tournaments added in the playoffs and based on the awards vote. His rates were even worse in the regular season, in part because he didn’t play that many minutes compared to the all-time greats. Of the 16 players ahead of Curry, 14 players played at least 34,500 minutes in the regular season (when including Julius IrvingABA profession). Curry at 28,361 and counting.
Clear of the top three in PG
Voters and additional tournaments on the scale agree on the three best point guards of all time, all of whom are able to identify them by just one name: Magic, Oscar, and Steve.
Putting the combo protector aside Jerry WestNo other player has peaked at the same level as the best player in the three game. Each maintained their postseason success in the manner of the other point guards who won the MVP award (James HardenSteve Nash and Russell Westbrook) can not match.
At one time, Thomas supporters, John Stockton or Chris Paul She could file a case against Carrie on the grounds of longevity. This was undermined by Carey continuing to play at a high level in his mid-30s. While Paul and Stockton still top him by 11 nods each in the NBA, Curry now has more than Thomas (five) and has won the Thomas Finals MVP award since 1990.
The confrontation between Steve and Oscar
The best comparison now for Curry’s point guard greatness is Robertson, who won MVP (in 1963-1964) but Almost matches Curry in terms of MVP shares Thanks to nine times in the top five, compared to just three times in Curry.
Given all the attention Curry has had on never winning MVP in the Finals, it’s amusing to note that Robertson was one of only two players ahead of him in our top 76 rankings without that honor. (The other player, Russell, of the same name, would surely have earned several MVP finals had the award been awarded before 1969, his last of 11 tournaments with the Celtics.)
The MVP Finals weren’t a focal point for Robertson because the Cincinnati Royals never won a title during his tenure, when they often failed to take on the Russell’s Celtics. By the time Robertson won the 1971 championship with the Milwaukee Bucks, he was the star’s obvious second choice Kareem Abdul-JabbarVoted as Finals Player of the Year.
The tournaments added an interesting contrast between Curry and Robertson. Oscar has a huge advantage in regular season tournaments added thanks to his lengthy run (Robertson’s 43886th is ranked 22nd of all time), while Curry dominates the playoff scale thanks to his performance in the Golden State’s long-running streak.
The combined total of the players is nearly identical, with Curry (1.85) outpacing Robertson (1.82) after this season. Although Robertson finished ninth in our top 76 rankings – two spots higher than he was in 2016, perhaps due to renewed interest in his triple-double average as Westbrook joined him at this two-player club – I think Curry will end up. In front of him the next time we re-vote.
Can Steve catch magic?
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins has sparked controversy before Announced last month Curry’s World Cup victory would elevate him beyond Johnson as the greatest goalkeeper in NBA history.
As per the added tournaments, this is not a debate yet. Despite being forced into retirement after his 31-year season with a positive HIV diagnosis, and only briefly returning in 32 games in 1995-96, Johnson still has a huge advantage over Curry. Johnson’s championships added 2.43 to the eighth all-time.
It’s possible that Carey catches Johnson, but that’s not necessarily likely. Curry would need four more seasons like his 2021-22 to fill the gap, which means playing at the NBA championship and level until age 38. More realistically, Curry would have had to put together another two seasons like this, and then continue adding value at a lower level by playing In his forties.
Besides health, Curry’s total added final tournaments will largely depend on how long he wants to continue playing, since he will likely retain his shot value even as his physical ability diminishes.
However, Johnson is the one guard that Curry might not be able to catch up with in terms of peak value. Johnson won three MVPs in the Finals and several MVPs in the Finals as part of the Lakers Five Championships in the 1980s. This success, and perhaps a reward for the years Johnson couldn’t play, produced a 4th place in the Top 76ers. That’s probably higher than what Curry would get.
Then again, Curry has a habit of proving us wrong — this time by leading the Warriors to another title two years later in the lottery.
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