We are now two weeks into the NBA season and I can take away two player specific things. Kobe Bryant is now terrible at NBA basketball and should retire and Stephen Curry is the best player in the world and will win MVP and an NBA title for the second year in a row.
We’ll start with Bryant. Despite my feelings about him, I can’t deny he’s had a fantastic career. He’s a five time champion, NBA MVP and 17 time all-star.
That being said, Bryant needs to retire. He’s has more all-star games than most players have years played. At 37 he’s in the top 10 oldest players in the league and six games in he’s playing terrible basketball.
Bryant is shooting 32 percent from the floor, the worst start in his 19 year career. He is also shooting 20 percent from three but still continues to shoot eight from behind the arc a game. It’s been rumored a while that Bryant is reaching retirement, but at this point all he’s doing is taking advantage of the Lakers and cashing checks. He’s well past his prime. He’s well past his post prime. He’s best suited now being the elderly guy at the YMCA shooting mid-range jumpers and lecturing kids on the fundamentals.
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum we have Stephen Curry. At 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, he is the most dominant player in the NBA. His size makes it that much more remarkable, this skinny guard who played his college ball at Davidson is torching defenses in the back court and front, with no regard for top league defenders under the rim.
Curry is averaging 24 points a game, 2.5 steals, 5.5 rebounds and six assists.
There is a special club for efficiency that stands as the golden standard for shooters called the 50-40-90 club. Membership in this club marks a great shooter. It requires the player to shoot 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line over the course of the season. There are only nine players in league history to make the club so far. They include Reggie Miller, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Larry Bird and Steve Nash.
So far this season, Curry is on track to make a club of his own. Five games in Curry was 60 percent from the floor, 50 percent from three and 91 percent from the free throw stripe. It’s only the start of the season, but the numbers are still staggering. Averaging 20 attempts from the floor, 11 from three and seven from the stripe he’s still managing 60-50-90 against the NBA’s best defenses.
Watch the highlights, he’s not doing this against soft teams. He’s launching three’s over Anthony Davis and taking it to the rim against the likes of the Grizzlies, Rockets and Clippers.
Oh yeah, and Golden State is the only undefeated team left in the league. I’m calling it now; not only will Curry win MVP and another title, he will also lead his team to the best record in NBA history. 73 wins. It’s going to happen. Sorry Cleveland.
