Steph Curry's 2014-15 MVP season cements a new era of basketball
Steph Curry is the MVP of the 2014-15 season and the reason to catch up to the modern way of playing basketball.
By
Zach Harper
•
5 min read
Welcome to the Perimeter Era.
For 11 seasons, the NBA has been adjusting to defensive rules implemented starting in the 2004-05 season. Rules that valued spacing and quickness. Rules that championed the 3-point shot and taking away post play. Rules that were designed to give a makeover to the quality of the product on the floor and make scoring a premium and a necessity.
The grind-it-out defenses no longer were en vogue. If you truly committed to it, you could be the circle change to the rest of the league's two-seam fastball. However, the real money and value in today's offensive NBA was being bet at the 3-point line. Finding a great balance between both styles was ideal, but you were going to change the game by finding a way to maximize the value of spacing, shooting, and making 60 years of basketball second-guess its instincts.
| 2014-15 NBA MVP: Stephen Curry | ||||||
| PPG | APG | SPG | RPG | FG % | 3FG % | FT % |
| 23.8 | 7.7 | 2.0 | 4.3 | 48.7 | 44.3 | 91.4 |
If there still were any question about whether the perimeter game was important in today's NBA and the game overall, Golden State Warriors' superstar Stephen Curry winning the 2014-15 MVP in a convincing manner just knocked down a 30-footer as an answer. Curry's landslide of a victory for the most prestigious regular season individual award showed the rarity of guards winning it may be a thing of the past. A player doesn't have to challenge for the scoring title or flirt with triple-doubles every night to put statistical lifts in their shoes to make them look taller than the competition.
Instead, a player buying into a coach's set of ideals, making sure he's the best player he can be within those parameters, and in turn making life much easier for teammates within the flow can make him the NBA's most valuable player.
That's what Curry has done for Steve Kerr and the Warriors. He drew the attention as soon as he started approaching half-court. He stretched the floor in a way that seemed almost cartoonish. And opposing defenses couldn't live with letting him beat them and trying to shut down everybody else because Curry's offensive game doesn't make that possible.
Curry is the greatest 3-point shooter we've ever seen. That's no knock on Ray Allen or Reggie Miller or any previous sharpshooters. Though Curry's career numbers don't quite stack up to those final résumés, it's disingenuous to pretend we're not seeing the most historic shooter of this or any generation. No player in NBA history has made as many 3-pointers through their first six seasons as Curry. It's not even close.
Allen knocked down 928 3-pointers on 40.8 percent accuracy through his first six seasons. That was the highest total of 3-pointers made and the best percentage for someone who has made at least 800 in his first six seasons. Unfortunately for Allen and his shooting records, Curry entered the league and will continue to obliterate each benchmark.
Through Curry's first six seasons, he's made 1,191 3s and set the record for 3-pointers made in a season twice (272 in 2012-13, 286 in 2014-15). It's not just because he's chucking more of them; Curry is a much more accurate shooter, making 44.0 percent of his 3-point attempts. It's an unspeakable love affair between volume shooting and accuracy that we've simply never seen. In fact, Curry's 286 3-pointers this season were only 120 makes off of the Minnesota Timberwolves' 406 makes as a team.
The Wolves were the worst team in the league and Curry was named the Most Valuable Player. You don't get much different than those two opposite ends of the 3-point shooting spectrum.
| 2014-15 NBA MVP Voting | ||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Total | |
| Stephen Curry Warriors |
100 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1198 |
| James Harden Rockets |
25 | 87 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 936 |
| LeBron James Cavaliers |
5 | 12 | 62 | 32 | 12 | 552 |
| R. Westbrook Thunder |
0 | 5 | 33 | 41 | 29 | 352 |
| Anthony Davis Pelicans |
0 | 0 | 9 | 35 | 53 | 203 |
| Chris Paul Clippers |
0 | 0 | 10 | 15 | 29 | 124 |
| L. Aldridge Trail Blazers |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Marc Gasol Grizzlies |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Blake Griffin Clippers |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Tim Duncan Spurs |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kawhi Leonard Spurs |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Klay Thompson Warriors |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
It's not only 3-point shooting that made him MVP. Two years ago, he was more of a liability inside the arc than he was a plus outside it. He made only 44.9 percent of his 2-point shots and struggled to finish at an elite level around the basket (58.3 percent, which is good but not exceptional). In this season, Curry was just as deadly inside the arc (52.8 percent on 2-pointers) and made 68.3 percent of his shots within 3 feet of the rim. There wasn't a single weakness, other than the occasional high-turnover game.
He blew most players away in all of the advanced stats measurements and helped the Warriors (67-25) become so good he and his teammates spent a lot of time in fourth quarters on the bench. His ability to help the Warriors blow teams out early gave this squad the rest and minutes management needed to go into the playoffs with a fresh bill of health and strong legs. Not only did he add value to his team but he added championship aspirations.
The Warriors were 17 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor. He had a 28.0 Player Efficiency Rating. And his 23.8 points per game is the lowest scoring average for an MVP since Steve Nash, not because he couldn't put up the points but because they simply didn't need him to. His rate of 26.2 points per 36 minutes is right in line with MVP winners like Larry Bird (26.1 in 1984-85), Kobe Bryant (26.2 in 2007-08) and David Robinson (26.2 in 1994-95).
Curry is the first MVP winner to ever make at least 200 3-pointers in a season, and he nearly finished with 300. The previous high was last year's winner Kevin Durant, who knocked down 192 3-point shots. Steve Nash (2006) and Kobe Bryant (2008) are the only other winners to crack 150 in a season. And your only winners that were proficient 3-point shooters like that have come in this new era of defensive rules since 2004-05.
This is no fad. There's no smoke and mirrors. And there is no doubt that the Perimeter Era is real, evolving, and here to stay. Curry is living proof as he hoists the MVP trophy and gets congratulated for a remarkably memorable season by teammates, media, fans and peers.
There may never be another shooter like Curry, but we know who the young players will try to become from here on out.
