MARK JACKSON AND STEPH CURRY + Gregg Popovich

Recently, Mark Jackson of ESPN has come under fire for his recent comments towards Steph Curry and his affect on the state of today's game. 

"Steph Curry's great. Steph Curry is the MVP. He's a champion. Understand what I'm saying when I say this: To a degree, he's hurt the game. And what I mean by that is that I go into these high school gyms, I watch these kids and the first thing they do is they run to the 3-point line. You are not Steph Curry. Work on the other aspects of your game. People think that he's just a knockdown shooter. That's not why he's the MVP. He's a complete basketball player."- Mark Jackson

We, like Mr. Jackson, have seen an influx of young players shooting "Curry like" DEEP 3's during practice, warmups and games which adds credence to the St. John's University legends' comments.  The issue with players mimicking Curry's shooting range, as Jackson and others have pointed out, is most players do not spend the time in the gym as he does working on his craft.  To most players, going to the gym  has a SLIGHTLY different meaning for Curry (most NBA'ers) compared to non professional players.  Their motivation comes from their desire to put food on their tables.  #IFYOUDONTWORKYOUDONTEAT

However, we should look deeper in the reason for CURRY's popularity.  In the mid-late 1980's The Bash Brothers of the Oakland A's became infamous for their ability to hit home runs.  They represented the "NEW" brand of baseball that rode the back of the Reagan's "everyone for self" mantra.  During this era, the demographics of baseball changed drastically for it was during the 1980's where the phrase, #CHICSLOVETHELONGBALL became a part of the lexicon.  Ironically, the same San Francisco Bay area that produced the Bash Brothers also created the Splash Brothers.  In essence, CURRY's popularity stems from his ability to shoot the long ball (effectively) coupled with his "Golden Boy" looks and "under the radar story" have attracted non basketball fans, namely females, to the sport.  The question remains, "is he (what he represents) bad for the game?"

Recently, we wrote about the "NEW" NBA and how the use of analytics (#geekknowledge) has impacted the game.  However, despite the recent change in defensive strategies largely due to the "hands off defensive rules" the NBA average scoring is only up 3 points per game from 2005. In 2005 the average NBA scored 97.2 points per game yet in 2015 teams averaged 100 points per game.  In addition compared to eras from yesteryear, teams in 1995 averaged 101.4 points per game and in the brutal 80's the average team averaged 110.8 points per game. What has changed?

So the question should be what has the three point shot brought to the NBA game?  As Gregg Popovich recently stated, "I still hate it and I'll never embrace it. I don't think it's basketball. I think it's kind of like a circus sort of thing. Why don't we have a 5-point shot? A 7-point shot? You know, where does it stop, that sort of thing. But that's just me, that's just old-school."

Case in point, let's look at the shot chart for the 2014-2015 Houston Rockets.

In conclusion, Steph is SPECIAL and his ability to shoot is tailored made for his team and the NBA as they look to extend their fan base ala MLB in the 1980's.  We can NOT say that CURRY is bad for the game, but we will contend that the love affair with the 3 point shot, as a whole, has sped up the death of the mid range shot.