Stephen Curry’s 2015-16 season was amongst the best ever in NBA history

Stephen Curry’s 2016 season: 3 final, closing points

Understanding this article has likely already reached the point of being a potential “chore to read,” I’ve decided to cram my last three points into one last “quickfire” slide (you’re very welcome).

1 – The individual accolades

Accolades should be one of the final things brought up when comparing player seasons, especially when trying to decide on the greatest season of all-time. That being said, for whatever it may be worth, Curry has all the individual accolades one could desire for his 2016 season. He was an All-Star, 1st team All-NBA member, and had a collection of Player of the Week/Month awards. He also, famously, became the league’s first-ever unanimous MVP winner. He also (potentially even more famously) broke the 3-pointers made record (that he originally set) by a 41 percent margin.

2 – The team’s success 

It’s a bit baffling that this has not come up already – but, oh yeah – the Golden State Warriors went 73-9  the 2016 season. They also started the season off better than any NBA team had ever done with a 24-0 win streak to start the season. Curry was manning the wheel during this outburst, especially on the offensive end. The team went on to construct a legitimate case for one of the best teams in basketball history; had it not been for what was admittedly a “choke job” Finals performance, they’d have likely cemented that construction.

Even still, acknowledging that Golden State embarrassingly blew a 3-1 Finals lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, some still place them among the all-time great teams. Heck, ask some fans (who may or may not be Warriors fans) and they still might tell you that the Golden State Warriors in 2016 would overcome any team of basketball’s past. To some extent, I agree with those people and think Curry should be thought of in similar regard.

3 – Overstated defensive woes

Curry’s offense is so great – and so generational – that it’s quite easy to gloss over his defense. Many likely automatically resort to assuming his defense was (and is) well-below subpar, which might be a fair thing to do considering his large offensive role and small physical stature. That assumption is very overstated though; outside of Draymond and Andrew Bogut, Curry had the third-highest D-PIPM (Defensive Player Impact Plus-Minus) on the 2016 Warriors. Per bball-index Curry also had the team’s second-highest luck-adjusted defensive on/off numbers.

Keep in mind, he was doing this on the top-ranked defensive team in the NBA. This isn’t some sort of masterly designed fluke either; Curry’s defensive flaws are vastly overstated, in my opinion. He’s a very smart help defender and is great at nabbing away at cheap steals; on-ball, he might sometimes lack in size but he’s certainly no pushover (especially when guarding guys his size).

He’s not the runt of Golden State’s defense, his defense actually had/has a bite to it. I don’t think it’s fair for one to speak on Curry’s defense with slander under their breath; I also don’t think it’s fair to use his defense when trying to discredit his 2016 seasonal legacy.

I’m going to reintroduce you the same scenario from the top of this article: Imagine that you’re taking part in the ultimate, all-time fantasy draft; You must draft the best starting five possible. I’m then going to ask you the question I was leaning towards after first mentioning said scenario: how high are you taking the 2016 version of Steph Curry?

Because if I’m going to be honest (and this should come to no surprise after reading these 3000 or-so words from me); I’m taking him very, very high. And to be even more honest, I’d feel very, very confident in doing so.