Some guys can just hoop. That’s the case with all the NBA greats. Their instincts for the game and natural skill or athleticism can propel them to incredible heights, but the one thing all these guys share in common is that they can’t do it alone. Even otherworldly basketball talents could use an extra set of eyes who know the game well enough to tell them what they’re doing wrong and, more importantly, how to get better.

Enter Brandon Payne, the trainer behind the greatest shooter to ever touch a basketball in Steph Curry. Payne and Curry have been working together since 2011, and the pairing has resulted in 2 MVPs, 3 championships, 2 scoring titles, and likely by the end of the season, the 3-pointer leader in NBA history. Curry’s training routine has always been something that’s interested a multitude of both Warriors fans and just hoop-heads in general, with the NBA posting his pregame warmups and expositions on his training sessions being some of the most well-covered around the league in terms of detail. Payne, who was a great shooter in his own right through a high school and college career on the hardwood, has tailored Curry’s offseason and in-season training specifically to the Golden State point guard. He’s the mastermind behind the light-based coordination drills, as well as the newest sensation in Steph’s training that’s taken the league by storm.

In a recent interview, Payne told reporter Mark Medina that “Making shots in workouts is no longer good enough". What could that possibly mean? Extrapolating on it, Payne said that any non-swish in Steph’s workouts no longer count. So if he makes ten shots in a drill, but they all hit the rim on the way in, none of them count. There are obviously levels to rigor in becoming an all-time great, but this is something that has never been heard of before. This focus on accuracy explains how Curry shoots the laces on the ball, but it also is a testament to Payne’s own creativity. The question trainers face all the time is “how can I make this guy better?” His response to that question is to make Curry do something unheard of before. It shows his commitment to Curry and making his game better, a devotion that is hard to come by even in close friends. He pushes Curry to the limit, turning shooting drills into conditioning drills if Curry doesn’t nail them perfectly. It’s also a testament to Steph’s work ethic that he dives into this stuff head-first. A Kobe Bryant-esque mentality, if you will.

The way Steph Curry opened the night against the Clippers, a perfect 9-9 from the field for 25 points in the first quarter, would indicate this kind of rigor is working. A lot of credit is to Curry’s obviously unbeatable skill, but a lot should also go to Brandon Payne for helping Curry put in that work and giving a program to somehow make the greatest point guard in history even better. Steph would certainly qualify in his mastery of shooting if we go by the 10,000 hours rule, but the greatest know the work never stops. True mastery is the understanding that there is no such thing as perfection and you can always get better, a law Curry and Payne have perfected to the border of unfathomable.

(Photo credit: Jun Sato / Getty Images)