Is Stephen Curry's Hyperfocus on the Three Bad?

Getting boxed into a certain denomination of player can have some interesting trajectories on a career. In the case of Stephen Curry, “greatest shooter to ever play” is certainly not a bad one to be put into… Until you realize that people are only talking about beyond the arc.

We’ve wrote a lot about Curry’s scoring recently, and how multi-dimensional it is. Of course, it’s entirely possible we cursed him as he’s been in a bit of a slump (well, a slump from Steph’s relative ability) lately, but he’s been having a bit of trouble to start out the season despite his highs and the team’s record.

Obviously, Steph is a generational player. But this year, his shot hasn’t fallen quite the same as it has in years past. He started this season with a few scoreless fourth quarter, he had his worst shooting game in his whole career earlier this week, and he’s put up some other duds. He’s an all-time talent, possibly a top-10 ever player, but he’s not immunity to humanizing experiences like he’s having now.

So we start looking to some other issues. One that we can sort of obviously point to is how many threes, relative to other shots, Steph takes per game. He’s taking roughly 20 a game, which is lower than last season when he averaged his most points per game in his career, but he’s shooting more threes than ever - he’s taking 13 per game. That leaves only about 7 shots a game he takes from two point range.

He’s also been having some issues with the 2-pointer as well, as of recent. For the first time since the 2012-2013 season, he is shooting under 50% from 2-point range. For his career, this season is the 2nd-lowest 2-point field goals attempted he’s ever had in a single season. Considering how his old increased volume was from that range, it’s strange to see the efficiency drop.

We’ve had a lot of discussion about how Stephen Curry changed the game of basketball, moving the traditional midrange to the three-point arc and beyond from a shot-creating perspective. But Curry should absolutely still be taking more twos.

Given that the more 2-pointers he takes, the more points per game he averages (this was true for both the 2015-2016 season and the 2020-2021 season) and the higher his EFG% is (two of his three highest seasons at those marks were also in the aforementioned seasons). It figures to reason, as it does with most great shooters, that all-time scorers know how to find rhythm, and know how to weaponize that rhythm when they get going. Curry’s game is very rhythm-centric, so when he can’t get going, he goes cold and will shoot worse despite higher volume.

In order to keep his rhythm established throughout the season, he needs to shoot the two-pointer more. While it’s hard when you get doubled to do exactly that, Curry’s off-ball ability should get him more rhythm-oriented shots from within the arc.

If he wants to keep his incredibly dynamic shooting in stride, he needs to be able to get back into those 2-point shots so he can build his rhythm earlier. This will be especially important as he looks to fight out of his current slump. When Klay Thompson returns, it should be easier to get that space, but for now, he has to find new ways to make sure he doesn’t go too cold too quick.

(Photo credit: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)