The NBA preseason games for the 2016-17 season kicks off the first week of October - with regular season games scheduled to start on the 25th.
Basketball fans the world over will still be reminiscing the fantastic finale of the previous season when a seemingly down and out Cavaliers found sudden reserves of strength and form to upend the Warriors in the climactic games and win the championship. Not totally unexpected, since a team with LeBron James in it can never be underestimated, but this was one occasion where even the mighty LeBron had taken the backseat, as far as the calculations were concerned, the reason being in his adversary he faced a team that was no doubt studded with big names, but over and beyond, it contained one player that threatened to rewrite all NBA expectations to date - and that player went by the name of Steph Curry, a basketball genius if ever there was one.
Even if he doesn’t play another game of basketball, or shoot another 3 pointer, Curry has done enough to convince most basketball ball fans, that he is the best shooter that the world of basketball has ever seen. NBA has seen many superstars in its annals - Bryant, Jordan, Magic, to name just a few, but Steph Curry, when he steps on the court makes shooting looks so easy, that the abovementioned greats may have to take a minute, and pause, salute the current MVP - for his skills at times can be from another planet.
NBA basketball is rarely boring; it is almost always hi-jinks, with the best of the world’s talent on display. The intensity is always high and the games more often than not come down to the wire and the clutch shot. Watching an NBA game in the last quarter, with lead changes very minute, is like being on a roller coaster at breakneck speed, the thrills and tension just spillover and can be unbearable. But most of the consummate professionals of the NBA play the game as if they are taking a walk in the park - relaxed and easy. It is perhaps this professionalism that sets apart Curry from the other greats for the game, current or past. Steph Curry plays every game as if he is taking a stroll in the park or an afternoon nap, he goes through the motions, but in the end his team always wins, as the Golden State Warriors proved last season by creating a new record of regular season wins - beating the previous tally held by the Jordan-led Bulls.
Experts have tried to analyze Curry’s shooting style and some have commented that his early release of the ball makes his shots tougher to defend. Speed and quickness are definitely a factor in Curry’s game, but many current and former players in the NBA are known for their speed; Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson are/were all exceptionally quick and fleet footed, not to mention MJ, who in his prime could fly on the court like a bird. Curry is surely quick, but whether his speed is his ace up his sleeve is a moot point. Steve Kerr, the former championship winner with the Bulls and 3-point specialist, now coaches the Warriors and would perhaps be the best judge of the skills of his ward. But Kerr is not revealing any secrets about Curry’s playing style or shooting techniques, but suffice to say, Curry was already a recognized star well before Kerr coached him, so Kerr’s guidance would have only honed and fine tuned an already burgeoning talent.
Can Steph Curry retain his MVP title and thus achieve a hat-trick of MVPs? There is no questioning his skill and his appetite for the game, but how motivated would he be to perform at his best - yet again? What is more certain is that if Curry remains injury free (which should be the case in the normal course of events), then basketball fans are in for a treat this year as well; irrespective of whether Curry leads the field statistically, which he very well might.
Steph Curry is a phenomenon in the current NBA spectrum, his on court abilities exceptional and almost inimitable. NBA fans, the world over will hope that his shooting streak continues in the current season and beyond.
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