r/nba 2d ago

The way defenses used to guard Steph pre-2016 is crazy to see

https://streamable.com/x8lsr0
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u/Holualoabraddah 2d ago

Jordan’s gravity was insane, Prime LeBron when he was with the Cavs/Heat… The thing is Steph’s gravity is different from all those players because all of their gravity drew player to the paint which leaves hole in the perimeter, Steph is the only player of those named that consistently draws a double behind the 3 point line, which turns the whole geometry of the game upside down and leaves guys wide open under the basket with regularity.

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u/Ok-Street-2473 2d ago

Yup. Every star has gravity, only Steph brings defenders out to the perimeter off ball

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u/King_Of_Pants [BOS] Terry Rozier 2d ago

Prime LeBron when he was with the Cavs/Heat

One of the reasons he used to play such heavy minutes.

Yes he's an athletic freak who used to be able to handle those minutes, but also, just placing him in the corner had a huge impact on how defences would react.

He'd get his rest on the court. Just the threat of him cutting or getting involved in the possession was enough to create room for other guys to have their turn running the offence.

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u/Impossible-Group8553 2d ago edited 2d ago

Dame and Trae Young are statistically much better than Steph from 35+ feet throughout their careers (you can verify that) but they get literally none of the gravity talk lol the double standard is comical at this point

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u/Ok-Street-2473 2d ago

It doesn’t matter how far away they can shoot from. It matters how good they are at off ball, movement shooting and how dangerous they are in isos.

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u/Impossible-Group8553 2d ago edited 2d ago

Surely how far you can shoot is also a factor lol give me a break, you literally talked about how he gets guarded “behind the 3 point line.” Also Dame is statistically better at iso scoring and yet that’s one of your points lol.

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u/Ok-Street-2473 2d ago

Yeah Dame does have great gravity too. How far you can shoot is mostly irrelevant because shooting from deep is rare anyways

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u/Holualoabraddah 2d ago

Those stats can be manipulated quite easily. First of all does it include full court heaves? Because Steph goes out of his way to attempt those shots at the buzzer while other players avoid it because it messes with their stats, secondly, you have to look at volume. A guy who shoots 40% on 50 attempts from 35+ is not as dangerous as a guy who shoot 38% on 100 attempts.

I just doesn’t see opposing teams blitzing Dame and Tre with two guys once he passes half court unless it’s an end of game situation, but you have Ty Lue on the record saying he blitzed Steph in the finals because he’d have rather deal with KEVIN FREAKING DURANT instead of Curry.