Why Steph Curry is the most hated player in the league right now…

A controversial story about Steph broke in Business Insider this summer. NBA players were interviewed, and it became apparent that most of the players in the league right now don’t have love for Steph Curry. But Steph Curry is a good guy, right? Then why do a lot of people have animosity for him? Here is my assessment of it.

The NBA culture is diluted. Players are praised for the wrong things. Russ pads up his stats and gets a triple-double, he is lauded even if his team loses, which is generally the case. Harden pounds the ball into the court for 20 seconds of the 24-second shot clock and hits a step back three, he is lauded for it. A monster dunk by Jayson Tatum is shown more times on TV than a clutch three by Marcus Smart. 90% of the time, the top 3 plays of the day are dunks or blocks. The league has a weird fascination with working hard rather than working smart. Russ has the worst 3pt shooting percentage in the entire league and is difficult to play with. Steph Curry and the Warriors play basketball the way it is supposed to be played. They move the ball around, pass unselfishly and are the most efficient team by the end of the season.

Do you know why despite winning 3 titles in 4 years the Warriors are not winded? They don’t run the length of the court each time at full speed like most other teams do. They play smart basketball. By the end of the 1^st round of the playoffs, hardworking players are all gassed up and are running on empty. Its time the league calibrates its compass back to the things that matter. Steph is usually the shortest man on the court and hence doesn’t dominate other players physically. He dances around people with his fancy dribbling and as soon as he gets some sunshine launches the most lethal 3pt shot. Players don’t like that. They don’t like to be bullied by a smaller man. Tough guys don’t like to be humiliated by a smaller guy.

Steph is the humblest superstar in the history of sports. After his loss in the Finals in the 73-win season, what did he do? He recruited Kevin Durant. He knew his numbers would go down, people would start viewing him as the 2^nd best player on his team and his chances of getting a Finals MVP would be reduced. That didn’t matter to him. His focus was clear: Win championships and do it the smart way by surrounding yourself with better players and shooting threes. That’s why he went out and got Demarcus.  This attitude should be celebrated by players but is frowned upon. There is a wrong mindset in the NBA right now. Steph Curry is the best thing that has happened to the NBA in recent years and players should learn from him. Until that happens, no one can even come close to challenging the Warriors.