Can one man be the subject of — wait for it — two consecutive Jock Blogs?
Rare air, indeed. Steph Curry might want to call his agent and see if there’s an incentive clause in his contract for that.
Last week, the Jock Blog gushed about No. 30 after his 56-point performance in Orlando, wondering if he’d passed Joe Montana in all-time Bay Area aura.
A week later, we are back after his rock-and-roll barnstorming tour up and down the East Coast. Curry left shrieking hordes and scrapbooking Grandmas in awe. His 40 points in Brooklyn Thursday night led a 22-point comeback and was highlighted by a double-teamed, twisting, pirouette of a 39-foot buzzer-beater at the end of the first half — leaving Nets broadcaster Ian Eagle wondering about Curry’s possible extraterrestrial status.
The whole week was such a Curry flurry, it elevated and accelerated conversation about Steph’s proper place in the pantheon. Shaquille O’Neal raised the topic on “Inside the NBA”, saying he’d played with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, and that Steph belonged on their level. Kerr went even farther, saying Curry’s skill set may be the best in the game’s history. The veteran broadcaster Eagle came on our show and concurred with all of it.
Curry stock is hot right now, as I was just saying to my financial guy as he desperately searched for something not tanking on the market.
So on a Friday, why not add a little buzz to the barstool chat and see if we can’t try to sort Curry’s place in hoop Valhalla?
I created a very crude algorithm to see where our Bay-faced assassin ranks. I took four categories that objectively measure greatness — MVPs, championships, scoring titles and All-Defensive nods — and decided to do a little arithmetic.
Is judging a player on those four categories alone a sloppy, lazy, facile and incomplete way to mark greatness? Sure. But as my pal’s old Italian-American Grandpa from Brooklyn used to say: What do you want for nothing, veal cutlets?
I wrote down the names of the players most everyone agrees should be on the list of top ten all time: Michael Jordan. LeBron James. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kobe Bryant. Wilt Chamberlain. Bill Russell. Shaquille O’Neal. Magic Johnson. Larry Bird. Tim Duncan.
That’s ten, and did not include Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Hakeem Olajuwon or . . . Steph Curry. Let’s how they stack up. I’ll put them in categories.
DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THESE GUYS
Jordan won five MVPs, six NBA titles, ten scoring crowns (!) and made nine All-Defense teams. That’s a total of 30, and tops any total of any of these dudes. MJ. There is no substitute.
Kareem won six MVPs, six NBA titles, two scoring crowns and made 11 All-Defense teams. That’s a total of 25, and why Pat Riley always said Kareem was the greatest of them all. Of course, Riley had a small bias.
Kobe won one MVP (!?!?), five NBA titles, two scoring crowns and made 12 All-Defense teams for a total of 20. Kobe Bean would lock you up, sports fans.
THESE GUYS ARE TOP TEN, AND DON’T ARGUE
You know had more points than Kobe on my very scientific poll? Actually had the third most points of all? I know you’re not saying Tim Duncan, because nobody pays attention to Tim Duncan, which is kind of the whole point of Tim Duncan. They didn’t call him the Big Ticket-Seller. They called him The Big Fundamental. And his totals of two MVPs, five NBA titles and *15* All-Defense teams gives him 22 points.
Bill Russell was not a prolific scorer, but won five MVPs, 11 NBA titles (!!) and only made one All-Defense team because the award wasn’t invented until 1968-69. He would have lived on the All-Defense team had it existed in the 1960s, so take his total of 17 with a helpful grain of salt.
LeBron has won four MVPs, four NBA titles, one scoring title and made six All-Defense teams. He gets no points for confronting Steven A. Smith courtside about Bronny James, but does have a respectable 15 points. Oh, and he’s scored more points than any player in history, so there’s that.
My Dad always told me Wilt Chamberlain was the best of all-time, but my Dad was a huge track and field fan so I think he was always biased because the Big Dipper won a Big Eight high jump title at Kansas. Still, Wilt won four MVPs, two NBA titles, seven scoring crowns and made just two All-Defense teams, again because of the timing. He scores 15, which is the same as LeBron.
NOW IT GETS A LITTLE MORE OPEN, AND PERHAPS STEPH ENTERS
Despite my 1980s-bred belief that Magic Johnson was the greatest point guard of all time, he never made an All-Defense team and never led the league in scoring. He did lead the league in assists four times, which probably should count, but this is a crude and imperfect algorithm. Three MVPs and five NBA titles gives Magic eight points only.
Despite my 1980s-bred belief that Larry Joe Bird was one of the greatest players of all time, he, too, never led the league in scoring — which surprised me. He did win three MVPS, three NBA titles and made three All-Defense teams for nine points.
That’s nine players.
Shaq won an MVP, four championships, two scoring titles and made three All-Defense teams. Ten points, more than Bird and Magic. All righty.
Oscar Robertson won one MVP and one championship and zero scoring titles, but did lead the league in assists six times. Hakeem won one MVP, two championships and made nine All-Defense teams. Hmmm.
And then there’s Steph. Setting aside all the Mike Green “BANG” calls and night-night charisma, the numbers are: two MVPs, four NBA championships, two scoring titles and zero All-Defense teams. Eight points. Same as Magic, interestingly enough.
What does this all prove?
One, that my litmus test/algorithm is highly debatable. Two, my litmus test/algorithm still produced telling results.
Steph Curry rightfully has fought his way into the top 10 conversation. Maybe even a permanent place.
And he’s still going.