Overall, Curry is on pace for 284 personal fouls. This pace is not record-breaking... many NBA guards fouled this often in previous eras. But he is in contention to record the most fouls by any guard in the last 20 years. Gilbert Arenas (perhaps you've heard of him lately) is the leader in the clubhouse with 286 fouls, a mark he needed 42.5 minutes a game to reach in '05-'06. If current trends continue, Curry should outviolate Arenas with ease.
The three keys to success:
1) Health. Let's not anger Shaq anymore, kid.
2) Fewer minutes for CJ. The less effective/available CJ is, the easier this will be for Curry; it not only maxes out his floor time, but ensures that he'll be facing off against a fellow guard, the type of dude he likes slapping best.
3) A continued lack of coaching. We have to pray that Nellie's apathy holds through the rest of the season. Now is no time to start teaching defensive basics, not when history is on the line.
Curry's Quest continues tonight against Denver. The Nuggets draw more fouls than any other team, so this could be a big game for our young rascal. Keep your finger crossed, superfans.
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2 comments:
You're really over-the-top with your "continued lack of coaching angle," angle. Curry came into the league a player who couldn't guard anyone. In less than half a season, he's turned into a plus defender at point guard, "the total package." To what do you attribute this radical improvement?
Curry's foul trouble stems entirely from three factors:
1) His fabulous gift for anticipation, that allows him to get his hands on the ball for the block or the steal. His success with his hands leads him to reach too often, as Nellie hinted in his last post-game comments.
2) The diminished front-line, which puts ridiculous pressure on the guards to keep their men out of the lane.
3) The fact that he is frequently the first and the only player back on defense. How many times have you seen Curry give a foul under the basket as the last line of defense on the fast break?
Once again, your fascination with stats has led you to blow up into a major issue something that really isn't.
He's gone from "horrible" to "bad", an improvement I wouldn't call radical, and an improvement I'd attribute to Curry himself... young players do tend to improve their defense. He may become a plus defender at some point, but right now, the fouls negate the better work he's been doing in between them.
Your three bullet points all apply to C.J. Watson, too... he grabs tons of steals, plays in front of a diminished front line, and is often the last line of defense. He doesn't foul nearly as often as Curry, and never has. And that's part of the reason why we defend better with C.J. on the floor than with Curry on the floor.
A high-foul guard makes it much harder for your defense to compete, because he pushes you inexorably into the penalty. The more Gilbert fouled, the worse his Wizards' defenses got... he did enough offensively to make up for that, of course, but he's never been a defensive asset, and his tendency to foul is a big part of the reason why. And he has *never* fouled as often as Curry currently is.
You can call this a minor issue, but it simply isn't one. This is a significant flaw in Curry's game so far, one that is preventing his defense from being effective. Whether you regard it as a player failure or a coaching failure, it's a genuine failure. It's a problem.
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