Ainge: Curry the greatest shooter over Bird

[D.o.s.]

Yep. He owns the two best 3-point shooting regular seasons in the history of the NBA, as well. Premature as it may seem, he is already the best 3-point shooter of all time.

Now that is just untrue...it's like saying Anthony Davis is already the best PF of all time. 

No.

He's on pace to be the best three point shooter of all time. You're right that it's early, particularly given his ankle troubles earlier in his career (another Ray-Ray parallel), but I actually think most people underrate Curry by painting him as just a deadly shooter from deep.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Yep. He owns the two best 3-point shooting regular seasons in the history of the NBA, as well. Premature as it may seem, he is already the best 3-point shooter of all time.

Now that is just untrue...it's like saying Anthony Davis is already the best PF of all time. 

No.

Gosh you hate me, lol. I'll reframe: he is the most talented shooter we have ever seen. That's much different from stating he's the best career shooter of all time, best shooting PG of all time, etc. He's simply the best pure shooter we have ever seen from a talent standpoint... obviously not taking into account overall careers. Allen would be the best career shooter imo.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Yep. He owns the two best 3-point shooting regular seasons in the history of the NBA, as well. Premature as it may seem, he is already the best 3-point shooter of all time.

Now that is just untrue...it's like saying Anthony Davis is already the best PF of all time. 

No.

He's on pace to be the best three point shooter of all time. You're right that it's early, particularly given his ankle troubles earlier in his career (another Ray-Ray parallel), but I actually think most people underrate Curry by painting him as just a deadly shooter from deep.

Absolutely. I can't recall a player so successful at his position that was largely reliant upon skill, not athleticism, or a combination of the two. Think he's undervalued for that reason as well.

[greece66]

Hint: DA cannot trade for Larry. 

If you ever think that DA has anything other than trades in his mind, think again.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

There was a caveat, he said Curry has to do it again and if he can't he said he will go back to Bird.

[BornReady]

people gonna hate me
but i dont really think bird is the greatest shooter as well
hes definitely in my top 3

but u still have guys like jerry west and pistol pete maravich competing for the top spot along with curry

[slamtheking]

Danny needs to go back and look at the old games. 

Bird could hit from anywhere and was far more skilled shooting with his non-shooting hand than Curry is.  Bird hit banks, from the post, behind the backboard even.  Comparing them in the clutch is no comparison.

Curry is a terrific shooter but I'll take Bird all day, every day.

[Donoghus]

Umm....Ainge isn't wrong.

[Moranis]

Heck if you take last year out when Lebron was incredibly inefficient he has a better career 3PT% in the playoffs than Bird.  I get that we all love Bird on here, but his career playoff shooting percentage from 3 is just 32.1%.  He has more seasons under 17% than he has over 40% in the playoffs. 

[Endless Paradise]

Umm....Ainge isn't wrong.

no, no, no, Bird was the greatest anything ever, he was Green Jesus Incarnate

[Donoghus]

Umm....Ainge isn't wrong.

no, no, no, Bird was the greatest anything ever, he was Green Jesus Incarnate

That's good and all & I know there is a propensity to deify the Celtics greats here on a Celtics blog, but I think its Curry.   

Now, in a clutch situation?  I'm taking Bird. 

Better passer?  Bird

Better rebounder?  Bird

The better basketball player?  It's Bird

But the better shooter?  I'm agreeing with Ainge here, I think its Curry. 

[D.o.s.]

I would wager that's EP being sarcastic.

Heck if you take last year out when Lebron was incredibly inefficient he has a better career 3PT% in the playoffs than Bird.  I get that we all love Bird on here, but his career playoff shooting percentage from 3 is just 32.1%.  He has more seasons under 17% than he has over 40% in the playoffs.

To put that into perspective, though, Bird only took ~250 playoff threes... while being a three time three point contest winner. I would not put my money on James in something as comparatively low stakes as a three point contest, so the comparison here seems a little silly (and I'm someone who thinks James comes up positive in most aspects of his career in comparison to LL).

Also, in regards to your "but if you take out last year" comment, I'm reminded of Beavis and Butthead:
"uh… huh huh… well, huh huh… if nothing sucked, and like, everything was cool all the time, then it’s like, how would you know it was cool? huh huh…"

Gotta take the good with the bad.

[slamtheking]

Umm....Ainge isn't wrong.

no, no, no, Bird was the greatest anything ever, he was Green Jesus Incarnate

TP for keeping everything in the perfect perpective

[JSD]

Curry's a better shooter than Bird, almost certainly the greatest shooter of all time (yes, already). 

We can quibble about how things might be different if Bird grew up in the 3-pt era or played in a different offensive system, but there's no realistic argument to be made based on what they actually did on the court.

My take as well.

[slamtheking]

Umm....Ainge isn't wrong.

no, no, no, Bird was the greatest anything ever, he was Green Jesus Incarnate

That's good and all & I know there is a propensity to deify the Celtics greats here on a Celtics blog, but I think its Curry.   

Now, in a clutch situation?  I'm taking Bird. 

Better passer?  Bird

Better rebounder?  Bird

The better basketball player?  It's Bird

But the better shooter?  I'm agreeing with Ainge here, I think its Curry. 

if it's just 3-pt shooting, maybe.  other than that, no.  Bird was too versatile with either hand as a shooter and from everywhere on the court.  It's his ability to use either hand that puts Bird at a higher notch for me as an overall shooter.  although, in those 3-pt contests, Bird ruled.