Seth Curry’s path to NBA success was a long and winding one. Before he found his way to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020, the younger brother of superstar Stephen Curry had bounced from team to team, spent time in the D-League (yes, it was called the D-League then), and fought tooth and nail to prove he belonged.
Along the way, he clearly made an impression on his future coach, Doc Rivers.
Following Philly’s win over the Detroit Pistons — a game in which Curry (who missed Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee with a bruised foot) put up 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting — Rivers revealed how the journeyman’s signing came about.
“We started talking about him and I kept saying ‘We need another playmaker here’,” Rivers said, via All Sixers. “Seth’s a playmaker. He’s a great shooter, but he’s a playmaker and he’s done that for us.”
Doc Witnessed Curry’s Killer J on the Playoff Stage
Rivers wasn’t just basing his assessment on watching from afar or conventional hoops wisdom. He had experienced the Curry effect firsthand during postseason play.
“We played him in the playoffs and he killed us in pick-and-roll,” Rivers recounted. “Dallas, the series was tied 2-2, I don’t remember anymore what it was, but I thought Seth had a huge impact and it was not his catch and shoot, it was all pick-and-roll play. We started trapping him and they went away from it, thank God.”
Curry averaged 12.8 points in that series, making 58.5% of his field-goal attempts and 47.6% from three-point range. In the end, it was Rivers’ Clippers who advanced, but Curry’s performance may have secured his future.
Despite having spent much of his career as a bench player, Rivers felt that Curry could be a regular first-teamer in Philly, where he would have the benefit of playing off of an all-world big man in Joel Embiid.
“We saw him as a starter because of his shooting,” Rivers said. “You play him with Joel Embiid and we just thought that combination was a good combination. JJ Redick was a great starter with Joel so when you put a shooter like that next to Joel, you become a great shooter.”
That’s exactly what ended up happening, too.
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A Career Year?
Last season, Curry started in all of the 57 games he played for the Sixers. And despite the fact that an early-season bout with COVID-19 continued to affect him throughout the campaign, he still managed to average 12.5 PPG on 45% shooting from deep.
In 2021-22, other than the minor foot injury, he’s closer to 100% than he was for the majority of last season. Moreover, Philly has been in dire need of additional firepower with Ben Simmons continuing to be away from the club and Curry has been willing and able to shoulder more of the scoring load.
Through 10 games, the 31-year-old is averaging 16.8 points and making 48.3% of his 3-pointers, which is fifth in the NBA among players who take more than 3.0 per game, per NBA stats. Meanwhile, his effective field goal percentage has entered the stratosphere at 70.0%, which ranks first in the NBA among all guards.
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