Only three short years ago if you were to ask 100 random people, "Who is Steph Curry?", I would predict that you could only get near 50 percent of the people to correctly identify him as the Golden State point guard. The other 50 people may not even be able to identify him while others may recognize him from his dad's fame or for his brother who was a stand out on the Duke Blue Devils at the time. Fast forward three years later and ask the exact same question and the number will sky rocket to over 90%. Curry has exploded from the depths of mediocrity to NBA stardom in a short amount of time. Not only his name but his gameplay has become household discussion. You cannot talk about the NBA without discussing either Curry himself or his record setting team, the Golden State Warriors. They have taken the league by storm these last two years, with their sharpshooting superstar leading the way. All the while dominating the league they have also memorized fans with their unselfish gameplay and jaw-dropping highlights. This gameplay has thought to have begun a revolution in the game of basketball. The three point shot has already increased in use since its establishment in1979-80, however, Steph Curry's use of the three-point shot is nothing like we have seen before. He drops in shots from 28 feet out all the while putting on spectacular dribbling displays just seconds before. This combinations of skills put together in one stretch is something that has yet to be seen consistently in the NBA. Of course every once in awhile we see a player put together a display that lands them on Sports Center Top 10 Plays. Conversely, Steph creates these plays on a nightly basis, and may I even say a regular basis. Steph has changed the way basketball is being played and watched.

The general stereotype of a superstar athlete usually includes words like arrogant or conceited. It than follows with questions about their family life and what kind of person they are outside of the sport. However, Steph Curry and stereotypes do not go together.  Steph has built a reputation around the league for being a family guy and a trusted role model. Nevertheless, he did not turn into a good person over night, it was his parents strict parenting that led him to who he is today. You will see throughout the paper that Steph Curry development into both a great role model and the games best player started from the time he could walk and has been a process. These processes have led to him being a great ambassador for the game of basketball.  To appreciate and understand what Steph is accomplishing both on and off the court you need to look at the entirety of his life.  Due to his relatable family life and his uncanny gameplay, Steph has revolutionized not only how basketball is being played but also how it is watched. The game of basketball is changing for the better thanks to Steph Curry's unexpected rise to stardom.   

Steph Before the NBA

Wardell Stephen "Steph" Curry Jr. grew up in NBA locker rooms and on the lighted basketball court in his backyard of his Charlotte house.  At the time his father, Dell Curry, was playing in the NBA on the Charlotte Hornets and therefore Steph was always around the NBA locker rooms. He would be no stranger to NBA locker rooms when he eventually would be dressing in one nearly 20 years later. However, there would be a lot of challenges prior to stepping in his first locker room after being drafted 7th overall in the 2009 draft. In order to understand the significance of Steph's impact on the game of basketball you have to look at his childhood and his family as a whole. 

To understand where Steph's athletic ability came from you have to first look towards not only his father but his mother as well. Most know that Steph's father played college basketball at Virginia Tech and than was drafted into the NBA where he had a very successful career. On the other hand, you have Steph's mother, Sonya Curry, who was a three sport athlete in high school and also went to play Division 1 volleyball at Virginia Tech. Steph was quoted saying, ""A lot of people say whatever defensive abilities I have, I get from her. My toughness and grittiness."(Killion). When you are the children of one professional athlete and a college athlete there is an automatic expectation of future athletes to be brought into the world. However, Dell and Sonya, made it clear that they would not put all the focus on their children's athletic careers due to the fear of failure. They made it clear what the most important aspects of their family: "The Curry children had no doubt about the order of priorities: faith, family, academics and then everything else, including sports" (Killion).  Sonya made this clear from the beginning and did not take this as a joke. She was the disciplinarian. The night before Stephen's first middle school game, he purposely didn't do the dishes. As expected he wasn't allowed to play in the next day's game. This discipline has played a large effect on Steph not only when it comes to his role model status but also his game. Steph's game is predicated on attention to detail. Between his shot and his dribbling skills, he needs to be perfect in order to overcome his lack of physical attributes. This discipline that was taught by his mother has been essential in his game. The discipline is also needed when it comes to practice and perfecting his art. Steph did not wake up one day and become the best shooter in the world. Although, there is natural talent there, he also needed to perfect that talent. And in order to perfect a talent, it takes time, dedication, and attention to detail. 

Surprisingly, Steph Curry was not always on the path to NBA stardom. He played middle school basketball all the way in Toronto, Canada because Dell was just finishing up his career there with the Toronto Raptors. Steph dominated his 8th grade year leading his team to an undefeated season all the while dropping 40 and 50 points a game. Nevertheless, his physical abilities were still not impressive enough to legitimately think of him as a future NBA player. If you looked at the team photo from that year you would see that he was the 3rd smallest kid on the team, and that's on a roster with his little brother. In one article that writer says, "He was a million miles from a sure thing. He had a head for the game and the subtle knack of a craftsman born into the trade" (Phillips). He was extremely undersize, not blindingly quick, and not strikingly athletic. He had a lot of skill but his body was not that of a high Division 1 player. Along with that, he had to change his entire shot during the summer going into sophomore year. This was because he shot from the waist, which is a common trait among shorter, weaker players who need the power to get the ball up to the rim. In order to fix this, " ... he took a summer off from his usual basketball activities and focused on one tweak: changing his release point. By moving the ball above his head, Curry made his shots much harder to block" (Cohen).  This is where his mother's discipline came into play. In order to make such a change, you need to put in countless hours to see a successful transition. Changing your shot takes a lot of time in the gym and specifically as Dell Curry said, "Repetition." This commitment and discipline to the game he loves from an early age was just the stepping stones for Curry becoming one of the most prolific shooters the NBA has ever seen. 

Although Steph has recently become a house hold name, there was one month in 2008 when he gave a preview to the entire world what he would eventually become. This occurred during the 2008 March Madness Tournament. Before I tell you about one of the best personal runs ever in the NCAA tournament, I must catch you up on where Steph is at this time in his life. Steph did not find himself highly recruited throughout high school. He was a three-star recruit but he was still unable to get any Power 5 conference schools to recruit him because he did not pass the "eye test". No big time schools came after him due to his lack of physical attributes. His dad's alma mater, Virginia Tech, told him he could try and walk on for the team but he would not have a guaranteed spot or scholarship. That led him to a tiny, academically elite liberal arts college near Charlotte that had not won an NCAA tournament game in going on 40 years, Davidson College. Davidson College is home of 1,950 students and plays in the A-10 conference for basketball. Steph enrolled in 2006 and as a freshman averaged a surprising 21.5 points per game and led the team to an NCAA tournament bid. It was then his sophomore year where he would show the world that Steph Curry is a force to be reckon with and is going to change the game of basketball. 

Steph would lead his team on a 25 game winning streak headed right into the NCAA tournament as a number 10 seed. Davidson started the tournament by defeating Gonzaga. He scored 40 points in the first game and placed the entire tournament on notice. Davidson went on to shock Georgetown and blitzed Wisconsin to reach the regional final, with Curry dropping 30 and 33 in those two games. On the cusp of the Final Four, the Wildcats came up one shot short against eventual 2008 national champion Kansas, losing 59-57. This tournament was significant for Steph because since he played at Davidson and in a small conference he was not displayed to the majority of the population the whole year. The tournament gave him the biggest stage to display his talents and he did just that. Even though the number of points he scored was extremely impressive, it was how he was doing it that is important to this paper. Steph was putting on highlight plays and then would simply drop in a rainbow three from well behind the line. One writer described it as 

He just kept hitting shots, in his own little bubble of imperturbable cool. He had a gift for finding the little cracks, the little aerial wormholes only players with a certain kind of daredevil vision are ever able to see. He'd run off a screen, curl to the top of the key, catch the ball, pivot: swish, over a skyline of outstretched arms. Plant in the corner, catch the ball, flick a tiny hip-fake: swish, as his defender went rocketing past him (Phillips). 

This was a glimpse of the magic of Steph Curry. It is important to know about Steph's childhood and what it took for him to even get to the NBA. Without out this background it is hard to understand why Steph has turned into both the player he is and the role model and how his game and himself are changing the game of basketball. 

The Steph Curry- The Most Relatable Superstar

He stands at only 6 foot 3 inches, weighs 180 pounds, and has the face of a teenager. He also is not an unbelievable athlete by NBA standards. He does not have the end to end speed of John Wall, or Russell Westbrook's athletic ability.  His lack of a game changing skill makes him the most relatable star known to date due to the fact he still dominates games without freakish physical gifts. A relatable star aids in the overall game of basketball because it gives every person someone they can look up to. One writer said of Curry, "He (Curry) stands out in the literal sense of the phrase. Before the ball is in play, he's the one you'd point to and say doesn't belong. It's that illusion of outsider status that's inspiring" (Van Meter).  Its this outsider status that gives each person who may not be blessed with physical gifts a realistic role model to look up to a try to be. It gives every kid that has to take a knee in the front row of their team picture a goal to reach. They can see that Steph once stood in the front of his team pictures as an 8thgrader as I noted before. They can physically see that you do not have to built like a human tank like LeBron James in order to succeed in the game of basketball. One writer said of Curry's physical appearance, "If you ran into him on the street and had never watched a basketball game in your life, you would think he was a salesman or, perhaps, a gym teacher, not the most lethal scorer on the planet" (Van Meter).  He is not going to overwhelm you with his physical features and as we see more and more unbelievable athletes join the league he is the closest to a representative of the common man we are going to get.  Curry even said of himself in GQ magazine, ""I can't jump the highest. I'm obviously not the biggest, not the strongest. And so they see me out there and I look like a normal person" (Riley). He knows he can be seen as a role model for all people. Along with his physical features, his game is also something that anyone can strive for. 

Steph Curry's game is predicated off a quick release and stellar ball handling. Two traits that any average human could attempt to perfect. This meaning that shooting and dribbling is not like dunking where you have to be blessed with a physical gift of either height or athleticism in order to be great at it. Even passing takes a natural instinct that usually cannot be taught. When it comes to shooting and dribbling, even if you have a limited amount of athleticism you can refine your skills to become deadly at both these traits. We saw this in Curry's rise to the NBA. He spent his whole Summer changing his shot and perfecting it. Without the dedication Curry has shown, who knows if he would be in the position he is in now. If he did not spend the time to change his shot, I do not see him in the position he is now. Along with the work he out in to just to get to the NBA, he also had to keep working in order to launch himself into a perennial all-star. Curry worked out at a place called Accelerate Basketball in Charlotte. Accelerate Academy focused on drills that, "routines that dialed in his ball-handling even while he was off his feet. He describes tailor-made techniques "to shock your body, sensory things -- like, goggles that flash in your face and obstruct your vision while you try to make accurate passes." (Riley). Curry pushes himself beyond limits and tries stuff know one else will even think of. Some of the training he did was comparable to "elements sound borrowed from the stuff that got the Apollo astronauts ready for the moon." As you can see, Steph loves to take it up a notch in order to reach his potential. 

This extra level is a prime example of how he is a great role model for the youth. He shows kids that in order to reach your dreams that you need to take it an extra level. He dismisses all the stereotypes that he is too small or too weak and proves that anyone can be great. He is great for the game of basketball because he will give hope to every kid that they have a chance to make it one day to the NBA. This will result in more kids pushing themselves to their potential. Consequentially, when kids push themselves to the limit you will get more kids finding skills they never thought they had. It will result in finding better players for basketball and getting kids to reach their full potential as players. All of this will result in bettering the game of basketball. 

Changing How We Watch Basketball

Steph Curry has a unique ability to score from 0 to 30 feet from the basket. The largest range we have ever seen from a player. What makes Steph and the Golden State Warriors play so unique is that it does not follow any pattern or flow. A typical possession starts with the ball being brought up court, the "build up". Next, there usually is some passing and cutting along the three-point line which would be the "conflict". The conflict results in a climax which would be a shot taken and leads right into the "resolution", which is whether the shot went in or not.  With Curry and the Warriors, every once in awhile during the course of a game where they break from the standard possession construct. This possession usually consists of a build up and than bloodshed. This occurs every once in awhile when Curry comes down and bombs up a 30 foot three point shot from the parking lot. He has a tendency to disrupt any type of pattern in a game which leads him to being a TV broadcaster's nightmare. As one sports writer put it, "Curry's ability to buck the narrative doesn't just hurt opponents. NBA basketball is a show with a director, narrators and an audience, calibrated to capture the usual rhythms of the game. Steph exposes cracks in the whole apparatus" (Rosenthal). It forces camera men to be locked in at all times along with the the commentators. Usually there is time for the commentators to chat and the camera a chance to flash the camera to flash to the bench or a someone in the crowd. However, Curry does not allow this because as the commentators are chatting and the cameraman is switching cameras, Curry is racing down court into a pull up jumper, catching everyone off guard. A change of possession also usually gives people watching at home a chance to look down, check your phone, or sip our drink. With Curry, if you take part in one of these activities you may miss something spectacular. Whether it is pulling a 28 foot three pointer or putting on a dribble display between three defenders. Steph dismantles the structure on which an entire production is built. He breaks every rule the rest of us are trained to follow and embellishments just the same. It makes watching the game that much better and entertaining. It forces people to be locked into the game at all times and watch the full 48 minutes of a game rather then cutting out at chunks at a time. Curry makes the game better but keep people interested at all times. 

With the interest Curry draws at all time when on the court, it helps the game of basketball. Because as one writer states it, "You know what the most important thing for the longevity of the game is? Making sure there are as many fans as possible" (Lynch), and that is exactly what Steph Curry does. He is such a likable and relatable star which gives him such a large following. Little kids are drawn in by his highlight plays, while girls find him cute, and grandmas find him adorable. He captures the interest of every type of fan. Whether it is the basketball junkies that analyze every stat, Curry interests them because he fills up the stat sheet. Or the kid that looks for the highlight plays to recreate, which Curry creates every night. He also the perfect role model and father that any mom can appreciate and hope their sons can look up to. All these factors, lead to Curry bringing and adding fans to the game of basketball. And the more fans there are of the game, results in the betterment of the overall game.

