If you ask anyone around the NBA to name the greatest shooter ever, there’s a good chance that Steph Curry will be the first name across everybody’s lips.
As the NBA’s All-Time leader in threes made, Steph has proven to be an expert marksman from deep and his mastery of the long-distance shot has changed the game in amazing ways.
But when posed with the same question, shooting legend Ray Allen did not name Steph. Instead, he picked another Curry to hold that honor.
Q: “Who do you consider the greatest shooter?”
Allen: “I wouldn’t put myself in the conversation. The greatest I’ve ever seen, someone who was amazing, was Dell Curry because of the way he shot so efficiently without moving with the ball. It was like he could throw the ball up there.”
While Dell lacks the flashiness and achievements of Steph, he was a beast during his NBA tenure, averaging 11.7 points on 40% shooting from deep over his 16-year career.
Interestingly, Allen also mentioned Reggie Miller.
“But Reggie (Miller) was the greatest all-around shooter, being able to carry his team, he was an assassin. When you break it down, him being able to get to the free-throw line, great coming off screens, he wasn’t a pick-and-roll player but a guy you had to know where he was every moment of the game. Guarding him was hell for me.”
Miller and Dell were among the earliest 3-point specialists (at least, by today’s metric), and their unprecedented shooting stroke had an enormous impact on the game and their teams.
For Allen, the turning point for his career came in Boston, when he suddenly sound himself playing a very particular role.
Once I got to Boston, I was playing in prime time, and based on the way we were playing, I’m suddenly no longer a pick-and-roll player, I’m no longer a post-up player, I’m strictly a space guy who can shoot the 3s. We did this because we had so many other great players.
Today, shooting is more important and widely used than ever before. Guys like Miller, Dell, and (of course) Allen helped pave the way for that transformation and they certainly deserve credit for that.
But after what we have seen Steph do, it might be a stretch to say that anybody else is a greater shooter than him.
