https://theathletic.com/3093074/2022/01/28/thompson-how-stephen-curry-the-mad-scientist-of-shooting-diagnosed-and-maybe-cured-his-slump/

Thompson: How Stephen Curry, the mad scientist of shooting, diagnosed
(and maybe cured) his slump

By Marcus Thompson II
2h ago

[excerpt of article]

During his normal post-practice shooting session, Curry was missing like
crazy in practice, for him anyway. He knew what was wrong, what was
missing from his usually succinct form. He just couldn’t isolate what
was causing the issue. The problem was power.

“He started talking about how he wasn’t getting enough power and he’s
kind of flicking balls at the top (of his shot),” said Warriors
assistant coach Bruce Fraser, who has worked closely with Curry for
years. “Especially when he was out more in range or off some movement.”

As Curry has explained it, the power starts at the base of his liftoff.
It works up from his feet up, through his frame and into his shooting
motion. A shortage of power disrupts the mechanics and such was evident
in wins over Houston and Utah earlier this homestand. Though he made a
game-winner after the buzzer sounded — the first of his career — on a
midrange jumper against the Rockets last Friday, Curry was 5-for-26 from
3-point range combined in the two games. And some of the misses were
uncharacteristic.

By the time he was releasing the ball, he was pushing with his arms
because he didn’t get the power he usually generates. Especially on
stepbacks. And when you’re Curry — running off screens and being crowded
by defenders, grabbed and pulled every step of the way, and always
shooting through closing windows — it is difficult to maintain the
mechanics when relying mostly on arm strength. That’s why, he concluded,
many of his shots were landing short or veering sideways.

Fraser could see the lack of power. He could tell by the spin on the
ball in flight, and by Curry’s inconsistent arm angles. But Fraser
couldn’t figure out the origin of the power shortage.

But Curry had an Aha! moment in practice. He found the source of the
shortage. It was too subtle for Fraser to see, too internal for anyone
other than Curry to detect. In the process of self-diagnosing, he found
the answers in his feet.

He had developed a habit of launching off his toes and not the balls of
his feet. On his toes, he generates less power than when he gets a good
push off the balls of his feet. The discovery paid immediate dividends.
His shots started falling like normal in practice. The swishes came
back. So did the pretty rotation on his ball. His balance corrected with
the added burst. The oomph he regained behind the follow-through gave
him much better control over the ball.

Curry took the court Tuesday against Dallas eager to see if this
diagnosis was accurate. And to test it out, he focused on getting a
little closer. The results were promising. He opened by making a
floater, drilled his first 3-point attempt and made three midrange jumpers.

The antidote he discovered wasn’t an immediate cure. He went on to make
just two of his 10 attempts from 3 in the game. But the progress was
encouraging. Even the misses were better.

Quietly, confidently, a big night was expected against Minnesota. Then
he went out made more than half of his 3-point attempts for the first
time since Dec. 23. It’s been a while.

The common sentiment was Curry’s shot would come around. But the truth
is, shots don’t just come around. Not even for Curry. Especially not for
Curry.

Curry’s career-worst slump hasn’t been a simple fix. It’s been
persistent and confusing enough to require a thorough diagnostic. In
some ways, a perfect storm of elements colluded to drop him to 37.3
percent from 3 entering Thursday — a dip significant enough to drop his
career percentage below 43 percent. Even though he shot well against
Minnesota, he isn’t out of the woods yet. Just a step towards
progressing to his mean.

He isn’t dubbed the greatest shooter of all time merely because he’s
made more 3-pointers than anybody. But also because of his mastery of
the craft, expertise that allows him to be a great shooter under
multiple contexts. So it stands to reason the troubleshooting process
was less like banging the side of a television and more like running a
diagnostic on a Tesla.

On 1/28/2022 10:51 AM, Robin Miller wrote:
>
> https://theathletic.com/3093074/2022/01/28/thompson-how-stephen-curry-the-mad-scientist-of-shooting-diagnosed-and-maybe-cured-his-slump/
>
>
>
> Thompson: How Stephen Curry, the mad scientist of shooting, diagnosed
> (and maybe cured) his slump
>
> By Marcus Thompson II
> 2h ago
>
> [excerpt of article]
>
> During his normal post-practice shooting session, Curry was missing like
> crazy in practice, for him anyway. He knew what was wrong, what was
> missing from his usually succinct form. He just couldn’t isolate what
> was causing the issue. The problem was power.
>
> “He started talking about how he wasn’t getting enough power and he’s
> kind of flicking balls at the top (of his shot),” said Warriors
> assistant coach Bruce Fraser, who has worked closely with Curry for
> years. “Especially when he was out more in range or off some movement.”
>
> As Curry has explained it, the power starts at the base of his liftoff.
> It works up from his feet up, through his frame and into his shooting
> motion. A shortage of power disrupts the mechanics and such was evident
> in wins over Houston and Utah earlier this homestand. Though he made a
> game-winner after the buzzer sounded — the first of his career — on a
> midrange jumper against the Rockets last Friday, Curry was 5-for-26 from
> 3-point range combined in the two games. And some of the misses were
> uncharacteristic.
>
> By the time he was releasing the ball, he was pushing with his arms
> because he didn’t get the power he usually generates. Especially on
> stepbacks. And when you’re Curry — running off screens and being crowded
> by defenders, grabbed and pulled every step of the way, and always
> shooting through closing windows — it is difficult to maintain the
> mechanics when relying mostly on arm strength. That’s why, he concluded,
> many of his shots were landing short or veering sideways.
>
> Fraser could see the lack of power. He could tell by the spin on the
> ball in flight, and by Curry’s inconsistent arm angles. But Fraser
> couldn’t figure out the origin of the power shortage.
>
> But Curry had an Aha! moment in practice. He found the source of the
> shortage. It was too subtle for Fraser to see, too internal for anyone
> other than Curry to detect. In the process of self-diagnosing, he found
> the answers in his feet.
>
> He had developed a habit of launching off his toes and not the balls of
> his feet. On his toes, he generates less power than when he gets a good
> push off the balls of his feet. The discovery paid immediate dividends.
> His shots started falling like normal in practice. The swishes came
> back. So did the pretty rotation on his ball. His balance corrected with
> the added burst. The oomph he regained behind the follow-through gave
> him much better control over the ball.
>
> Curry took the court Tuesday against Dallas eager to see if this
> diagnosis was accurate. And to test it out, he focused on getting a
> little closer. The results were promising. He opened by making a
> floater, drilled his first 3-point attempt and made three midrange jumpers.
>
> The antidote he discovered wasn’t an immediate cure. He went on to make
> just two of his 10 attempts from 3 in the game. But the progress was
> encouraging. Even the misses were better.
>
> Quietly, confidently, a big night was expected against Minnesota. Then
> he went out made more than half of his 3-point attempts for the first
> time since Dec. 23. It’s been a while.
>
> The common sentiment was Curry’s shot would come around. But the truth
> is, shots don’t just come around. Not even for Curry. Especially not for
> Curry.
>
> Curry’s career-worst slump hasn’t been a simple fix. It’s been
> persistent and confusing enough to require a thorough diagnostic. In
> some ways, a perfect storm of elements colluded to drop him to 37.3
> percent from 3 entering Thursday — a dip significant enough to drop his
> career percentage below 43 percent. Even though he shot well against
> Minnesota, he isn’t out of the woods yet. Just a step towards
> progressing to his mean.
>
> He isn’t dubbed the greatest shooter of all time merely because he’s
> made more 3-pointers than anybody. But also because of his mastery of
> the craft, expertise that allows him to be a great shooter under
> multiple contexts. So it stands to reason the troubleshooting process
> was less like banging the side of a television and more like running a
> diagnostic on a Tesla.
>
>
That was some very interesting stuff there. In a previous post about his
slump, I wondered what his shooting accuracy was when taking practice
shots. It's good to hear he was able to deconstruct the mechanics and
figure out what needed adjusting.
--
David Farber
Los Osos, CA