#4 Well-honed shot mechanics
Stephen Curry’s father Dell Curry was an amazing shooter in the NBA himself. Along with passing down his genes, Dell gave Steph every opportunity to pursue the sport. Steph developed a feathery touch at a young age, but he used to release the ball from his chest.
Dell had Steph change his shot to release the ball above his head, but it wasn’t a cake walk. Curry recalls, "I really couldn't shoot outside the paint for like the first three weeks. All summer when I was at camps people were like, 'Who are you, why are you playing basketball?' I was really that bad for a month and a half [before] I finally figured it out."
Now when he shoots, his shooting arm is consistently within 85 to 95 degrees vertically. And he releases the ball before the peak of his jump. 3 pointers shot by Curry average a maximum height of 16.23 feet, almost a foot higher than the league average. The league average would also be skewed by the league average player height, while Curry stands at 6’3”, the league average height is 6’7”.
His shot over the outstretched wings of Anthony Davis in the 2015 playoffs with 4 seconds left is a prime example of his deadly form.
