Congratulations Steph Curry shatterer of records!

Steph Curry's recent run is the most impressive in NBA history. In particular, his 2015-2016 season is the most impressive scoring season in the three-point era, period. Let's run down some of the amazing parts of Curry's scoring season.

The Oldies

Even if we just want to stick to some of the "simpler" stats, we have:

  • Curry has the most three-pointers made in a single NBA season with 402. This shatters the previous high (286, held by Steph Curry) by 116!
  • Curry has the most three-pointers attempted in a single NBA season with 886. This shatters the previous high (678, held by George McCould) by 208!
  • Curry has the most three-pointers missed in a single NBA season with 484. This shatters the previous high (421, held by Antoine Walker) by 63!
  • Curry is the first player to score 30 points per game on the coveted 50/40/90 range (50% from the field, 40% from three, 90% from the line.) It didn't shatter the previous high (29.9 held by Larry Bird) I will note Larry Bird played 39 minutes a game while Curry was at 34.2

h/t to Brett Bearup who noted this amazing gem too: Steph Curry has more threes in the last two seasons than Larry Bird had in his career! That's not exactly a record, but it feels like it should be.

Net Points

One of my favorite metrics of choice is "Net Points" (which is just a fancy way to aggregate True Shooting Percentage) The formula is

Points - [Field Goal Attempts] - 0.44 * [Free Throw Attempts]

The logic being we're interested in total points accounting for missed shots as well. Free throws don't count as full missed shots because players get between one to three of them, and of course, and-ones include the field goal attempt already. Now Curry did something extraordinary this season. Curry shattered the regular season Net Points record! Here's a breakdown of the top ten

Top Ten Net Points Seasons (as of 2015-2015

Player Season Net Points
Stephen Curry 2015-2016 601.0
Adrian Dantley 1983-1984 563.8
Charles Barkley 1987-1988 562.6
Kevin Durant 2013-2014 550.8
Kevin Durant 2012-2013 517.0
Karl Malone 1989-1990 511.3
Adrian Dantley 1981-1982 511.1
Michael Jordan 1987-1988 491.6
Michael Jordan 1988-1989 498.1
Charles Barkley 1989-1990 484.6

Curry's last game of the NBA season was special for two reasons. Not only did it get him the 400 threes and  the 30 points per game in the 50/40/90 club, but it also crossed him over the 600 Net Points in a season club (he is the sole member!) He already had the record in the bag (much like his three-point record) but his forty-six points on twenty-four shots just got him over the line there.

Career Impressiveness

Now, it's highly unlikely anyone ever touches Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career net-points record (5986.2). Even Karl Malone's second place is distant at "only" 4916.3. That said, Curry's career Net Points are impressive for active players

Top Career Net Points for active NBA Players as of 2015-2016

Rank Player Games Net Points
1 Dirk Nowitzki 1340 4061.6
2 LeBron James 988 3757.8
3 Paul Pierce 1318 3152.4
4 Kevin Durant 641 3044.7
5 Kobe Bryant 1349 3038.2
6 Amare Stoudemire 846 2589.6
7 Dwight Howard 880 2580.4
8 Tim Duncan 1393 2436.1
9 Dwyane Wade 857 2225.6
10 Pau Gasol 1056 2218.7
11 Kevin Garnett 1462 2205.4
12 Chris Bosh 893 2148.0
13 Stephen Curry 495 2073.0
14 James Harden 534 1951.2

Now Curry still isn't even on top ten. Of course, a few retirements may help him out. That said, he's picked up over 2,000 Net Points in under 500 games! For comparison, Kobe Bryant has taken over 800 more games to get "only" 1,000 more Net Points. Regardless, Curry is on pace for one of the most impressive scoring careers. Durant, no slouch himself, still has a healthy lead though (and is already a better career scorer than Kobe Bryant), and James Harden is on his tail. Here's hoping Durant, Curry, and Harden can all have long careers to see if any of them can come close to Kareem's record!

I'd like to say definitively there's no way Curry can top himself, but at this point, I have no idea. All I can say is he needs to keep his ankles healthy to go as long as he can.

-Dre

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