This shot chart proves Stephen Curry is basically perfect — minus one flaw

HE’S been untouchable during Golden State’s unbeaten start to the NBA season but this proves Stephen Curry is almost perfect.

THE 22-0 Golden State Warriors have enjoyed a perfect start to their season, and so too has their leader, Stephen Curry.

Well, basically. Curry hasn’t been perfect — no one has gone undefeated from the field — but he’s been close. Take a look at his current shot chart, courtesy of NBA.com/Stats, which shows that he’s shooting above league average in 13 of the 14 designated shooting zones:

The chart shows Curry’s makes and attempts, shooting percentage, the league average and the percentage of his shots he takes from that part of the floor.

The thing is, Curry’s not just shooting above league average — he’s at least nine percentage points better than that in 12 of the 14 zones.

That’s just incomprehensible. But it certainly makes that one red area jump out at you. If there were a way to force Curry to that spot near the baseline on every possession, maybe teams could beat the Warriors. On second thought, though, Curry would probably just figure out a way to become the NBA’s most efficient scorer from that sliver of the court.

We know we’ve never seen a shooter like Curry before — a volume scorer who somehow shoots at league-leading percentages — but that’s an abstract concept that can be difficult to visualise. Shot charts like these help put into perspective just how historically great Curry is.

Or, if you like some numbers with your pictures, try this: Curry’s 70.7 true shooting percentage (TS%) is on pace to top Wilt Chamberlain’s best shooting season (the gold standard, given the fact that most players who are that accurate are either low-volume shooters or big men who only shoot near the basket), and would only be bested by Tyson Chandler’s 70.8 TS% in 2011-12, according to Basketball-Reference.com. Pretty lofty company for a player of Curry’s stature.

Originally published as This shot chart proves Stephen Curry is basically perfect — minus one flaw