It’s taken some growing pains, but Seth Curry is coming into his own for the Dallas Mavericks.
This season has not exactly been filled with highlights for the Dallas Mavericks, who are 13th in the Western Conference with a 17-30 record. They have played hard throughout the year despite putting up mostly L’s. However, things have begun to turn around. Dallas turned to small-ball when Andrew Bogut went down with a hampering leg injury, and it’s jumpstarted their backcourt.
With Curry playing his natural position of two-guard next to a healthier Deron Williams, his production has skyrocketed. In the past ten games, he’s playing the most of any time in his career, at 31 minutes per night, per ESPN. During that stretch, he’s shooting 51 percent from three and has an effective field goal percentage of 62.5 percent, according to NBA.com.
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With the Mavs recent starting five of Williams, Curry, Wesley Matthews, Harrison Barnes, and Dirk Nowitzki, they have been able to space the floor so well to create matchup problems, writes Bobby Karalla of Mavs.com. He credits Dirk for opening up shooters like Curry due to his pick-and-roll game with Williams.
With the defense focused on these two proven players, it’s allowed Curry to get many open looks and get switched out on bigs. He’s been able to take advantage of those mismatches in offensive sets, which is the reason for his enhanced shooting. He was playing at a really nice pace last night in an upset win over the San Antonio Spurs on the road, where he registered a career-high 24 points.
Curry has gotten much better at making plays off the bounce, and that’s made his shooting from deep much more lethal. He’s not going to be a great finisher at the rim on a consistent basis, but he has great touch on that floater in the paint. That shot was tough for the Spurs to account for, and if defenders overplayed that, the driving lanes opened up for Curry. He had demonstrated some craftiness in the open floor and got a number of easy lay-ins against the New York Knicks.
The next progression for the 26-year-old guard is commanding the point. He is not a dynamic passer; he is mostly looking to score when he penetrates. He has an assist percentage of 15.9 percent, which isn’t great while paired with a turnover percentage of 11.5. However, the guy has only played 91 games in his NBA career. In due time, he will improve his playmaking ability. He’s beginning to form nice chemistry with Williams, and he will get better with the ball in his hands as he gets more opportunities. If Williams eventually gets traded, Curry’s usage will go up even more so, and we will find out more about his potential long-term.
Regardless, he’s shown that he is a legitimate NBA player this season. He’s shooting the three at 42.3 percent, which is actually a higher rate than his brother Stephen Curry (41.0). I don’t expect this to be the case for the rest of their respective careers, but I don’t think it’s outrageous to say Seth will be in Steph’s ballpark from deep. Maybe it’s the bloodline, but this Mavs guard is starting to show he does belong in this league after all.
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