File picture of Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (left) and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.

MCT/San Jose

Time Magazine’s piece this week on Stephen Curry features a line that makes Curry a bit uncomfortable. In it, Curry calls himself the best in the world.
Well, he didn’t say that, exactly. He was proposed the statement and he answered in the affirmative. Because that’s what he is supposed to do. Because in that stratosphere of player, confidence is oxygen and believing you are the best is step one to pushing your performance to new levels.
So Curry didn’t intend to stand on a soapbox and tout himself as the best in the world. But that doesn’t change that it’s true.
LeBron James, who not that long ago pried the scepter from Kobe Bryant’s grip, has had his kingship hijacked by Curry. Leapfrogging Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis, Curry has come out of nowhere to take the crown as best in the NBA.
Assuredly, the blasphemy of calling Curry the best will prompt some LeBron fans to rip off their clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. But anyone who dismisses the claim is in need of a more modern basketball paradigm.
Curry is the new king. And many great basketball minds have stopped fighting the traditional notions that suggest otherwise.
“Steph Curry looks different,” said ESPN/ABC analyst Jalen Rose, a former NBA point guard. “The best player in the league usually is also physically imposing. He’s 6-foot-6-plus, with a scowl on his face and is menacing with the attitude that we appreciated because of Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant — just a cutthroat nature. Steph allows us into his living room.”
LeBron, at 6-8 and 250 pounds, is the most physically dominating. A case could be made that he is the greatest player of all time. If we were ranking careers, LeBron would be way ahead of Curry. But right now, no player is as dominant as Curry. No player lifts his team higher. No player is as skilled or as fun to watch. No one presents more challenges to defend.
LeBron used to be that way. He could make a bunch of washed up specialists look like All-Stars. Now at 31, with high mileage, he needs Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.
Curry is doing what LeBron once did. As one Western Conference executive said: “All you have to do is look at Brandon Rush.”
Rush is experiencing a resurrection since replacing injured Harrison Barnes in the starting lineup. Rush’s true shooting percentage — which takes into account 3-pointers, 2-pointers and free throws — is 37 percent this season coming off the bench. Since he was joined the starting lineup, it’s 71.2 percent.
“Coming off the bench, he wasn’t very good,” the executive said. “Put him in the lineup with Curry, all of a sudden he is a productive player. He’s getting wide open shots.”
That’s the Curry effect. The Warriors point guard forces the defense to adjust so radically that it opens the floor wider than we’ve ever seen. Taking nothing away from Klay Thompson or Draymond Green, they are flourishing in open space against distracted defenses.
Curry leads the NBA in scoring (31.2), but on top of that, he leads the league in player efficiency, win shares and value over replacement. In all the metrics that attempt to measure who is most productive at securing victory, Curry is at the top or near it.
When Curry is on the floor, the Warriors have outscored opponents by a total of 443 points, highest in the NBA. The next closest non-Warrior is Russell Westbrook at 297. LeBron is eighth at 252.
Through Wednesday’s games, 26 players had made 90 or more shots inside of five feet. Only five of those players had a better shooting percentage than Curry from that distance. (LeBron is one of them.)
Curry leads the NBA in shots from 25 feet, with 84, and converts at a clip of 44.4 percent.
Think about that for a moment. Curry has made 94 baskets from short range and 84 from long range. That’s the production of a good power forward and a good shooting guard _ and it comes in the package of a point guard who does all the things a good point guard does.
Curry ranks among the top 15 in assists per game — tied with LeBron, ahead of All-Star point guards Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley — despite facing constant double teams and traps.
He ranks second in steals.
He ranks eighth among guards in rebounds per game — ahead of several bigger All-Stars who play more minutes, such as Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan and Washington’s John Wall.
Curry isn’t new to these “best” debates, and he was on the losing end of them initially. First the question was whether he was the best point guard in the 2009 draft. While then-Warriors general manager Larry Riley thought so, Curry was the fourth point guard taken.
Before long, the question was whether he was the Warriors’ best player. And many Monta Ellis fans scoffed just as LeBron fans do now.
Then the debate was where Curry ranked among point guards. As recently as 2012, some lists had Curry behind the likes of Ty Lawson and Conley, who were a tier behind Westbrook and Chris Paul.
Now, having settled all those debates, Curry finds himself in a new one. His growth as a player, his explosion as a star, has bullied us into reconsidering NBA hierarchy.
This is Curry’s league now. And knowing LeBron will have something to say about it makes this Christmas matchup all the more special.