Seth Curry is the Philadelphia 76ers’ (not so) secret weapon
Seth Curry and the Philadelphia 76ers are a perfect fit.
The Philadelphia 76ers’ first preseason game of the season was a lot of things.
It featured massive performances by Joel Embiid and Shake Milton, the debut of Dwight Howard in a Sixers uniform, and a pretty impressive performance by rookie point guard Tyrese Maxey (more on that here) but in my humble opinion, the most intriguing development of the contest was just how well Seth Curry meshed into the starting five.
Now, in theory, this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. While Seth isn’t his brother, the younger Curry has proven himself a legitimate NBA talent over the past few seasons and could pop off for his best season as a pro at the tender age of 30 (more on that here). But my goodness, who ever thought Curry would be that good?
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He flew around the court like a younger J.J. Redick looking for an open shot, dished a dime to Embiid for a mid-range jumper, and led the team in offensive rebounds. While his 1-4 performance from 3 point range was a tad underwhelming, it was beyond refreshing to see a guard sized guard dribble up the court and actually pull up for a jump shot.
I know it was just one game – and not a particularly important or consequential one at that – and the regular season could prove to be a completely different beast, but *hot take alert* I think Curry may be the best-fitting player to ever play alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
Is that statement a tad premature? Most definitely. I will fully admit I could be dead wrong, and Milton could be starting alongside Simmons in the backcourt by Valentine’s Day but hear me out; I have a pretty good feeling about this one.
Initially acquired by Daryl Morey on draft day in a two-for-one swap with the Dallas Mavericks that also included Josh Richardson and the 36th overall pick (Tyler Bey), Curry really came into his own as a member of the Mavericks in 2017-18 and 2019-20, where he averaged 12.6 points, 2.3 assists, and 2.4 rebounds a game as Dallas’ secret weapon. While he only started roughly half of his games he appeared in for Rick Carlisle and company, Curry averaged starter minutes at 26.9 minutes of action a night and consistently provided a spark with his 43.9 percent 3 point shot.
Fun fact: If you were listening closely to the NBC Sports Philadelphia announcing teams sans Marc Zumoff during the Sixers’ preseason contest versus the Boston Celtics, you might have heard that Curry’s career 3 point shooting percentage (44.3) ranks second in NBA history for qualifying shooters behind only Steph’s head coach, Steve Kerr. After watching the team average 36.8 percent from beyond the arc in 2019-20 combined, adding a player like Curry – and Danny Green – is a major boon.
If Curry just brings a Redick-esque element to the Sixers’ offense, he’ll instantly become a fan favorite. But if he can add a secondary playmaking element to the Sixers’ bag of tricks, the likes of which they haven’t really had outside of a few weird games with Markelle Fultz in the starting five, he’ll be so much more: He’ll be transcendent.
Pairing up Simmons and Curry would give the team two guards equally capable of taking the ball up the court and initiating the offense in vastly different ways. That sort of optionality should allow Doc Rivers to run an expansive collection of plays that Brett Brown wouldn’t have dreamed of using with a Simmons plus three forwards and a center lineup. Heck, Rivers could effortlessly switch Simmons from point guard to power forward from play to play and having him setting screens on one drive and playing off them on the next.
And then there’s the two-man game between Embiid and Curry. Now that could be special.
While Milton and Embiid were able to find some success in the NBA bubble last summer as a one-five pairing, JoJo’s absolute best pairing as a pro was arguably with Redick from 2017-19. Embiid admitted as much to Jon Johnson, telling the WIP Host, “I wish he was 24 years old so we could be here for 10 for 15 years, but he’s old as sh**.”
At 30, Curry isn’t quite as young as Embiid (26), but with only 5,717 minutes of regular season NBA basketball on his speedometer – 641 minutes less than Embiid – there’s still plenty of good tread left on his tires – which is good because he’s under contract through the 2022-23 season; thanks again, Daryl Morey.
Next. Tyrese Maxey shines in his preseason debut. dark
Over their shared tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid have played with some pretty good players. They’ve shared the court with Jimmy Butler, Robert Covington, Al Horford, and yes, J.J. Redick, but all of these players have in one way or another possessed a bit of a misfitting skill set. Seth Curry doesn’t have that problem. He’s an average defender against opposing point guards, a prolific 3 point shooter, and a deceptively good passer who will all but surely set a new career average in assists as the 1b to Simmons’ 1a. With a little luck and a few pages out of Doc Rivers’ Lob City-era Clippers playbook, expect the younger Curry to be a secret weapon no longer.