Philadelphia 76ers: Seth Curry gets his revenge on the Hawks

Seth Curry is 31-years-old.

He’s been in the NBA since 2013, appeared in 368 games – 334 in the regular season and 34 in the playoffs – and has played for seven different teams over the past nine seasons.

And yet, the best run of Curry’s career didn’t come until over the summer, when he put up an average of 18.8 points over the Philadelphia 76ers’ 12 game playoff campaign. Whether due to his incredible efficiency from everywhere on the field or a concerted effort by Doc Rivers to run the offense via his daughter’s husband, Curry was routinely the Sixers’ second-best offensive weapon behind only Joel Embiid and was on the way to establishing himself as more than just a sharpshooting specialist.

For the most part, that didn’t happen.

No. Despite his incredible offensive efforts, Curry was knocked harshly for his turnstile defense, especially versus Kevin Huerter in Game 7 versus Atlanta, and watched his offensive development be relegated to, like, the 10th most important storyline of the series.

Unfortunate? Maybe so, but hey, it’s cool; while Seth Curry certainly would like to receive a bit more recognition for his efforts, that success had largely translated over to 2021-22, much to the chagrin of all parties involved. And the best part? The entire Philadelphia 76ers team – sans one notable exception- got their revenge on those darn Atlanta Hawks, even if it came on a relatively inconsequential Friday night at the beginning of December.

The Philadelphia 76ers and Seth Curry spoiled the Atlanta Hawks’ Friday night.

Seth Curry is one of the best 3 point shooters in NBA history. If he retired today, he’d have the second-highest 3 point shooting percentage of any player since the line came into existence in 1979, right behind his older brother’s current head coach.

While Curry has never been a particularly high-volume shooter from beyond the arc – a Buddy Hield-type, if you will – when he does let it fly, the ball goes in a little less than half the time.

If that’s all Curry ever did, hit 3s at a ridiculous clip, he’d join a prestigious crew of sharpshooters like Kyle Korver, Anthony Morrow, and our old pal J.J. Redick, who never quite entered the realm of NBA stardom but had long and handsomely paid careers for their elite talents. Fortunately, Curry has taken it upon himself to expand out his set of skills, or should I say expand in his set of skills, if you will.

That’s right, after mastering his ability to nail shots from 22-26 feet, give or take, Curry has decided to take his game a few feet further inside the arc to try to nail mid-range Js after getting off his defender.

The results? Curry is making a team-high 59 percent of his 3.9 pull-up attempts per game from 2 point range, a notable bump in production from both his 47.5 completion percentage and 2.8 attempts per game from one season prior. Curry’s assists per game remain at a career-high average, tied with his first season in Dallas at 2.7, and his assist percentage remains over 11 percent for the third season in a row, a welcomed holdover from last season’s development.

Really, the only area of Curry’s game that hasn’t taken a step forward in 2021-22 is his average turnovers per game, but do you know what? I don’t think anyone is going to knock a guard with an 18.8 usage rate for turning the ball over 1.7 times per game instead of 1.1, especially when he’s averaging almost four more points on almost two more field goals while handling the ball for 10.8 more touches per game.

Yeah, I’ll take that any day.

Will Seth Curry ever become a legit All-Star caliber player? I’d venture to say no, but then again, Kyle Korver has an All-Star appearance on his resume, so who really knows? But if the Duke/Liberty prospect can just continue to provide clutch 3 point shooting, secondary playmaking, and his newly expanded mid-range game, it’ll go a long way to re-establish the Philadelphia 76ers’ offensive identity moving forward. Now if only Curry could shore up his efforts on the other end of the court, then we’d really be in business.