How Steph Curry Is Changing Basketball Forever

One of the benefits of the league's transition away from big men towards guards, is that it has led to a new emphasis on skill over strength. Today's game isn't just faster and freer than it was 20 years ago, it's more skilled. That's partially because of the Curry effect, and partially because of changes

One of the benefits of the league's transition away from big men towards guards, is that it has led to a new emphasis on skill over strength. Today's game isn't just faster and freer than it was 20 years ago, it's more skilled. That's partially because of the Curry effect, and partially because of changes to NBA rules designed to allow a talent like Curry to change the game.

Back in 2001, some of the NBA's top owners and rulemakers gathered together to see what they could do to revive a flagging game. The 1990's had been a decade of hard fouls, grabbing, clutching, and clogging defense, that led to a boring and at-times unwatchable game. The owners decided to change the rules to allow for more open play and hinder obstructionist defenses. In other words, they created the perfect environment for someone like Curry. He's not just a random agent of change — he's almost an engineered antibiotic, designed to heal the league by flushing out the unskilled players that were weakening the NBA body.

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