Stephen Curry changed modern basketball even though no one believed in him

In December, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry broke Ray Allen’s record for accurate three-pointers and became the best sharpshooter in NBA history. Curry made his 2,974th shot.

Steph is now being hailed as a basketball revolutionary and a man with no haters, but that wasn’t always the case.

Through the thorns

Wardell Stephen Curry was born in 1988 in Akron, Ohio. The head of the family played in the main lineup of the Charlotte Hornets, and this largely determined the future of the children. It would seem that for a successful career as a basketball player there are all the prerequisites, but Steph literally broke through the wall of skepticism and endless work on himself.

In the school team the boy was the smallest and skinniest, and his technique left much to be desired. Despite his promising last name, the boy was not taken by any of the sports colleges after graduation.

He was too weak to throw the ball, as is customary in basketball. So he invented his own shooting technique. For three months he honed it every day and brought his percentage of accurate throws to almost 100.

From a basketball standpoint, that summer turned out to be the worst summer of my life. For three weeks I really only threw from the “paint”. Guys at basketball camps were asking me who I even was and why I was doing basketball. I gained confidence, I gained strength.

Stephen Curry

He was too short to throw like everybody else. So he started throwing the ball in a high trajectory so that the shot wouldn’t get blocked. Then Curry learned to do it without the help of his legs, and this ability helped him at the end of games, when his legs became iron from fatigue.

His first few years in the NBA were marred by a series of ankle injuries, after which Curry was labeled an injury victim.

I’m a very optimistic guy. For me, the glass is always half full. But that period was a serious mental challenge. I didn’t know how it was gonna end. You strive for greatness, you want to be the best and so on, but the one thing I can’t control is my health, especially my ankles. At that moment, my wife said: “Don’t forget who you are.” Two years later, almost three, I’m back on the court, winning a championship. That moment was…what should I call it… “the bottom” that I bounced back from.

The new technique that allowed a small and skinny player to stand up to big-sized players like LeBron made Steph not only a star in modern basketball, but also gave hope to hundreds of players who were not believed in.

“Underrated.”

In 2019, Steph’s famous monologue about his journey and overcoming public opinion was released. This piece went viral as one of the basketball player’s most motivational speeches.

“I’ve noticed something here. Usually, once an underestimated person achieves success, their image in the eyes of others changes. And as soon as the success starts to have a unique, special character, the image changes dramatically. But in my case, that doesn’t happen.

However, I don’t take it to heart anymore. Even if I rise from the dead and start playing basketball, people will still not recognize my path as historical. I can’t get rid of the stigma of being underestimated.

But it’s becoming more and more a part of me. I don’t think I’ve learned anything more important in the last 17 years. What you’re underrated for can become what you’re adored for. And if you figure out how to deal with it, you’ll take over the world.”

Steph is an example that even if you don’t have the data, you can succeed through constant training.