Seth remained one of the league’s best sharpshooters

Season in review

For a player who took a couple years to find his footing in the NBA, Seth Curry has been about as consistent a player as you could ask for the past few years. Curry certainly makes a case to be considered perhaps the best pure shooter on a team that led the league in offense.

Curry was 4th on the team in scoring as he drifted across lineups as both a starter and bench spark. The lineups this season were perhaps even more in flux than even a typical Rick Carlise team as they dealt with season ending injuries to Powell and then Brunson while also working to figure out how new addition Kristaps Porzingis best fit on the floor with Luka. However, wherever Curry ended up getting minutes, he produced. His numbers as a starter and reserve are, again, remarkably consistent, although his impressive +8.8 plus minus rating off the bench is indicative of how important his scoring was as a part of those bench units.

It was also a career year for Curry in eFG% while also increasing his volume from behind the arc where he shot over five threes a game.

Best Game

It’s unfortunate that it came in a loss, but it’s hard to go with Seth’s career-high 37 point game against Miami. The team saw a small lead evaporate in a 4th quarter in which they got beat 25-38, but it wasn’t the fault of Seth Curry who was a perfect 4/4 shooting, 2/2 from three in the quarter to add to his ultra-efficient 13/15 night shooting with 8/9 from deep.

Contract Status

It really wasn’t until his first season in Dallas back in the 2016-17 season that Seth solidified his place in the league. After losing a year to injury and a pit-stop in Portland, Seth signed again in Dallas last offseason to a contract that should theoretically see Curry in a Mavericks’ jersey for some years to come. After year one of his 4yr/$32M contract, Seth looks primed to be a key bench piece for Dallas as the team builds around their dynamic duo at the top of the roster.

Looking Ahead

This season Curry floated between being a starter and a rotation piece throughout the season. There certainly are things to like about seeing him get more minutes with Luka in the starting lineup. Seth is an obvious beneficiary of Doncic’s drive and dish play making for open shot opportunities, but as the roster gets back to full health and the front office looks to add more starting talent around Luka and KP, Seth’s most beneficial role is likely as an elite bench scorer.

Fans are maybe too quick to look for one-to-one replacements of the early 2000’s team that saw so much success. That is, “is (player X) the next JJ, or Finley or Tyson.” It’s a natural reflex to want to stick to the blueprint that’s worked, but usually a little lazy or lacking in imagination… that said Seth Curry seems as close to a modern NBA version of Jason Terry that we’re likely to see. He ended the season with the league’s 3rd highest three point efficiency and showed some ability to lead a unit off the bench. If he can just become as clutch as the JET was in the 4th for so long, it might be a big help to a young team that saw too many late leads slip away due to poor execution in the final 5 minutes of close games.