Stephen Curry: The Kid Who Changed Before He Had To

He was open-minded, practical and refused to capitulate to short-term failure.

December 16, 2021

It had always been his best skill, the X-factor that allowed him to keep up with the competition despite his diminutive stature.

But between his sophomore and junior years of high school, Stephen Curry was told by his dad that he would need to elevate the release on his jump shot if he wanted to compete against bigger opponents in the years ahead.

Curry had two choices: Dismiss the criticism and keep shooting the way he always had; or go through a painstaking transformation to improve what was already his biggest strength.

He opted for the latter.

His father, Dell, a long-time NBA player, prohibited him from playing competitive basketball that summer so he could focus solely on his mechanics. In his book The Hot Hand, author Ben Cohen writes:

“Stephen was busy teaching himself to shoot again. By lifting the ball above his head and releasing as he ascended, he was essentially making himself taller. But his learning curve was steep. He took hundreds of shots every day on the court outside his family’s stucco two-car garage, where crepe myrtle trees prevented the ball from bouncing into the pool when he missed, and he missed so often that he began to hate shooting. It was a brutal summer that made him miserable. He almost quit basketball altogether.”

On Tuesday night, Curry became the NBA’s all-time leader in made three-point shots at just 33 years old. He has made 2,977 threes in his career and is considered the greatest shooter the sport has ever seen.

Curry is often dismissed as a natural talent with great genes and innate gifts.

But there were three other skills that allowed him to reach this monumental feat:

  1. A willingness to accept negative feedback

  2. An ability to change before he had to

  3. Embracing the process of unlearning and re-learning

Curry could’ve brushed aside his dad’s opinions when he was younger, told him to get out of the way and kept shooting the ball with the same form he always had. After all, he’d been a good basketball player to that point.

But he recognized his father’s credibility as a former pro and knew Dell truly had his best interests at heart.

That takes selflessness, humility, dedication and, perhaps most importantly, supreme intelligence.

The successful leader recognizes when the strategies of the past will no longer carry him/her into the future. He/she is able to adjust and adapt before he has to, while the leader who clings to nostalgia so often becomes obsolete.

Change in anything typically involves moments of discomfort, frustration and near surrender. But on the other side is a wiser, more adept and grittier leader capable of achieving what few others can.

That’s Stephen Curry.

The player who broke the record the other night? He’s not some innate talent who’s never endured hardship or adversity.

He’s a high school kid missing shots in a driveway trying to change before he ever had to.