One of the funniest pejoratives used in sports discourse is the notion of a “system player.” Take so-and-so out of the “system” that props them up, and their true colors will be revealed, say the talking heads across various platforms. Subtract some ingredient, and the player will fall back down to earth, revealing that they are nothing more than a mirage. I’d like to propose an alternate, special definition of system player: a player who is the system unto him or herself. Stephen Curry is one of those players. Over his 12 year NBA career, Steph has played for a variety of coaches, in a variety of offenses, on teams with a variety of rosters that have achieved a variety of results, ranging from putrid to incredible.
System Player (Warriors 116, Nuggets 107)
