Contrary to what former Golden State Warrior head coach Mark Jackson would have you believe, Steph Curry is good for basketball. To most, the utterance of that sentence alone will seem silly.   However, as absurd it may seem, there remains a small faction that, like Jackson, hasn’t bought into the hype surrounding the dynamic point guard’s ability. Over the holidays on Christmas Day, during halftime of the Warriors game versus the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jackson took it one step further by claiming on national television that Curry is actually hurting basketball. I adamantly disagree.

The aggrieved former Warriors head coach had his reasons, namely (and irrationally) the negative impact Curry’s shooting ability is having on “the kids.” See, Jackson has been in these high school gyms and it hurts him to see kids just run to the three-point line and start jacking up threes. He would have you believe that is the only thing going on in high school gyms across the country, that Curry’s shooting ability is causing it and that it is hurting the game. Never mind what coach says, just jack the threes because you saw Curry do it on TV. Jackson’s perspective is fundamentally flawed and clearly influenced by the frustration of watching his former team succeed at a ridiculous level without him. I don’t fault him for that. Human nature deprives most of us of the ability to wish well upon those who have cast us aside. And, to be fair, he does deserve some credit for his success with Golden State. They improved in each of his three years as head coach and made the playoffs in his last two seasons at the helm. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is dead wrong about Curry.

There was a time when I was a young wide-eyed NBA fan but it has been decades since I really cared whether any team in the league won or lost. Faint are the memories of days when I would program my parents VCR to record Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan and Spud Webb in the dunk contest then watch it repeatedly so I could try and replicate their acrobatics on the 8 ft. goal in my neighbor’s backyard. I quit watching years ago, for a multitude reasons. Curry is changing that, and not just for me; last year’s NBA Finals series between the Warriors and Cavaliers resulted in the highest television ratings since Jordan’s last championship with the Chicago Bulls in 1998. So on Christmas day, like millions of others, I sat down with my 7-year-old son (a budding basketball player and self-proclaimed baller) to watch the rematch between Curry and LeBron James. Not coincidentally, these are the only NBA player names that my son could name.

During the course of the game, there were three plays by Curry that I rewound and reviewed with my aspiring hoopster; none of them involved three-point shots. All three did involve some awe-inspiring ball handling followed once by a runner and twice by an impressive assist. Not to take anything away from LeBron because there is no denying his once-in-a-generation talent, but I was encouraging my son to focus on the plays he may actually be able to make one day. My son was listening. Therein lies the value of Steph Curry to the game.

In a league dominated by players making a living off their freakish DNA, Curry is the exception. He is making his mark largely by doing things on the court that can be learned. Yes, there have been other point guards with exceptional skills in the modern era; Stockton, Nash and Kidd to name a few. And, there are others currently playing the position that will likely be considered among the best of all time (see Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook). But none of them have possessed the insane ability to shoot the ball as well or as consistently as Curry and none of them have parlayed their ability into the pinnacle of basketball success like Curry. Not to discount his innate athletic ability because Curry has good genetics too. His father Dell (a great shooter in his own right) played in the NBA and his mother Sonya played volleyball at Virginia Tech. Still, Curry hasn’t built his highlight reel with gravity defying hops or super human strength. Rather he continues to amaze basketball fans the old fashioned way – by dribbling, by passing and by shooting. In the process, he has won over legions of youngsters that want to play the game the way he plays it and he has even rekindled a little interest in the NBA from guys like me.

Anyone who has played basketball at any level knows that becoming a skilled shooter demands a boatload of effort, which means countless hours spent in the gym, on the playground or in the backyard. The process takes years and there are no guarantees. Many athletes that are considered good basketball players (even some that are considered great) are not prolific shooters despite years of hard work and time spent trying to improve. Even if a kid puts the hours in and becomes a great shooter, the ability to translate that into success on the court requires additional mental and physical characteristics that many players will not possess. Nonetheless, it is a skill that can be learned and improved upon with practice. All you need is a ball and a hoop.

Curry is a superstar that can shoot from anywhere on the court. He’s a smart player that makes his team better. At 6’3” and 195 lbs, he has the dimensions of a mere mortal. Yet, after toiling away for three years at a mid-major college like a run of the mill prospect – undoubtedly due to the unspectacular nature of his play – he is now an NBA Champion, an MVP and an inspiration to millions of youngsters that want to feel the basketball spin off of those last two fingers and knock the bottom out of the net. Along the way, he grabbed the attention of a 40-year-old father of two, who is watching the NBA again for the first time in over a decade and making sure his sons do the same. That isn’t going to hurt the game.