I think Seth is a very good ball handler for a SG, but struggles as a PG. His inability to get to the rim is a big problem as a PG. He doesn't have the quickness to beat his man. His lack of quickness is most evident when he's required to change direction. Not only does he lack elite quickness, he also lacks the ball handling ability. If you watched him against the Suns, he didn't show any advanced dribbles. This was even a bigger problem vs. the Rockets. His lack of dribbles+quickness was a big problem in his inability to break down the D. He just wasn't able to get to the basket at all. This is why he settled for A LOT of jumpers in the Rockets game. Steph Curry settling for jumpers is ok. Seth Curry settling for jumpers is not ok. (He's not nearly as talented as Steph, and Steph can actually get to the rim, unlike Seth)
He's not Jimmer bad in terms of ball handling, but it's still below average for a PG.
He played great vs. the Suns, but I still saw a few problems
(very nit picked). I'll break it down the few problems I saw with his great game:
At 0:34, he actually gets the ball poked from behind, and ends up bouncing a short low one late to WCS. He completely stops after the pass to WCS, a bit unorthodox.
At 0:40, you can see where lack of advanced dribbling moves prevents him to get by his man, but he does a great job at getting the ball to Ben regardless.
At 1:35, he does a great job with the "PnR" at recognizing Acy's man switching and Koufos' mans retreating. However, it's another low bounce pass.
At 2:02, he had a trouble keeping control of his dribble, but did a good job with the pass to Koufos, although it seemed
predetermined?
At 2:54, lack of advanced dribbles really hurt him there, but he used his quickness to easily get by 33yearold Price for another nice dish to Koufos. But then again...seemed like another predetermined pass. Never once was he looking to put the ball up. He did not look at the rim at all. Against a better D, they wouldn't have collapsed on him because he was driving straight into a brick wall while staring at Koufos the entire time.
At 3:20, good with recognizing how open Koufos was. But this is another play where his lack of attacking ability showed up. He put on his brakes way too early again and as soon as Tucker slid in front of him, he didn't attempt to get to the rim at all.
At 3:54, did a poor job in attacking during transition. Defense was not set, and he had a clear path to the rim if he was able to change direction downhill faster. He missed the spot between WCS and Len. You can actually see him try to put on the breaks and potentially shift directions, but he was late and it looked a bit unnatural. It reesulted in a great decision, but also another awkward low bounce pass.
At 4:30, he's able to beat Tucker easily with a clear path to the rim and nobody in front....but he stops, and opts for a turnaround jumper instead.
After re-watching his highlights from that game, I think we can all see that he has exceptional bball IQ. It's off the charts. Amazing passes to Koufos and did a great job getting the D to commit before the passes. However, he struggled getting into the paint. He also had the right idea, but he struggled with delivery a few times. We saw weird low bounce passes that all could've been easily picked off. There were a few times where he made it obvious on what he wanted to do with the ball, it almost seemed predetermined. Against a more experienced D, I think they'd easily be able to shut him down on those. Other times, he had chances where he could've attacked the rim, but settled for a pass/shot instead.
Now.... what happens when he can't make predetermined passes and settles instead of taking it all the way? The next Houston game.... He went against a more experienced D where he was forced to settle on offense a lot more because of his limitations on getting to the basket. The defense was easily able to make reads on him. His lack of handling and ball control resulted in 3 TOs that game as well.
I should've clarified. I meant if he didn't put in more work on his handles, he wouldn't be able to crack minutes as a PG on this team. His handles are improved from Duke, but they're not where you want them to be as a PG. If he weren't so undersized, I think he'd be in contention for starting SG. If you gave Curry's bball IQ and ball handling to Ben...we'd have a top 10 SG in our hands. Curry just has all the intangibles you want. It's hard not to root for him.