We looked at the story of how Stefan Curry became the legendary shooter. But now let's do the same for Klay Thompson, who's right up there with Steph as the top two shooters in league history. Clay has broken a countless amount of shooting records and has had some of the most impressive games we've ever seen. Thanks to his shooting ability, like his thirty-seven points in one quarter that included an NBA record, nine three-pointers, his sixty points in three quarters where he only took eleven dribbles. He held the ball for a total of ninety seconds and made eight threes his NBA record fourteen threes in three quarters and his most recent game where he scored forty-four points, making his first ten threes in a row. Steph Curry is known as the better player of the two performances like this make it clear that Clay's just as good, or maybe even the better shooting splash brother. But either way, we need to look back and find out how Klay Thompson got this good at shooting the ball. And to do that, we got a look back before he was born. Now, like Steph Curry, Clay's dad played in the league, but his dad wasn't an all-time great shooter because even though Michael Thompson was a former first overall pick, he played centre and only took fourteen threes through his entire NBA career. So when Klay Thompson was young, his father couldn't even give him the type of advice that Curry got from Dell. But he was still able to go to NBA games and hang out with NBA players. Learn about the game from an actual NBA player. He had the resources of the best trainers and basketball programs in the country and most importantly, the natural athleticism that was passed down to him and on top all that.
He grew up in an extremely competitive house with two other brothers and his mother, Julie Thompson, who was a standout in track and field and volleyball in college. But the first real signs of Clay becoming the shooter that he is today comes from when he'd play pickup games with his dad as a kid. Seeing that Michael Thompson was six foot 10, he would never let Klay get a shot near the rim. So the only way he could ever compete was by shooting jump shots and doing this over and over again was where things started. But when he got to middle school is where he met someone that changed his life. And that was Dr Joseph Camp as a teenager. Camp played high school basketball in the Oregon area where Clay was raised, and he was never a standout player. So instead, he'd grow up and become a doctor. And on the side, he would coach middle school basketball. And he just so happened to be Klay Thompson's coach. And it was there. That camp would truly teach him how to have the perfect shooting for him. He used to study Jerry West, Pete Maravich and Dell Curry to learn the best form possible. And then he passed that knowledge on to Klay by first, always making sure he stay consistent within close range. Kept the ball above his four head, extended his arms, and kept his hands spread with his index and middle fingers making a V every single day. He would force the team to use that form and shoot inside the key for practice, with the mindset being that they needed to learn to shoot with proper form from closing and then move out to longer in shots instead of just starting out shooting threes with lousy form.
And today Klay says that he deserves a ton of the credit for how good he can shoot in for his form. But then by the time he was a freshman in high school, he was still an average height and was disappointed when he only made the freshman team instead of Javy. So while the rest of his friends would go out and hang out that summer, Clode is in the gym. And his work ethic was one of the biggest things that set him apart from all of the rest of the competition. And then while he was in high school, he'd meet another guy that would change his life forever. And there was Coach Jerry de busque. Now, Jerry didn't help his shot any, but Clay credits a ton of his success to him for after he had his growth spurt at the end of the 10th grade. Clay said that the bus made sure he stayed humble, always focused on the fundamentals, and taught him a ton about defence. Jerry's goal wasn't to make his players look like all-stars in high school. It was to get them ready for the next level by focusing on the fundamentals. But with all of that, a growth spurt up to six foot seven and his elite shooting ability that he got the foundation for middle school, it would all hope Clay break out as a junior and then play even better as a senior at an average 21 points a game and lead his team to the state championship where they would lose. But he would put up seven threes in the game. And then we fast forward to him playing for Washington State, where Clay pretty much already fully developed a shooting form. There wasn't too much work could improve, but the actual form.
But he did continue working on his ability to make shots as often as possible. And from everywhere on the court, because he still wasn't the most athletic and shooting was by far the best part of his game. And thanks to his work ethic, the progress showed he didn't have anyone significant in college that helped him like a middle school and high school. But he used all that, passed advice and shot nearly 40 percent from three on six attempts a game and averaged approximately 20 a match for his three years there, which led to the Warriors taking them 11th overall in 2011, which meant that he was paired up with Steph Curry. And early on, Klay quickly became known as one of the best shooters in all of his life. He had been getting groomed to be a great shooter, and it all worked. But now he was lucky enough to have gotten paired with the other best shooter in the league. To learn from so himself and Curry would go on lighting teams up with three-pointers as no one had ever seen before. And by only his second season in the league, they'd gotten the moniker of the Splash Brothers and been called the most excellent shooting backcourt of All Time by Mark Jackson. And together would break the record for most threes in a season by an individual and a duel almost every year. Working off of each other and learning from each other made Curry better and it made Clay better. But not only was Klay Thompson able to learn from Steph Curry and improve his game, because in 2014, when Steve Kerr became the head coach, Klay was able to learn even more from him, who was also one of the better shooters in the history.
One of the things he said Kurt taught him was about changing his pace and to go more than just one speed and take his time to get to a spot. And that is more about making it hard for the defender to get around the screen, then creating his shot. And it was small tips like this on top of his insane work ethic. That's all. I'm spending hundreds of hours on shooting thousands of shots a day that have made him continue to get better. And if that wasn't enough, learning from two of the all-time great shooters. Two years later, Kevin Durant joined the team who's always been known for his ability to score and shoot the ball. So now for the past two years, he's been surrounded by three of the greatest shooters of all time. And he's learned a lot from everyone he's been around, which has led him to become better than he's ever thought possible. He's picked up things like the fact that he starts every game with the same pre-game routine of making 50 shots from all different spots on the court. He's learned from watching Reggie Miller, Steph Curry and Kyle Korver that the key to losing a defender is by changing speeds. Having chemistry with the point guard and playing physical, he's learned to find out who's out of shape or not good at fighting through screens and always makes it a point to try and match up with them. And he said playing games like golf, tennis and pool have all been great for helping him stay in shape and improving his conditioning. And he's also learned the fact that to make a shot, he always needs to remain balanced. And if he's leaning too far to one side, he always knows the chances going to be off.
And he said one of the most important things that he's picked up has been to diversify his game. And instead of always shooting and just being known as a three-point shooter, it's essential for him to pump fake and run past the defender for a midrange shot every once in a while. And all of these kinds of tips are what's led to him consistently shooting over forty percent from three for his entire career, having some of the hardest shooting streaks of all time, as we mentioned at the beginning of the text, and already going down as one of the best shooting guards in NBA history. And today, even Steve Paris said that Klay doesn't run many plays an offense. Instead, he runs up and down the court as random as possible to try and lose his defender or run through a screen for an open shot. And he's been known by fans, media and players like Charles Barkley, JJ Redick and Steve cur- as having the most picture-perfect shooting form ever. And all these things are what Klay Thompson's picked up throughout middle school, high school, college in the NBA that has elevated his game and led to him being one of, if not the most excellent shooter of all time. And that's how Klay Thompson's become a legendary shooter. If you enjoyed the text, don't forget to come in and let me know.