For what it's worth, I learnt to play basketball in Eastern Europe about 25 years ago, and there was a much bigger emphasis on 3 pointers back then. Pretty much everyone was able to make 3 point shots regardless of their main position.
When I came to the US, I was surprised that people were amazed that "the big guy can shoot 3s". I played center, but it was normal for me to work on free throws, 3 point shots, and also take the shots in the game. I couldn't really understand why players like Shaq were not able to make even free throws, nevermind 3 point shots.
I'm not saying we were all shooting as well as Curry, just that I feel like the emphasis on 3 point shots came very late to the US. It took someone like Curry for people to really internalize just how hard it is to catch up with an offense that consistently gets 3 points when they attack the basket and that yes, it's OK for all your players on the team to be good at shooting the ball.
There’s some justification for this. There are maybe 2000-3000 people in the world who are seven feet tall, and traditionally you would prioritize footwork, physical strength, rebounding, and defense over shooting for those players. Steph Curry is 6’2”, which is a much more common height so you can be a lot more selective about whether or not a 6’2” point guard can shoot as opposed to a 7’ center. Now we do have lots of big guys who can shoot, but not all of them can do the other things well enough.
Good point. Mike D'Antoni credits his experience in Italy for the offenses he implemented in the NBA. To your point, while video games may not have originated these ideas, they provide both a creative space to try wild ideas as well as help change the culture to become receptive to these sorts of experiments.
When I came to the US, I was surprised that people were amazed that "the big guy can shoot 3s". I played center, but it was normal for me to work on free throws, 3 point shots, and also take the shots in the game. I couldn't really understand why players like Shaq were not able to make even free throws, nevermind 3 point shots.
I'm not saying we were all shooting as well as Curry, just that I feel like the emphasis on 3 point shots came very late to the US. It took someone like Curry for people to really internalize just how hard it is to catch up with an offense that consistently gets 3 points when they attack the basket and that yes, it's OK for all your players on the team to be good at shooting the ball.