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Stephen Curry Masterclass Review

Masterclass Basketball Training by Steph Curry

If you’ve ever needed to learn how to play basketball with a real teacher, of course, you can rely on your coach – to a certain extent. But what about those people who are looking for a pro level basketball coach to learn how to hone their skills, and teach the youth how to play basketball well?

That’s where a master class might come into play. There are a lot of them out there, and these masterclasses are available for a price to teach you the right and the wrong way to play. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of them out there who are just trying to get an extra buck. Well, one of the best players of all time, Stephen Curry, has decided to help the more advanced players how to improve their game, while at the same time being able to teach kids the basics of playing ball the proper way. But how does it par? We’re going to find out in this guide how the Steph Curry Masterclass stacks up against the competition!

What is Stephen Curry’s Masterclass?

The two times MVP himself, Stephen Curry, has released 17 videos that are anywhere from ten to twenty minutes in length. They teach the basics – how to dribble and shoot the ball like a pro. But you also get advanced tactics as well, plus a workbook that is a whopping 54 pages in length, and ways to track your shots. You can even ask Stephen Curry questions and get real responses from him as long as you contact him during regular business hours. So, what are some of the pros and cons of this class?

Pros:

  • You get to have lessons by one of the best basketball players out there.
  • You have extremely high-quality videos, and get a workbook.
  • You learn how to discipline yourself, and improve your work ethic to help better yourself and your game.
  • You get to learn amazing offensive basketball skills.

Cons:

  • The primary downside is that you don’t get any drills to improve your defense. For that, you may want to look elsewhere.
  • This is targeted more towards kids and youth players, even though advanced players can get a few lessons too.
  • This program costs almost a hundred bucks.

What You Get with This Masterclass

We’ve already covered some of what you get for purchasing the course, but in a nutshell, all 17 classes become available to you. They’re basically like micro-courses. From shooting off of a catch, all the way to improved ball handling foundations, you can get some really high-quality lessons. 

You also get access to the community forums for the Masterclass. The downside though is that many people don’t really discuss things on the bulletin board for Stephen Curry’s courses. The forums are also pretty old-fashioned. Most people that aren’t old school like that though would rather go to social media sites to discuss techniques rather than forums these days.

The Workbook:

The workbook that you get (54 pages is a lot) helps you follow along with the videos. You can recap with worksheets on what you learned from each class, and give you more information than most of the training programs out there. You even get quality diagrams, spreadsheets, and more. So, if you want to do the calculations to improve your game and shot record, this is definitely how you do it.

What Constitutes Business Hours?

When it comes to contacting Stephen Curry, you do need to understand that he’s not always going to be online to answer your questions. On a positive note, with COVID shutting down the entire sports industry during this time, you might actually get more responses. 

How Are the Lectures?

All 17 videos last for around 10 minutes up to twenty minutes. Unlike most other masterclasses that are designed to teach you one specific area, Stephen Curry’s courses teach you every single thing, with numerous drills in between. You can learn things like shooting the right way, form, dribbling, and using techniques like ball screens (both on and off screens). Every single segment includes drills that teach you every step of the way so you can know how you can avoid making mistakes that a lot of people make (or that you make), and more. You even get extensive plays where Stephen uses the Golden State Warriors playbook so you can see how he incorporates them into his NBA matches as well.

Another cool thing is that even though it doesn’t have a lot of activity, you can leave a comment at the bottom of every single video. This allows you to ask any questions you have if you find something confusing, and a lot of times you can even get the employees; of the Masterclass program to answer things for you. You often will get more people who have been taking the course to answer your questions too.

Worksheets and tracking sheets are essential to the best teaching platforms, and you can even get the right ones that you need from every lesson (so you can work on the tasks at hand rather than sift through a bunch of paperwork).

So, Let’s Break Down the Lessons and See What Each One Does!

We’re going to break down every single lesson as much as possible in this section. This way, you can know what you’re getting into before you ever purchase the course for yourself (which we highly recommend).

  1. The Introductory Lesson

Naturally, every trainer should completely introduce themselves at some point, so this is where Curry does it. He explains things that made him be a better basketball player, and gives you a solid lesson to improve your growth mindset and help you know how he worked hard to achieve everything he has. He even shares some of his moments that were the bottoms during his career, and explains how he turned things around to improve. The video last for five minutes, but it is perfectly designed to make you want to watch more and proceed with the program!

  1. The Learn the Right Shooting Principles

This video lasts for 15 min. and teaches you literally all mechanics of shooting like a pro. He teaches you how to shoot from the ground and helps you establish the proper stance and posture techniques that can help you build the correct shot. He also shows you about how to position the ball, gives you an aiming target, and also gives you some real physics as far as how the height of the release and angle of the shot are impacted. This can help you realize that you’re going to fail, but as long as you use the tools properly, and keep at it, you’ll reach your goals. It’s also great to hear that he wasn’t one of the best basketball players in the world, or just some prodigy, but he had to work and put every ounce of sweat into becoming where he is today.

  1. Form Shooting the Right Way

This video shows you how to use the right shooting form, and make sure that it’s in top shape. The main thing you want to do is learn how to start at closer shots, and then eventually make the proper shots when you get to them. It’s not so much about making threes non-stop, but showing you how with the right mechanics and form from the rim, all the way back, can improve your game. You also get some very high quality tips on practicing your shots when you’re by yourself, and how you can analyze your failures so you can find out whether you’re shooting too long or short, or whether you need to move your aim to the left or right.

  1. How to Shoot Off of a Catch

One of the best methods that has helped Curry get the most in points, was shooting off of the catch (or the rebound). When you do this the right way and catch the ball properly, then you might be able to improve and keep from making popular mistakes. Another good point about this, is that you truly learn how to improve your shots and ball receiving abilities and you get to see it in action as well. This is one of the first points where Stephen goes through a play over and over again during his time at the Golden State Warriors. It even shows how your offensive team sets up multiple screens to help you get open for a catch (and teaches you how to better open yourself up).

  1. Basic Ball Handling

When it comes to handling the ball and improving your skills dribbling, this one helps by showing you how to properly stance yourself, and goes into extreme detail (like the height and how far away from your feet the ball should be). Once he helps you get the basic dribbling basics down, he shows you numerous quick moves, such as in betweens, behind the back (a.k.a. around the block or roundhouse dribbles), and even how to cross over the right way. He shows you how your body needs to rotate and flow around the ball instead of against it (letting the ball go around you).

  1. How to Shoot Post Dribble

This lesson teaches you the basic mechanics behind a quick “catch and release” method from dribbling to shooting the ball properly. If you’re going to be a shooter, you have to focus and be in a certain frame of mind – something he has mastered and is now teaching you in this section of the course. He also lets you know how shooting confidence can truly impact your game performance.

  1. Moving with the Ball

Although this lesson is rather short you will learn how to dribble the ball with all of the mechanics you’ve been taught, and apply those while lowly moving with the ball across the court. You also can help to improve your ball handling by following along with the workbook section that goes with it.

  1. Second Shooting from the Dribble Lesson

As though learning all of the mechanics behind dribbling didn’t help you (with most people, this greatly helps them improve), this section is more of a lection. It is combined with the previous drill and shooting, and shows you just how fast he can really do these. There are many times you won’t even notice that he’s making these moves unless you go back and replay them a few times! He also breaks down some of his real live performance in games so you know what he is thinking by his commentary.

  1. Free Yourself from the Defensive

Getting away from your defender is one of the most important parts of driving a good shot and offense. However, you need to know your opponent well too. This lesson will tell you how you can analyze your defender by their stance, and even their facial expression to find out how to utilize the backward step necessary to still shift your opponent’s weight to catch them off guard. This is one of the best “solo” lessons, but he does it over and over again like a martial arts teacher with an actor to defend against him so you can see it in action.

  1. How to Defeat Your Defender

Now that you’ve learned how to create some space between you and your defender, you can learn how it’s incorporated into the live scenarios. You’ll discover this all while watching real NBA plays, and they’re all explained in great detail so you can see how basketball isn’t about flashiness like being a Globetrotter, but more about knowing how to read your opponent, and tackle their weaknesses, then use them against them. He also teaches you how to look for the player that has the strongest stances, and figuring out hot to knock them off guard.

  1. How to Properly Ball Screen

Using ball screens is very important – and many people do it without even knowing about it. When it comes to showing you how to screen the ball with your opponent, then you need to do it the right way, and learn how to feed off of your screener so you can know when, where, and how to set up the screens properly. This also helps because it tells you how you can dribble over your opponent or around them to better help you lose your wall that’s put up in front of you. He shows you how you can drop your shoulders and get low enough to get around them by also lowering your hip. It also teaches you how you can truly hustle against your opponent who’s defending against you.

  1. Video Sessions of Ball Screens

This session follows up with the last one to show the basketball plays (four of them to be exact) that truly shows Stephen Curry in action doing the above lesson in real life. By reading the opponents and the court, he shows how your defense can help you quickly make decisions for screens on the fly. Again, you get live NBA footage that is broken down play by play.

  1. How to Score at the Rim

While you may not be a perfect jumper unless you take a good jump training program, you can still play and score frequently when you’re near the rim with layups, alley-oops and more. But how to do it may be difficult if you’re not a good shot close to the rim. Therefore, Curry shows you how you can not only screen your defender, but also shows you how different steps and floating jump shots can improve your game.

  1. Using Pop, Curl, and Fade Off-Screens

These are considered to be what’s called on-ball screens, and this is something that you will use frequently too. The pop, the cut, and the fade are ways that you can move quickly to get that pass, or to take your shot, whether it’s a closeup shot or one from the back of the court. It uses a lot of examples, and he uses a chair in some of them to show you how it works. He also shows you how using these in a regular rotation can help improve your defense as well as your offense.

  1. Overloading for Advanced Dribbling

Overloading is learning how to dribble the ball while overloading your muscle memory and motor skills. This exercise starts with him using two balls and dribbling with them. Many of the greats do this to improve their game and be the best of the best.

  1. How to Start Every Game

When you do good game prep, such as stretching, getting plenty of sleep, learning your opponents by watching their games and more, this is something that Curry teaches you in this lesson.

  1. The Final Journey – Perfection

Congratulations! If you made it here, then you’ve completed the course (almost). This one’s basically just a motivational interview with Stephen Curry talking about how to continue improving even after you finish the course. Some of the greatest basketball players of all time are still learning!

Conclusion – Steph Curry’s Masterclass Training

Stephen Curry is one of the greatest basketball players in the NBA, and the fact that he made an affordable class that can teach you every single aspect of basketball makes this more than worth it in our book!

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