LeBron James Joins The NBA's All Time Top 10 Scoring List

[boskey]

Son of a gun

I've been there since the beginning

That's why I'm such a big fan. I've been following every move since the Sports Illustrated cover in high school. I'm amazed at how he has exceeded the most ridiculous expectations

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

 

[OG_StankBrefs]

Im sorry, but if your hate & chosen position of stannery can't allow you to appreciate all da things dis nikka has been able to accomplish thus far...especially afta what transpired dis past summa...you gotta be a certified fukkin phaggit and need to pick a new sport to follow, breh.

 

[Larry Lambo]

I don't think anyone can catch it at this point. Kareem played in an era that played at a brewckneck pace while prioritizing offensive rebounds over defending in transition that did not allow zones, which made it easier for an individual to dominate like that for so long. It also takes staying healthy that whole time. Obviously you also have to take an insane number of shots. He's about 5-6 years of averaging 26 points per game while playing maybe 76-80 games per year away at this rate. I thought that Kobe or Malone had a shot at it, but those guys both got hurt at the end. One injury that keeps you out a while and it's a wrap.

The only way someone does it, is if they have incredible durability and are playing at a high level in their late 30's. Players now have a 3 year advantage over Kareem (4 for Lebron), but like you said he had the advantage of the style of play in the 70's and 80's.

I don't think LeBron will be averaging 26 a game at 36-37, so I'm thinking he has to play 7 more years and not get hurt to get the record. He would basically have to play 21 years at or near All-Star level.

 

[dontreadthis]

Damn, didn't know Dirk has scored THAT many points.....

 

[dem bath salts]

Great player.

 

[SlurRty]

King shyt

lowkey didn't realize dirk was that high lol

 

[JordanWearinThe45]

Damn, didn't know Dirk has scored THAT many points.....

lowkey didn't realize dirk was that high lol

Me either

 

[Malcolmxxx_23]

Will be 8th by end of year



Fred

 

[UpAndComing]

I don't think anyone can catch it at this point. Kareem played in an era that played at a breakneck pace while prioritizing offensive rebounds over defending in transition that did not allow zones, which made it easier for an individual to dominate like that for so long. It also takes staying healthy that whole time. Obviously you also have to take an insane number of shots. He's about 5-6 years of averaging 26 points per game while playing maybe 76-80 games per year away at this rate. I thought that Kobe or Malone had a shot at it, but those guys both got hurt at the end. One injury that keeps you out a while and it's a wrap.

Or maybe he was just very talented at scoring, and was almost unstoppable with the Skyhook

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

Or maybe he was just very talented at scoring, and was almost unstoppable with the Skyhook

I didn't say it was the only reason. They played so much faster then it was comical. I read a column he wrote after the 2012 finals where he talked about how the style of play and offensive philosophy has changed and he mentioned a game of the 1984 finals as an example. He talked about both the Lakers and Celtics cracking 120 points while they combined to just attempt maybe 20 3's. Think about how fast you have to play or how high a percentage you'd have to shoot to do that.

 

[UpAndComing]

I didn't say it was the only reason. They played so much faster then it was comical. I read a column he wrote after the 2012 finals where he talked about how the style of play and offensive philosophy has changed and he mentioned a game of the 1984 finals as an example. He talked about both the Lakers and Celtics cracking 120 points while they combined to just attempt
Maybe 20 3's. Think about how fast you have to play or how high a percentage you'd have to shoot to do that.

That's true. But the same can be said of the evolution of the zone defense made 3pt shooting huge arsenal in a team's offense. Which is why the top 3 point shooters ever in terms of baskets made (Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Curry) are players that played in the late 90s to the present. Not to mention the death of hand checking and most of physical defense, makes the scoring increase too. Which is why I always say Curry could never be a great player or as effective if he played in the 70s-mid 90s. I'm almost certain of it

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

That's true. But the same can be said of the evolution of the zone defense made 3pt shooting huge arsenal in a team's offense. Which is why the top 3 point shooters ever in terms of baskets made (Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Curry) are players that played in the late 90s to the present. Not to mention the death of hand checking and most of physical defense, makes the scoring increase too. Which is why I always say Curry could never be a great player or as effective if he played in the 70s-mid 90s. I'm almost certain of it

The issue with that is that defenses now are better than they were 20-40 years ago. Maybe more contact was allowed in the paint, but it's not vastly different on the perimeter. Getting into the paint is infinitely harder now that defense both are allowed to zone areas off and are much more well versed in rotating over in help defense. There's a reason all the stars of the 80's and 90's complained about zones being allowed after the 2000-2001 season. One of those evolutions that the natural progression of the game and marketing of stars like magic, Jordan, and Iverson is that more players grew up wanting to be a great ball handler (:Piratedame: ) As a result, teams have learned to incorporate more motion in the offense designed to get shooters open more running them off screens like you would see Reggie or Allen do and like curry does. Teams really didn't see much movement like this until the zone was allowed and it forced teams to evolve on offense (the low water mark of the 2003-04 season was just on offense). I think the modern players that would have trouble in the past given their skill sets would actually be the big men. The game isn't really run through them in the low post anymore since you can zone off a big man even if he doesn't have the ball now, so learning the low post game isn't a prerequisite like it used to be. A lot of these guys don't have a wide variety of moves to beat their man on the low block, while at the same time, we have a lot more players who are very capable of breaking down a defender off the dribble. The one case of past vs future that we really missed out on is that this shift happened after Reggie retired and with Ray Allen nearing the end of his career. I would have liked to see what he could have done with the green light some of the guys today get to shoot so much from distance.

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Bu Bu Bu LeBron is not a scorer

 

[UpAndComing]

The issue with that is that defenses now are better than they were 20-40 years ago. Maybe more contact was allowed in the paint, but it's not vastly different on the perimeter. Getting into the paint is infinitely harder now that defense both are allowed to zone areas off and are much more well versed in rotating over in help defense. There's a reason all the stars of the 80's and 90's complained about zones being allowed after the 2000-2001 season. One of those evolutions that the natural progression of the game and marketing of stars like magic, Jordan, and Iverson is that more players grew up wanting to be a great ball handler (:Piratedame. As a result, teams have learned to incorporate more motion in the offense designed to get shooters open more running them off screens like you would see Reggie or Allen do and like curry does. Teams really didn't see much movement like this until the zone was allowed and it forced teams to evolve on offense (the low water mark of the 2003-04 season was just on offense). I think the modern players that would have trouble in the past given their skill sets would actually be the big men. The game isn't really run through them in the low post anymore since you can zone off a big man even if he doesn't have the ball now, so learning the low post game isn't a prerequisite like it used to be. A lot of these guys don't have a wide variety of moves to beat their man on the low block, while at the same time, we have a lot more players who are very capable of breaking down a defender off the dribble. The one case of past vs future that we really missed out on is that this shift happened after Reggie retired and with Ray Allen nearing the end of his career. I would have liked to see what he could have done with the green light some of the guys today get to shoot so much from distance.

The first bolded. I wouldn't agree entirely. Yeah you're right the amount of "dominant ball handlers" has definitely increased. But it's not like there were never dominant ball handler's in the past. Like Isiah Thomas. Even though he wasn't a shake and bake guy, Oscar Robertson was a the prototypical ball dominant guard. Also Tiny Archibald, and Earl the Pearl Monroe. Honestly with the motion offense of the 60s and 70s, there was alot of backcuts and screens though. And you're right, a decade ago, the offense was at a all time low, now I think passing is becoming a huge part of the game again

The second bolded. Yeah I totally agree. The big men of the past decade have been underwhelming, and no way would any of the big men in the past decade been starting centers or make any dent in the league. Outside of maybe like 3. Dwight Howard would have been a backup center at best if he played back then. But, you see the new crop of Centers and PF coming up? The young ones that came in the league in the past 3-4 years gives me hope. In 5 years, it'll be a inside-out big man league in no time