By now, we’ve all heard the latest LeBron James quote, a line perhaps better reserved for someone like Michael Jordan, who won eight consecutive scoring titles. “If I really wanted to,” James said, “If I really wanted to be the scoring [champion] every single year—every single year—I could really do it. But it doesn’t matter” (“James Says Scoring Title Unimportant”).
At first, I actually kind of agreed with LBJ when he said that he could lead the league in scoring at will.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m an L.A. native and I bleed purple and gold. I appreciate the amazing scoring talent that is Kobe Bryant. From my vantage point, he was the best player in the league for a season or two.
But, between Shaquille O’Neil, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, and now players like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Kevin Durant; Bryant has had great competition for the honor of “best player in the league.”
Since 2008, though, James has been taking over that whole conversation with crazy averages of over 7 rebounds a game, over 7 assists a game to add to his almost 30 ppg. This season, James has taken his assist-giving to a new level, currently 8.6 apg.
To put that in perspective, how many assists do the other top scorers dish out?
Player Assists per Game
Dirk Nowitzki 2.6
Kevin Durant 2.7
Carmelo Anthony 3.4
Kobe Bryant 5.1
Monta Ellis 5.4
Dwayne Wade 6.7
LeBron James 8.6
*all above players are averaging over 24 ppg during the 2009-2010 season
Now, LeBron James is the most well-rounded player in the NBA. His numbers speak for themselves. In the 2009-2010 season, James is averaging 7.2 rpg and 8.6 apg in addition to leading the league in scoring. No one else is even close to that, not Kobe (5.4 rpg and 5.1 apg), not Melo (6.7 rpg and 3.4 apg). If Chris Paul (19.4 ppg, 10 apg, and 4.7 rpg career) were healthy and motivated, maybe he could get close to a triple-double average, but not as easily as James could. So far, James’ career has been Oscar Robertson-like.
Now, according to James, he could lead the league in scoring any time he wants. I mean. Sure, he can make that claim. But, he is also a great passer and enjoys making his teammates better. The other looming factor in this debate is not Kobe Bryant, who is physically on the downside of his career, but Kevin Durant. Over Durant’s NBA career, his scoring has increased by almost 5ppg each season so far.
Highlights of Durant’s scoring streak of 29 games scoring 25 or more points:
Durant
2008 20.3 ppg
2009 25.3 ppg
2010 29.6 ppg
That’s not saying he’ll score about 35 ppg next season, but he has the potential to increase his scoring over 30 ppg. Let’s see James’ production over the same period:
2008 30 ppg
2009 28.4 ppg
2010 29.8 ppg
“It’s not important to me at all. I mean right now our team is in a position to try to clinch throughout the whole playoffs. That’s what position we’re in right now. If we can do that, that will be more important than a scoring title. I mean, individual accolades take care of [themselves],” James said when weighing the importance of a scoring title. Obviously, I’m not suggesting James has peaked, but even he realizes that he does not need to score more than about 30 ppg for the Cavs to be successful.
Currently in the 2009-2010 season, Durant falls right behind James in the scoring race. Durant 29.6 ppg, James 29.8 ppg. Unless James plans on scoring more, he might not even lead the league in scoring next season, let alone be far ahead of the pack (like Kobe Bryant in 2005-2006 with 35.4 ppg).
And, let’s not forget about Carmelo Anthony who has almost always played second fiddle to James. Perhaps, he may want to lead the league in scoring. He has a great shooting touch and is almost unstoppable around the hoop. What’s more, he is less than 1 ppg behind James with 28.9 ppg.
Carmelo’s 50-point game ’09-‘10:
So, sure, LeBron James could lead the league in scoring anytime he wants, but he’s not going to sacrifice his team’s success in order to do it. Durant’s team, on the other hand, is on the rise, but is not at the top. There’s a better chance that he’ll feel the need to keep taking his game to new heights to improve the Thunder even more.
Hypothetically, James’ comment has some merit, but there are plenty of great scorers lined up right behind James that may be looking to leapfrog him into that number one spot.
R.S. De France is a College and University instructor of English Composition. He has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing. One of his life-long pursuits has been writing and covering anything related to sports, specifically the NBA. Recently, De France, his wife, and another colleague started an internationally read magazine at Shwibly.com.
