This. If lebron consentrated on nuttin but scoring like kobe and melo do, he'd probly average about 40-50 pts a game. Itll never happen though, all lebron care about is getting his teammates involved and makin da right basketball play, which is get it to da open man.
It's either Lebron or Durant for me. Durant for obvious reasons (multiple scoring titles) and Lebron because, as someone else mentioned earlier, he could get the scoring title if he actually gave a damn about it. Lebron is just as happy making his teammates better by giving them a ton of assists rather than statpadding his scoring output.
Always laugh when people mention Melo, you know the guy for most of his career who has focused on nothing but scoring yet has never won a scoring title and his 3 point percentage for his career is worse than LeBron James who many deemed Lebrick until this year.
Then you don't understand what's being said about Melo. No one think he's as efficient, or more pure scorer than Durant, but he does have the widest range of options, can score in basically every conceivable way, but has a tendency to try and do too much, he can score like Durant some days and chuck like Westbrook others.
I agree but I think the argument that if Lebron cared more about it he'd be closer to Durant has merit... Although Durant defers to his teammates (especially Westbrook) a lot more than people give him credit for doing. So I'm sure he could get more himself as well. All things considered, Durant.
Let's compare them with four key stats. Kevin Durant 28.3PPG TS% .644 eFG% .554 oRTG 122 Carmelo Anthony 28.1PPG TS% .556 eFG% .495 oRTG 111 Lebron James 26.9PPG TS% .636 eFG% .599 oRTG 124 James Harden 25.89PPG TS% .608 eFG% .511 oRTG 118 Kobe Bryant 27.03PPG TS% .569 eFG% .506 oRTG 112 Kevin Durant scores the most per game with the greatest TS%. If the criteria for 'best scorer' is strictly based on volume and overall efficiency than Durant wins with Lebron a close 2nd, Harden a more distant 3rd and Carmelo and Kobe are 4th and 5th but clearly on the outside looking in. If we place greater emphasis on the ability to complete actual field goals rather than living on the free throw line by incorporating eFG% than Lebron is miles ahead in 1st place, Durant is 2nd, then air and then Harden, Kobe and Melo respectively. (i.e. What if the ref swallows his whistle?/ What if the game is called more physically?) If we also consider their overall offensive impact by using oRTG it's Lebron 1st, Durant 2nd and then Harden is a respectable 3rd with Kobe and Carmelo on the outside looking in once again. (i.e Player X could score more but he chooses to facilitate more/ impact in other areas) Basically, a case can be made for either Durant or Lebron as being the best scorers in the game and Harden is a distant 3rd best with Kobe and Carmelo 4th and 5th and even further back. 1 & 2 Lebron & Durant --- 3. James Harden --- 4. Kobe Bryant 5. Carmelo Anthony I should probably use scoring hot maps and break down their fg%, 3pt%, finishing at rim vs jump-shots etc. but that's another story. If y'all were interested reps would be nice :grin:.
Some caveats - I believe in statistical interpretation in context. Every team is different, every situation is different and therefore the responsibilities and roles of these players are all different. Durant plays alongside a ball dominant combo-guard who complements him and arguably allows him to choose when to exert offensive energy. Lebron plays with two other superstars and a plethora of capable role-players so it can be argued that his scoring output would decline, and in the same way improve his overall efficiency. Harden plays in a team with the fastest pace in the league with no true 2nd option so it can be claimed that he gets more opportunities to score cf. the others. Personally I think that Harden isn't as great a 'scorer' as Carmelo or Kobe yet, even if the advanced stats disagrees with my opinion. I feel that his offensive repertoire is limited relative to the others and when compared with Durant and Lebron he doesn't have the freak physical advantages they possess which allows the game to come effortlessly to them. However, his advantages are that he's got a very cerebral game, though he is overly dependent on receiving calls. Further, he's similar to Lebron in that he is an exceptional ball-handler and facilitator and has proven to be capable of playing alongside other ball dominant scorers successfully. Harden might not be the best scorer, but he's one of the most offensively complete players in the game already.
Durant. He can shoot it from anywhere. I wouldn't even leave him open near mid court. Combined with his quickness and height, he is unstoppable. Out of the two, I would leave Lebron open outside the 3pt line. That would still be a stupid decision (Lebron is hitting 40% of 3's this year), but nevertheless a slightly less stupid decision than leaving Durant open anywhere. Durant also goes to the line a couple of more times per game. If it was about who do I give the ball to if I want to be the most sure about scoring, it would be Lebron because of the combination of his scoring and passing. But since we're talking about who is more likely to nail a shot given a scoring opportunity, I would give it to Durant. Melo and Kobe a distant 3rd/4th, and not clearly better than a few other players around the league. Hitting 45% of 20 shots is not that impressive to me, I feel like a lot of people can do that, namely James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
LeBron shoots quite a bit. He takes 18 shots a game and is the only player out of Kobe, Melo and Durant to average more than 20 shot attempts per game for his career. I realize with free throws and some guys not playing as much early on in their careers that that stat is a little misleading but so is the idea that LeBron isn't taking a lot of shots.
It used to be Melo. Now Durant has surpassed him by a mile. Melo used to be the clutchest too. But LeBron seems to be better now. Kobe is definitely not. He attempted the most and probably made the most last second winning shots. But he also missed the most. But clutchness is overrated because the sample size is so small.
True. But when he was taking those extra shots and averaging over 27 he wasn't as efficient as Durant has been this year no matter what shooting stat you look at. Durant has him beat in fg%, 3 pt%, ts% and efg%(tied last year) in any of those years. I think the current Durant is a better scorer than LeBron has ever been. However, LeBron appears to be on another level this year and I'd be curious to see if he could keep his current efficiency if he was to take a few more shots.
