[Champzilla21Participant]

LeBron James is on pace to claim his second scoring title after topping the league in 2007-08, when he was a year removed from leading the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals.

Given the choice of either, though, James was emphatic in claiming he could win the scoring championship at will.

But it’s the team titles that hold the key, he said.

“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,” James said of home-court advantage Thursday in San Antonio, where the Cavaliers play the Spurs on Friday night. “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, who led the league in minutes played and field goals in two of his first five seasons, picked up his only scoring title in his fourth year. He again leads the NBA in scoring with 29.8 points per game, total points with 2,086 and field goals with 707.

And the Cavs hold a comfortable position in the Eastern Conference standings, seven games in front of second-place Orlando with 10 games left in the regular season.

“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.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5030453

I think this is completely true, people always says the best scorers in the game ar Kobe, Melo, and KD, but based on just his body and skill set none of them could keep up with him if he put his mind on scoring the ball every position. When he says he doent want to shoot all the time but get his teammates involved i still think he should try and score more sometimes because him going to the hole is a better chance then anyone on his team doing anything, but i think hes found the perfect balance now in his career to satisfy him and his teammates

[the I in winParticipant]

Usually when lebron just chucks up shots the whole game the cavs are in a close game. However when he is passive to start and then finishes the game with his own offence the cavs do much better.

[QUINCEY]

i dont agree.. kobe could lead the leauge in scoring as well if he put his mind to it. he has gasol and odom though so he doesnt have to

[Champzilla21Participant]

yes kobe could also but i think lebron could do it more effciently right now since he still goes to the hole more then kobe does now at this stage in his career

[QUINCEY]

right now maybe..and that s a big maybe but the same coule be said if you reverse the palyers age. kobe at lebrons age could lead the leauge in scoring every year as well. hell you name any of the top 5 scores in the leauge and they could each lead the leauge in scoring if they were selfish enough to do it

[gregoden08Participant]

Yes he will lead the league in scoring and get his second scoring title. Best player in the league.

[Champzilla21Participant]

i know you could say that about any of the top 5, but lebrons leading the league in scoring while averaging like 8.5 assists which is kinda unheard of. He is averaging 3.5 more assits then kobe and wades ageraging 6 assists but Lebron is averaging 4 more pts then him.

[LawDeeZeeParticipant]

lebron has the ball in his hands more then any of the other top guys too though, he doesn’t have anybody else on his team that really looks to do their thing as opposed to play off of him – so the assists are obviously going to be higher for him

KD has Westbrook, Harden, Jeff Green
Kobe has Gasol, Odem, Artest
Melo has JR Smith, Chauncey Billups, Nene

the composition of their teams dictates those numbers, Kobe plays in the triangle and they dump it inside to Gasol … melo and kd aren’t handling the ball at the top of the floor on every single trip

scoring wise … he can still be a pretty inconsistent jump shooter at times and you hardly ever see him try to post … so i think when people say guys like kobe and melo are better scorers it’s because of their versatility

[whyyouhatingParticipant]

This is Lebron he to is the most unstoppable player in the NBA right now and the best.
If all the top five players just worried about shooting Lebron will score the most. He is big and can play all postions on the court. Yes he has the ball in his hands all the time because he is a facilitator on his team as well as best scoring option. If he focused on just scoring he will average 35 points a game every year. He looks to pass for atleast 2 out of 4 quarters and still come away with 29 ppg.
Melo, Kobe, KD have more ways to score yes because of their shooting, but Lebron going to the hole is more effective than all of then doing what they do best.

[Champzilla21Participant]

Yes he has the ball in his hands more but he doesnt have the people to make what i say is an easy assist. Nash can pick n roll with Amare and boom an assist. Kobe can do a dump in to gasol or bynum and boom not really haveing to make a good pass. Lebron pick n rolls with ander varajeo and has to make a stunning pass, im not saying lebron team cant score but he has to put them in a better postion then the other big guns would have to. And dont tell me he has it in his hands a way more amount of time then the others if KD is putting up 20.2 shots a game he has the ball, Melo with 22, kobe 21.7, wade 19. Plus wade has the rock in his hands just as much as LBJ does too

[QUINCEY]

the most unstoppable scorer is the guy who can score in many ways…kobe..a guy who can hit jumpers go in the post hit from deep or midrange. just because lebron can score going to the whole does not mean he is the most unstoppable scorer. would that make him a better score then say mj since mj wasnt the physcial player lebron is?..or would jordan be a more unstoppable scorer because he could score in more ways then lebron?

[Michael.S.Participant]

What can Kobe and Durant and Melo do that lebron can’t ? Tell me what it is.

[QUINCEY]

kobe and melo score better in the post and have better mid range shots. thats common sense

and JayK21 youre right the better scorer is the guy who can score the most points. thats why a younger kobe is a better scorer then a now lebron and kobe and melo can score just as much as lebron now. we can go in circles about who can score more if they tried to.. we have seen all of them when they are in the zone and scoring. kobe is un touched in that reguard

[QUINCEY]

everyone knows lebrons jumper and post game isnt as good as those 2. the way i like to look at it is if you put all three in the same type of body whos skill’s would allow them to score more

[llperez]

it’s kind of a pointless argument. Like you guys already mentioned, sure lebron could lead the league in scoring every year if he said screw teammates and just went one on one. But so could kobe and wade. Kobe darn near did that 4 years ago and he put up 35.5 ppg and dropped 81, 60+ a couple times and outscored the entire mavs team through 3 quarters in a game. If Lebron just went off like that, teams would help more on the drive so he wouldn’t get into the lane at will. He would need that jumper to be on lock, and im not sure he puts up those same numbers as kobe did.

[QUINCEY]

^^^ exactly..if teams knew he was just gonna score and didnt worry about his passing ability those drives would be less frequent and he would have to score more from the out side

[the I in winParticipant]

QUINCEY, i can see what you mean by the most unstoppable is the one who can score in different ways but i disagree, shaq (young version) in my mind is the most unstopable scorer simply because all he ever did was dunk and nobody could do or say anything about it.

You now exactly what lebron is going to do but nodoby can stop him. I’m not saying Kobe is easy to guard either but you can force him to take different shots then he wanted. when lebron shoots it is because he is lazy.

[Michael.S.Participant]

Quincey do yourself a favor and watch Lebron play…he has a post up gamehe just doesn’t prefer to play in the post…melo doesn’t post up either , he prefers to face up….kobe posts up but he is there a much higher percentage of the time than LeBron and melo…..and llperez….kobe’s always been a shoot first player, LeBron is not..Kobe averaged 26 fga’s per game that season he averaged 35+ Lebron shoots 20 times per game and scores 30…if he took 26 shots he would get 35 too.

[OldSkoolBasketballParticipant]

Am I the only one that thinks Lebron is capable of averaging 40 a game if he doesn’t pass as much?

[QUINCEY]

ive watched lebron as well as many other people.. its pretty common knwledge that he doesnt have a post game comparable to kobe or melo. thats been talked about countless times on tnt espn, nba tv. thats not even arguemenative

saying if he did this or that doesnt make it true.. just liek the per 48 min thing. many players went from not playing much -playing alot of minutes and in some cases 48min and they didnt get the so called per48 that people said they would when they werent playing much. all in all the answer is…no one knows.. what we do know if that kobe has scored more then lebron as far as career highs and higher scoring average in a season. those arent opinions those are facts. everything else like..IF he could average more points or score more is a opinion

[kmp07sParticipant]

People tend to think of other guys as “pure scorers” more because it seems like they shoot more jump shots. Which looks prettier/more skilled than driving and getting lots of layups. But either way, its 2 points and Lebron shoes a higher percentage.

He definitely has the ball in his hands the most, but the Cavs dont hardly have anyone else who can create for themselves consistently.

Alot of people talk about how the Cavs are the favorite, and they might be, but its really soley because of Lebron. Even though they are 1st in the east, their supporting cast is still kinda meh to me. I mean Odom, Gasol, and Artest are better than anything Lebron has.

[QUINCEY]

yea those lot of peopel who think the cavs are the favorites dont know what they are talking about. those are probably the same ones who said they were the favorites last year as well….lakers are still the favorites

[llperez]

antawn jamison has been playing like an all-star for many years and gets 20-10 on the regular. If cleavland doesn’t win this year, i don’t want to hear anymore about lebron doesn’t have teammates.

[QUINCEY]

you know good and well you will hear some excuse as to why they didnt win when they dont win…lol

[kurtu17Participant]

cav are def not the fav…i still think orlando is the fav comin out the east….their team is better suited for the playoffs cuz they have more guys to get it done…lebron driving it to the whole isnt goin to work as well when dwight is at the rim…and if lebron wants a long healthy career and be effective the way he is..he is goin to have to develop that shot…

[Bvilleballer21Participant]

Lebron is already ridiculously effective as it is, and his shot shows considerable improvement every year. And you guys say that teams would try to stop him from scoring more if he put more emphasis on it. Well, considering he shot over 50% and average 35+ in the playoffs last year while dishing 8 dimes, I don’t think that’s going to work very well. Simply put, the most unstoppable passing AND scoring force in the league today when he wants to be. There is no question in my mind he could lead the league in scoring every year, and I wouldn’t bet against him doing it. The only one who will challenge is Durant.

[Michael.S.Participant]

agreed….He is still percieved as a player who has no post game and a mediocre shooter(by people who have no idea what their talking about)….I think by now that tag should have been long gone…he has no weaknesses, not one…

[llperez]

he has not shown much post game at all. But I guess when you can do what he does from the perimter, i cant really fault him for that.

But he does have one glaring weakness that i have noticed quite often. In the last few minutes of close games where his team is trailing, he losses all confidence in his jumper. He trusts it for 45 minutes and when his team ahead, but put him under the spotlight with presure, and he always puts his head down and tries to drive even if nothing is there. He did it against orlando in the playoffs when he had a wide open 15 footer instead he drove into traffic got double teamed and kicked it out to delonte for a contested 3 and his team lost. He did it in the all-star game this year when there was less then 30 seconds and amare switched on to him and he had an easy jumper because amare was backing off, instead lebron drove right into amare’s chest and lost the ball out of bounds. He did it tonight against the spurs when his team was down by 5 with less then 30 seconds to go and instead of shooting a 3 he drove into traffic when nothing was there on consecutive plays and on one of those plays he fell down and lost the ball out of bounds. If he wants to be clutch, he has to shoot that open jumper no matter what the situation.

[Michael.S.Participant]

see, a common thing is that people correlate jumpers only with clutch play….There is no rule that says you have to take a 15 foot jumper with a hand in your face to win a game, thats not Lebrons game…he takes it to hole….kobe is clutch because he his that fallaway jumper vs Phoenix in the playoffs and that bank shot on christmas day, but people forget that lebron won thatplayoff game vs the Wizards on drive to the basket and a finish and the other time he did that…Because the jumper is more glamorous in the late ticks of the clock for some reason to some people

[llperez]

yeah, if you take it to the hole and get a lay up, then that’s fine. But when you drive into traffic and just put your head down and hope for a foul when there is nothing there is a flaw. He does that far too often.

[Michael.S.Participant]

Also, I think lebron HAS shown a post game, but as i said before, that is not his preference…2 games ago NO tried to put Collison and Paul on lebron and he killed them in the post…One time he did a nice little spin move with a lefty scoop finish and he just really bullied them downlow, forcing them to make a defensive change….why post up if you can get by anyone in the NBA?

[Michael.S.Participant]

but i have yet to see a instance where that hasn;t worked llperez….flawed as it may seem it works and its probably a better option anyways….

[llperez]

i pointed out 3 instances right off the top of my head without even doing much thinking.

[Michael.S.Participant]

And i can name ten instances where it has worked…like everyone, not every shot can go down, Kobe misses fadeaway game winners but it doesn’t matter because a decent percent of those shots usually go down…Not everything lebron does will work ALL THE TIME but they work the majority of the time

[llperez]

You said he has zero weaknesses, I pointed out somehting that I think is a weakness. So you countering it with well he doesn’t need to trust his jumper because he drives so well doesn’t elimanate the fact that it is still a weakness. That’s like saying shaqs free throw shooting is not a weakness because he still gets points and dominates. I was just pointing out a weakness in his game that has cost him dearly in the playoffs just last season.

[SlimParticipant]

Only player that never had any weaknesses was Michael Jordan

he had Rip hamilton’s mid range, Carmelo’s face up game and a fadeaway like Kobe’s

Lebron’s shooting off the dribble is getting beter every day

but he doesnt have a high post game, a low post game or a back to the basket game

against small forwards that is, when Chris Paul is guarding him lol…

do you expect Jameer Nelson or Mike Bibby to guard him in the playoffs

New Orleans was clearly an undersized team unless Cleveland is playing that big line up with Lebron at PG full time?!

[Michael.S.Participant]

All im trying to say is no it isn’t a weakness its a preference….Weakness is something your not good at and Lebron converts in those situations 95 percent of the time…the 5 percent of the time is what your describing as a weakness…I could say Kobe’s weakness is settling for jumpers with a hand in his face late in the game, in which sometimes he forces them and misses like last year when he got blocked from behind by Turk…But that is not a “weakness” because 90 percent of those are dropping….its just one that didnt go his way.cant make all of them

catch you later gotta get some sleep…

[SlimParticipant]

Just about everybody has weaknesses

Some people are too slow some people are to small to defend certain people
Everyone has weaknesses if not on Offense then on defense,

Michael Jordan actually did have a weakness he couldnt guard bigger opponents, at his HOF speech he acknowledge Scottie Pippen.

Size can also be a weakness.

Lebron can cover his weaknesses better than most players though bcuz his other parts of his game are so strong.

Kobe is getting older but the Lakers are still the favorites to come out of the West so it doesnt matter

[llperez]

Are you just making up 95% of the time? Im not talkign about all drives to the basket. I just mean in the final minutes of a close game where he is given the opportunity for a jumper and he instead forces it to the rim despite not having an open lane. He does that quite often, so not sure if your numbers are anywhere near accurate.

[llperez]

good luck on the fantasy playoffs this weekend mike. It’s close

[midwestbbscoutParticipant]

Lebron isn’t usually that quotable but that was f-in funny…..”I could win it every year if I wanted to”…..he shoulda been like “oh yeah, DEEEEEEEZZZZZ NUTS”….

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