I was watching JxmyHighroller’s latest (https://youtu.be/TTSbMMAyZJ8?si=YhrcAutIzP4_ZCY8&t=539) and he was going over the best and worst takes of the season. Throughout the middle of the video, he brought up an old LBJ video from 2010 and he gave his thoughts on the scoring title:
> If I really wanted to, if I really wanted to get the scoring title I could do it every single year. EVERY SINGLE YEAR I could do it, but it doesn’t matter.”
I 100% agree with him as he’s always been tasked to be the entire offense for his teams, even at this stage of his career. If LeBron were able to solely focus on scoring, honestly who would stop him?
He’s been top-5 in scoring **12 times**, and hasn’t really been a shot-chucker. His most SPG was 23.1, and that was in 05/06. He shot more than 20 shots/game *7 times out of 20 seasons*. Give him a few more shots and it’s not wild to assume that he’d be a 10-15 time scoring champ.
by CulturalRoll
39 Comments
Anybody with a brain should believe it. He’s shown through his whole career he cannot be guarded or stopped going to the basket. He averaged 31.4ppg and 30ppg. in 2006 and 2008 respectfully, and then AGAIN averaged 30.3 in the 21-22 season. If it was his goal, the dude almost certainly could have averaged 35ppg for a 10 year stretch.
he could have scored more than 9 points in game 4 too i wholeheartedly believe this
i just wish he had a ball hog season lol
A lot of guys could win the scoring title every year if they wanted to and didn’t give a shit about team success. This is not unique to Bron.
You think Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, Dame, Steph, KD, Luka, Book, Tatum, SGA etc couldn’t all lead the league in scoring if the purely focused on scoring instead of playmaking/defense/efficiency?
MJ said fuck hypotheticals and just did it 10/15 times
If anyone doesn’t believe this I’m not completely sure they’ve watched basketball
Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7.
Lebron could not be the scoring leader this season. In the past, he could’ve, sure. Maybe not over James Harden that one year.
Of course he COULD have taken 26 shots a game and averaged 35 if he really wanted to but I don’t think he would have seen the same level of team success he’s had if he played that way every year
LeBron’s teams often haven’t needed a traditional pass-first PG next to him because of him handling the main playmaking duties but if he played as just a pure scorer instead of a more balanced playmaking/scorer hybrid suddenly that would become an issue
An all-around productive 27 PPG/8 APG/62% TS LeBron is more valuable than a hypothetical version of LeBron who decides he only wants to shoot and doesn’t make his teammates better anymore
But he didn’t. Does Lebron get points for things he could do so we pretend like he really did it?
I agree but also don’t LeCare
Of course he can. He scored 30+ the last two years and didn’t make the play in 2 seasons ago and were under .500 this season before the deadline. Scoring 30 doesn’t equate to winning. If LeBron wants to score 30 instead of getting points for his teammates, it’s an easy win for the opponent.
I mean plenty of basketball players could win the scoring title ever year if that was their only goal. Imagine if Steph Curry said fuck you Kevin Durant I want 35 tonight lol.
It was kinda an obvious, oh yeah he definitely could moment for us all, I would have to say. I definitely could not deny it than and I definitely wouldn’t now
Jordan did it while playing first team all defense, not fishing for cheap assists and stealing defensive rebounds from bigs.
That is why he won more rings with far less all star/all NBA’s.
If LeBron *and* KD were going for the scoring title all those years I don’t think LeBron would be the one winning it.
Should have, would have, could have, when it comes down to it Lebronze only won 1 scoring title in 20 years.
I fully believe that un his first stint in cleveland he could have averaged 35+ if he was selfish
Yeaaah like who’s stopping him if he wanted to?
Lebron and his coulda shoulda woulda, what’s new?
The only scoring leaders who won the championship in the same season were Shaq and MJ. Shaq did it once and MJ did it 6 times. If Lebron tried to chase the scoring title, chances are that he would have no rings
How often does the scoring leader end up winning the championship?
If you just watch him and nothing else you can see there are times where he is quite obviously taking it easy.
Settling for 3’s, not running back on defence etc…
Imagine prime Bron being selfish as Kobe and MJ. This is the separation people don’t understand
He definitely could’ve, but so could any top 15 player if they “really wanted to”. Think of a lower-tier allstar player deciding to take an extra 10 FGA per night solely because they want a scoring title. The reason people don’t is because that’s not a smart strategy for winning games lol
That’s nice of LeBron to voice his opinions on what he can do if he so wanted.
Nah, LeBron be cappin’ yet again. He is giving a massive assumption where he turns chucker and shoot to score. Of course he’ll get a scoring title if he does that, while everybody else plays the game the right way. If everybody has the green light to shoot everytime they get the ball, then LeBron would still not get the scoring titles. KD, Harden, Steph etc. score the ball better than Bron. You’re telling me if all of them get a green light every game, KD wouldn’t still score more than Bron? LeBron still wouldn’t have gotten the scoring titles.
He was just creating an unfair narrative, where he chucks while the rest of the league plays as per normal which defeats the purpose of the post anyway.
Tons of top players could do the same thing, but just like Bron, they’d be sacrificing team success to do so.
This is absolute cap by LBJ and only die hard Lebron fans would believe this BS.
Otherwise Lebron should have been able to won it in 2006 when he averaged more than 30ppg (only times in his career), and then again in 2022 he tried hard to just stay above 30ppg and not even caring winning anymore. And still he didn’t won the scoring title!
And you know why? Because there are, there was, and there will be better scorer than Lebron in the league! Moreover, other players has tried hard to win scoring champ, so even assuming he would have start playing even more selfish, for sure other more proficient scorer would have done the same. Just consider 2006 vs Kobe. It is no way he would have surpassed him. And this would have happened all the time.
Maybe Lebron could have been able to win a couple in his prime, but for sure he would have sacrifice something in the playoffs then…
Dude averages more FGA and FTA than KD yet still has a slightly lower career PPG average. This narrative is so dumb.
Absolutely. Kobes highest scoring season was 35 points on 27fga per game, LeBron could 100% do this whenever he wanted… probably still today if he didn’t care about his team’s record.
Ok but he didn’t. So what does it matter?
lol dumb post literally any superstar could be scoring leader if they forego all and just focus on ppg. Imagine curry shooting 50 3s per game and not care about team.
Tbf I think most top 10 players could if they wanted to.
He could have a dozen rings, but he purposely lost most of the time so other teams could share the glory! He just wanted to spread the wealth out among his coworkers, what a spectacular human being!
Probably Palestine. Please don’t ban me, I don’t live in Philly.
Did he?
People could never relinquish that to Bron. Too busy polishing Curry for taking 9 3s a game, and Harden’s inflated free throws. Statistically, LeBron shot less volume than Kobe and Jordan, Karl Malone, Iverson. Imagine if he padded his style of bully ball for a few more of those Miami years.
That being said, if Jordan wasn’t a quitter and continued ball hogging, and shooting 3s was as prevalent as it is now, he’d without question be the all time scorer. As for efficiency? If Curry manages to get top 6 he’s no doubtedly going to be the most efficient scorer. Which is wild, to think because they position 3-4 shooters on the roster that take shots away from Curry.
Bron’s wild stat is literally his consistency. Why would we want him to streak scoring and streak defense. He just shows up and produces. Imagine if Booker or Tatum or Giannis were just consistent from season 1. It’ll be a while til we witness the next star that is this productive consistently from year 1 to 18+.
Y’all remember before the 2013 season where he basically said that if he took 35+ shots a game he could score 60-70 points easily? That season, he only had one game where he took more than 35 shots. He scored 61. Anyone who thinks this isn’t true just hasn’t watched him enough.
Shocking, an all time great could score more points if he prioritized scoring over winning.
Duh, not sure why this is even noteworthy