Why do people act like scoring isn't the most important part of basketball?

[JohnFreeman]

You're right OP, I agree 100%


So this should be the top 10 all time (except Durant since his points are heavily padded from Freethrows)


All time PPG leaders

1. Michael Jordan 30.12
2. Wilt Chamberlain 30.07
3. LeBron James 27.52
4. Kevin Durant 27.40
5. Elgin Baylor 27.36
6. Jerry West 27.03
7. Allen Iverson 26.66
8. Bob Pettit 26.36
9. George Gervin 26.18
10. Oscar Robertson 25.68

ether

[J Shuttlesworth]

HOLY ****

dubeta just destroyed the OP

[Gr]

If scoring is the most important part of basketball then so is preventing the opponent from scoring. Something doesn't add up here.

[NZStreetBaller]

[QUOTE=Gr

[Kvnzhangyay]

I always hear these phrases, such as...

"Defense wins championships."

"So and so is the better all around player."

Etc.

However, at the end of the day, the most important aspect of basketball is putting the ball into the round cylinder; especially in the 4th quarter. Defense, rebounding, passing, and any other facet of the game take a back seat to scoring the basketball; especially in the 4th quarter.

Stop making it so complicated.

How many of the top 10 scoring leaders of all time (total points) are on the top 10 GOAT list?

Jordan
Kobe
Chamberlain
Shaq
Hakeem
Kareem

6 out of the 10.

Try that for any other stat and you don't have as many top 10 GOAT players on the list.

Couldn't an argument that longevity is the most important for GOAT with the same evidence and logic of using the top 10 scorers?

Of course scoring is important, as well, the game has and always will be about buckets

[NZStreetBaller]

Couldn't an argument that longevity is the most important for GOAT with the same evidence and logic of using the top 10 scorers?

Of course scoring is important, as well, the game has and always will be about buckets

not necessarily longevity can just be a matter of good diet and conditionting which allows you to perform at your peak longer..... I think that GOAT status goes a little more deep then that.

[oarabbus]

I guess Bill Russell, Dennis Rodman, Tony Allen, and Dikembe Mutombo are crappy players according to OP.

[jlip]

Player scoring most points =/= Team scoring most points.

Several players have led the league in scoring on losing teams including Wilt, Archibald, Dantley, MJ, and T-Mac.

[IncarceratedBob]

I guess Bill Russell, Dennis Rodman, Tony Allen, and Dikembe Mutombo are crappy players according to OP.

Not crappy but forgettable.

Allen and Dikembe will be forgotten in 10 years or so

Bill Russell is known for his winning more than his defense so he will live on

Rodman is known more for being a celebrity than a ball player nowadays anyway

[gyu]

Great offense beats great defense 9 times out of 10

[LAZERUSS]

Historically, the mark seems to be about 32-33 ppg for a player to lead his team to a title. Chamberlain probably came within 2 points, and 1 point of leading his team to a title in years in which he averaged 50 and 35 ppg.

[ILLsmak]

Most coaches would rather have a guy who can drop 25 and play elite defense than a guy who can drop 30 with mediocre defense

yacuz elite d is worth more than 5 points. Put it down to 15-18 then compare again.

-Smak

[MavsSuperFan]

its just because people here hate kobe

[aau]

if offense and defense are equal why do coaches spend 2 hours
in practice on offense and maybe 15-30 minutes on defense

short answer

they're not

teaching 5 guys to run the triangle is a lot harder than
getting guys to stay with their man or cover an area

there's offense

and everything else

you're in man to man . . . I have a shitload of sets to attack you
you're in a 1-3-1 zone . . . . thousand ways to get an open shot
you're in fullcourt press . . . . got press breaks for you all day
you're in halfcourt trap . . . . . . please

flipside
how are you going to stop princeton or the triangle
how many concepts are there for defending motion

great defense/tenacity + good offense . . . . shot to win
great offense/machine + good defense . . . . good luck

[SCdac]

There's two sides to the game and they're equally important imo (relative to era). The best players in the game were generally two-way players, Jordan, Kareem, Duncan, Hakeem, etc. Offense gets turned into defense so fast in basketball, and vice versa, it's almost like a game of tennis (constantly playing offense and defense). It's not like football where there's often completely different teams for offense and defense. In saying that, you need both, if not from every player individually you need it from the team collectively. The Bulls of the last 2-3 years (w/ injured Rose) were defensively elite, but didn't have an elite or reliable offense. The Suns of the mid-2000s could score a ton of points w/ Nash and Amare but they gave up just as many or more. Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker had some of their highest scoring series against the Suns. Definitely need to be the best scoring team on the court, whether it's winning 111-107 or 88-84, but that final score takes into account defense. Robert Horry is one of the more underrated defensive players of the last 20 years, he didn't win rings with multiple teams just by being a clutch shooter, he committed to defense in Houston, LA, and San Antonio.