Who will challenge Durant for the Scoring Title?

[ganja0710]

He's got Nash, Dwight, and Gasol. I think he'll let them get into the flow of playing together before he actually looks to score himself.

"LOL **** DAT"

[FreezingTsmoove]

[QUOTE=KG215]Seriously?

Scott Brooks got a bench player to put up 17 a game, surely he can get Durant to keep averaging 28-30 a game

Yeah with all the attention on Westbrook and Durant. James Harden proved in the finals he would never be a scoring champion. It was Lou against the league in Philly

[Dragonyeuw]

Kobe's scoring is going to go down to 24-25 a night. There's really no need for him to score 28 with the 2013 roster.

Melo's always up there, he had an off year last year but 28 seems to be his peak. Lebron 'could', but I don't think it's a priority for him and with Wade and Bosh as teammates, he'll stay in the 25-27 range. I could see someone like Derrick Rose challenging him if they got a pure point and moved him over to SG( hypothetical scenario). But really...don't see anyone playing now who will beat out Durant over the next few years.

[scm5]

I honestly think that while Westbrook might not be a contender for the scoring title, Westbrook might be who keeps Durant from the scoring title.

[Mr. I'm So Rad]

He's got Nash, Dwight, and Gasol. I think he'll let them get into the flow of playing together before he actually looks to score himself.

True but Kobe will still look to get his. He's a scorer. He's gonna shoot the ball at least 18-20 times a game which I'm fine with.

[Mr. I'm So Rad]

I honestly think that while Westbrook might not be a contender for the scoring title, Westbrook might be who keeps Durant from the scoring title.

Lol why do people say this? Westbrook has been shooting the ball a lot the past 2 seasons and it hasn't stopped Durant. If anything Westbrook helps Durant to score more.

[28renyoy]

LOL @ LeBron challenging Durant.

Durant shoots 46.1% in ISO and 51% in the half court.

LeBron shoots 39.3% in ISO and 48% in the half court.

So I guess LeBron is going to start getting 4X as many fast breaks? If Durant wanted to, he could average 35 a game every year. The guy is the most efficient 25+ ppg scorer in NBA history for crying out loud and that's with his terrible rookie season weighing 20% of his sample size

[lilgodfather1]

LeBron could win the scoring title every year if he wanted it imo.

LeBron 1169 FGA
Durant 1297 FGA

difference of 128 FGA.

If LeBron James had taken those extra 128 shots and scored them at his .531 FG% he would have scored 68 more points bringing his season average up to 28.2ppg. This is calculated completely on 2 pointers. Adding in 3's taken would be 180 points off of threes, instead of the 162 he got this season. LeBron's points would be +18 there, and 74 more points total for a season average of 28.3.

Fortunately/unfortunately LeBron doesn't seem to care about the scoring title, and honestly I don't blame him. He is an elite scorer, but scoring isn't the best part of his game.

[ganja0710]

LeBron could win the scoring title every year if he wanted it imo.

LeBron 1169 FGA
Durant 1297 FGA

difference of 128 FGA.

If LeBron James had taken those extra 128 shots and scored them at his .531 FG% he would have scored 68 more points bringing his season average up to 28.2ppg. This is calculated completely on 2 pointers. Adding in 3's taken would be 180 points off of threes, instead of the 162 he got this season. LeBron's points would be +18 there, and 74 more points total for a season average of 28.3.

Fortunately/unfortunately LeBron doesn't seem to care about the scoring title, and honestly I don't blame him. He is an elite scorer, but scoring isn't the best part of his game.

what a stupid ass reasoning. "if he wanted to" you can say this about half the players you consider superstars. hell, durant can probably score 40 a game "if he wanted to".

[Dragonyeuw]

LOL @ LeBron challenging Durant.

What is so funny about that notion? Lebron's personal high of 31.4 eclipses Durant's high of 30.1. Lebron was averaging 29 before moving to Miami 2 years ago, Durant averaged 27 last year. Why is the idea of Lebron challenging him so unfathomable? He's a pass-first player who has a career average of 27 a game, how many players in the history of the game can you say that about? He could easily increase those numbers into the 30's if he focused more on scoring.

[NumberSix]

Kobe will average 29PPG on 38%

[InfiniteBaskets]

Durant has 3 titles right now and there's no reason for him to lose out on any at all in the upcoming seasons barring injury or the meteoric rise of some undrafted rookie.

I think Durant should be locked in for 5 scoring titles at minimum and could get as many as 7 or 8 if he has no challengers at all (meaning all the other superstars are playing with each other).

[LBJ 23]

what a stupid ass reasoning. "if he wanted to" you can say this about half the players you consider superstars. hell, durant can probably score 40 a game "if he wanted to".

Not really.

Lebron in the past had seasons averaging 30 or more points per game in Cleveland. And even then he was an extremely willing passer so it's really not that far fetched to say that he could average over 30 points '' if he wanted to '' and focus more on scoring and place passing on the third track.

On the other hand, Durant is always looking to score first, and yet he was never close to averaging 40ppg per game so you fail with your argument very badly.

[28renyoy]

LeBron scored 31.4 ppg in 2006 taking 23.1 FGA and 10.3 FTA.

Durant averaged 28.0 ppg in 2012 taking 19.7 FGA and 7.6 FTA.

Given Durant's eFG% and FT%, if he would have taken 23.1 FGA and 10.3 FTA last season he would have averaged 34.2 ppg

LeBron averaged 26 ppg on 60.5 TS% last season while Durant averaged 28 ppg on 61.0 TS%. I guess LeBron is just going magically get more efficient as his volume goes up

Especially given Durant being the better half court and ISO scorer

[Nash]

Nobody