Talk About Tennis 2.0

He's in great shape this season unlike last year. I think his body type doesn't allow for more bulk before it starts hindering him. In tennis terms he's more like Federer there as Giannis is more like Nadal.

Lebron James is likely to beat the all time scoring record later this season. Everyone else in the top 10 is already retired.

https://www.nba.com/news/lebron-james-scoring-tracker

The record is the record.
But this will come with a lot of things to talk about. Kareem never hit a 3 (because there were none), and of course he spent a few years at UCLA, while Lebron came straight out of high school.
I will not like it because I am a huge fan of Kareem, but it will happen, so be it. And while I have never rooted one single time for Lebron, off the court he has behaved in many exemplary ways. So it will be a good relay.

Sure, but if you want to look at per game basis Jordan and Chamberlain are far ahead of both.

As I said, a record to be talked about. Eventually it leads to the GOAT of basketball, and then it gets complicated; Jordan, Russel, Wilt, Kareem, and now Lebron. Who is it?

Another random factoid: Milwaukee Bucks could have been a dominant team by picking Giannis and Embiid as back to back draft picks. Instead they wiffed by taking Jabari Parker (who?) at #2

Jordan was picked 3rd, when he was drafted. Hakeem was first (a good pick) but Sam Bowie, at #2, fizzled in the NBA.
Very hard to know who will truly become a great player once they move to the pros. And Jabari Parker had a very good college career.

I agree, but sometimes the pick is laughable already when made. Latest example - Sacramento passing on Doncic at #2 in 2018. Of course Phoenix should have taken him, but at least they got a solid player and are doing well.

I didn't know he was passed by Sacramento. He was already spoken of like a god in Europe. So, yes, that was dumb.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:06 pm Jordan was picked 3rd, when he was drafted. Hakeem was first (a good pick) but Sam Bowie, at #2, fizzled in the NBA.
Very hard to know who will truly become a great player once they move to the pros. And Jabari Parker had a very good college career.

Old conversation, but since I'm only seeing it now, thought I would point out that picks, probably in any sport, shouldn't be looked at in a vacuum. Jordan is regularly talked about as going 3rd and the Trailblazers get clowned for passing at him with barely anyone taking the time to point out that HOF PG Clyde Drexler was picked by them in the draft the year before. Clyde wasn't a good pick, he was a great pick. And he played the same position in the same style as Michael Jordan. In Today's NBA, it is unlikely that a team would pass on Jordan while having Clyde because having two shooting guards is a thing now and the take the best player and make it work is a thing now. That wasn't the game in the 80s. Big men still ruled and defense wasn't something that could be viewed as a luxury. The Trailblazers needed a center, hence their pick.

That he was a bust is irrelevant to the point. If the Trailblazers had that need for a PG and passed on him, that's when it's more damning in the 80s style game. But people like to just grab onto the hey, the guy before Jordan in the draft was a bust. Oh Hakeem went first and, can't argue with that. Well, Clyde, again, same deal as Hakeem, from the same Houston Phi Slama Jama squad, can't be argued with either, and that's the real comp that people need to use in the Jordan draft convo but rarely is. Both Hakeem and Clyde are considered two of the greatest players ever in the NBA.

After Lebron's passing of Kareem in all time points scored, one has to wonder if this time that record will never fall.
But there is another. Jayson Tatum just became the youngest ever to hit 1,000 three pointers, at a bit under 25yo. This is his sixth year in the league. So, depending on where Steph will leave that record when he retires, and if Tatum has longevity, that record may not be set in stone.

I have to hate him because he is a Celtic, but he plays a wonderful game Gotta admit that.

The only objection I have is that never is a really long time. For how long do you think NBA will continue to exist?

As long as America exists.
Indeed, never is a long time. The record may fall if somebody that shoots threes at a high rate plays long enough. On the other side, with the penchant for players not to play all 82 games in a season, that takes away from the possibility. And, we have to wait and see where LBJ leaves the record when he retires.
I don't think I will see it broken.

The last sentence is very likely, but really long term who knows? Maybe someone someday can shoot 50% from a center line...