Rank as scorers : Jokic, LeBron, KD

[One_and_Done]

Lebron
KD
Jokic

[Amare_1_Knicks]

From this point on? I take jokic, pretty clearly too. I’d probably even extend it going back the past two years as well. Surprised that he’s been consistently third in this thread, and even more so that Lebron is viewed as the number one scorer among this trio.

Is it that surprising when James has clearly the best scoring numbers in the postseason across these 3?

On an all time scale, I agree with you. I took this as who’s the best scorer among the three right now. 2 out of the past 3 postseasons, Lebron’s scoring has underwhelmed in comparison to the upper echelon scorers in the league. But if we’re talking about two different things, all time vs currently, then there’s really no need to expound.

[lessthanjake]

FWIW, Jokic actually has the highest career points per 100 possessions in the playoffs of any of these three, and he also has the highest playoff TS% of any of these three. And the gaps are even larger if we look at multi-year peak timeframes, instead of full career. Granted, offense is more efficient recently, so it’s an advantageous comparison for Jokic, but just wanted to point out that when it comes to the playoffs he’s not exactly less of a volume scorer than the other two, though he generally has been in the regular season. Jokic scores a lot in the playoffs!

In terms of how I’d rank them as scorers, I think it’s hard to really parse. It’s kind of just a bunch of different ways to skin a cat.

[1993Playoffs]

From this point on? I take jokic, pretty clearly too. I’d probably even extend it going back the past two years as well. Surprised that he’s been consistently third in this thread, and even more so that Lebron is viewed as the number one scorer among this trio.

Is it that surprising when James has clearly the best scoring numbers in the postseason across these 3?

On an all time scale, I agree with you. I took this as who’s the best scorer among the three right now. 2 out of the past 3 postseasons, Lebron’s scoring has underwhelmed in comparison to the upper echelon scorers in the league. But if we’re talking about two different things, all time vs currently, then there’s really no need to expound.

My bad for not clarifying. I meant in their prime

[capfan33]

Lebron
Jokic
KD

Jokic vs KD is closer than I thought prior to this postseason, but I think I would still give the edge to Jokic.

[rk2023]

I agree with LukaTheGoat and 70sfan here, nothing too much to add here that hasn’t been covered already. For Durant vs LeBron scoring in a well past post of mine:

To look into their most efficient (using ElGee's Playoff Adjustments for relative true-shooting as a gauge) PS scoring runs:

Durant
2017: 14.2%
2012: 11.6%
2019: 10.7%
2018: 5.5%
2021: 5.3%
2013: 4.5%
2011: 4.3%
2014: 4.3%
2016: 1.9%
(not going to use 2010, as that was his very first PS run and before his general prime).

Let's compare this to LeBron's top 9 runs.

James:
2014: 14.5%
2017: 10.7%
2009: 9.5%
2020: 9.2%
2018: 7.6%
2013: 7.3%
2012: 6.5%
2016: 5.7%
2011: 4.2%

[bigboi]

Let’s address this nonsense

[bigboi]

We'll just laugh at you instead for stating that KD is leagues ahead as a scorer despite evidence to the contrary if we eliminate his GS seasons.

You can laugh at me all you want but this is the definition of a Realgm type of opinion. If you were to say Jokic is a better scorer than kd on any other basketball forum or in real life, people would look at you crazy and rightfully so

Not gonna lie mate. Its been a while since I saw GS KD but Jokic seems harder to stop 1v1 than KD was at times. I just don't think he has the stamina to keep that up for a whole game because his style of banging down low is more labor intensive than KDs multifaceted approach.

Again, Jokic benefits from playing in extremely small ball era. He struggles against big men that are similar base

[coastalmarker99]

most bigs in this era are not that great at post defence.

Credit to Jokic for his skill.

But I couldn’t imagine what Shaq and Wilt would do with the spacing and lack of size to contend with them in this era

[therealbig3]

Let’s address this nonsense

I mean, this series exposed some flaws for Jokic, but it wasn’t so bad that it means KD is better lmao. KD has fallen flat on his face worse than this, multiple times too.

[therealbig3]

most bigs in this era are not that great at post defence.

Credit to Jokic for his skill.

But I couldn’t imagine what Shaq and Wilt would do with the spacing and lack of size in this era

They’d get torched defensively though.

[bigboi]

Let’s address this nonsense

I mean, this series exposed some flaws for Jokic, but it wasn’t so bad that it means KD is better lmao. KD has fallen flat on his face worse than this, multiple times too.

Again Jokic benefits from being in a small ball era. You put centers that are actually his size, his stats are no where near as good. Kd is flat out a better scorer. He can score in every way possible

[bigboi]

most bigs in this era are not that great at post defence.

Credit to Jokic for his skill.

But I couldn’t imagine what Shaq and Wilt would do with the spacing and lack of size in this era

They’d get torched defensively though.

But they wouldn’t. Shaq is a flat out better defender than Jokic

[Peregrine01]

You can’t possibly look at this series and think that post offense has gotten easier because pHySIcALity!

If anything, the post defense schemes of today seem a lot more advanced than that of Shaq’s days.

[bigboi]

You can’t possibly look at this series and think that post offense has gotten easier because pHySIcALity!

If anything, the post defense schemes of today seem a lot more advanced than that of Shaq’s days.

Lmao. Why in tf would naz Reid, kat or gobert be able to do against Shaq? Yall need to stop it. Shaq would’ve cooked this wolves team. Faster, stronger, and more athletic than all of them by a wide margin

[OhayoKD]

Let’s address this nonsense

I'll take Jokic's scoring vs Minesotta over KD considering defensive attention

[OhayoKD]

most bigs in this era are not that great at post defence.

Credit to Jokic for his skill.

But I couldn’t imagine what Shaq and Wilt would do with the spacing and lack of size in this era

They’d get torched defensively though.

But they wouldn’t. Shaq is a flat out better defender than Jokic

Shaq's rs peak saw him getting cooked in 3 out of 4 series opposing bigs and saw Lakers fall from one of the best rs teams ever to one of the weakest champions ever because of thier rim defense and overall defense plummeting.

Shaq gets torched by the wolves

[therealbig3]

Let’s address this nonsense

I mean, this series exposed some flaws for Jokic, but it wasn’t so bad that it means KD is better lmao. KD has fallen flat on his face worse than this, multiple times too.

Again Jokic benefits from being in a small ball era. You put centers that are actually his size, his stats are no where near as good. Kd is flat out a better scorer. He can score in every way possible

I don’t understand, are Gobert and KAT small or something? Reid gives up size, but he’s also strong, fast, athletic, and smart. This was straight up old school lineups with 2 bigs that Jokic went up against.

Also, KD benefits a lot from being a small ball 4, he gets more of an advantage than Jokic does from the small ball era.

And I remember Shaq getting defended a lot by smaller guys with lower centers of gravity, like Malik Rose. Gobert, KAT, Reid are no smaller than what he went up against.

[therealbig3]

most bigs in this era are not that great at post defence.

Credit to Jokic for his skill.

But I couldn’t imagine what Shaq and Wilt would do with the spacing and lack of size in this era

They’d get torched defensively though.

But they wouldn’t. Shaq is a flat out better defender than Jokic

Possibly, don’t think his IQ is as good as Jokic, don’t think his hands are as good, and I think Jokic gives more consistent effort. Shaq is definitely more gifted physically though and would be a better rim deterrent. Think he would get punished with the PnR and outside shooting that’s out there today though, and his conditioning for the most part would be an issue. I think Jokic handles switches better than Shaq.

Offensively, I’ve seen Shaq get slowed down by similar defensive lineups, we can stop pretending like he was dropping 40/20 every game no matter what. And he’s absolutely a liability from the line. Also needs to be set up by reliable guards, he can’t create something out of nothing like Jokic can from anywhere. His passing also isn’t anywhere close to Jokic.

Idk, I’m still taking peak Jokic over Shaq, even though Jokic overall had a tough series and in my mind gets knocked down a peg from the true GOAT peak discussions (LeBron and Jordan for me basically).

[capfan33]

Let’s address this nonsense

I mean, this series exposed some flaws for Jokic, but it wasn’t so bad that it means KD is better lmao. KD has fallen flat on his face worse than this, multiple times too.

Again Jokic benefits from being in a small ball era. You put centers that are actually his size, his stats are no where near as good. Kd is flat out a better scorer. He can score in every way possible

Except when it actually matters.