Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Nick Nurse, Pascal Siakam, & Scottie Barnes Praise LeBron James as Scoring Title Nears
Few teams understand the greatness of LeBron James quite like the Toronto Raptors.
For so long James was the one Toronto couldn't seem to beat. Year after year, the Raptors would enter the playoffs with championship aspirations. Those teams were loaded with talent from high-end All-Stars like DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry to quality depth like Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Norman Powell. They'd put up 50-win seasons over and over again only to be vanquished by James in devastating fashion.
"It's very, very, very hard to game plan against that guy," said Raptors coach Nick Nurse as James nears the NBA's all-time scoring record that he's expected to break Tuesday or Thursday night. "He would be as hard of a person we've had the game plan for over a number of years for sure."
It's why Nurse said he isn't all that surprised that James sits just 35 points back of Kareem Abdul-Jabaar on the all-time list. Yes, it's impressive, but frankly, if you've been paying attention you already knew James was that good.
"I'm not all that surprised," Nurse said. "I mean, it's a huge accomplishment, I'm not trying to downplay it, but he's certainly been a great great player."
For as incredible as James has been as a scorer, averaging 27.2 points per game over the course of his career, it's the length of his career and his incredible durability that sets him apart from almost everyone else. To average 72 games per season played over the course of his 20 seasons is nothing short of remarkable.
"I don’t really understand the magnitude of it and then when you sit and look at it, that’s crazy," said Pascal Siakam. "I don’t want to say it’s never going to be broken again but, man, that’s crazy to be able to do that. It shows the dedication to the game every single day and everyone knows what he does to be this good.
"Obviously he’s gifted beyond measure, not like a lot of people out there but he does the little things, it’s great that somebody like that can continue to get better and play for that long and be able to achieve something like that."
For Scottie Barnes, watching James break the record will be unbelievable. He grew up in an era dominated by James, Kobe Bryant, and some of the most talented players to ever enter the league
"It’s crazy. Him playing in the league right now," he said. "He still probably has a couple more years left. That’s insane.”
As for Barnes' chances to break the record, it'll take some work. He's 36,489 points back of Abdul-Jabaar and certainly a lot further away from whatever James retires at.
“I don’t know about that one," Barnes said with a smile on the topic of breaking the record himself. "I think it’s going to be his for a while.”
Further Reading
Report: Raptors unlikely to move Pascal Siakam despite widespread interest
Raptors end road trip on a high but changes loom as Toronto returns home
Report: Nets have reached out to Raptors with trade interest
