As I watched the Knicks-Nets game the other night I marveled at the Knicks. It was the middle of the 4th quarter and they had amassed a whopping 68 points, getting drilled in the process by the juggerNets.
‘Melo is a drop-dead scorer, right? His Madison Square Garden-record 62 last night proves it. He draws so much attention that the other guys are usually open, right? J.R. Smith can light it up, shoot you in and shoot you out, right?
I keep hearing that the players are better, more athletic, and younger than the players of yesteryear.
As I watch the great scorers of today I look at the differences between today’s scorers and yesterday’s scorers. Kevin Durant is lighting it up. Kobe is unstoppable when healthy, and LeBron will flat out wear you down and run over you. ‘Melo? Let’s see if he can get over 40 a bunch more times, because the Knicks are going to need it.
I had the good fortune of playing with some of the great scorers in history. For my first six years in the league I played with at least one (sometimes two) of the top 5 scorers in the league. I usually played on the highest-scoring team in the league during the highest scoring time in league history.
And I even played in a game where we scored 184 points and LOST!
Here are some observations about those guys, and a time when the lowest scoring team in the league was still above 100 points a game.
My rookie year I played with Adrian Dantley. He was a 6’4” power forward who averaged 30 ppg. He was always a league leader in getting to the line and was a machine at drawing fouls. His game was very efficient. Even though he was undersized he was a workhorse who was relentless at going to the basket.
AD was a very quiet guy who rarely slept. It was common for him to go to the 24-hour health club after games to work out or wander the halls of the hotel on the road. Our styles meshed easily and I learned from him the value of getting to the line.
At one point my dad, Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes, and I were 1-2 in league history in the percentage of our points that we scored from the line. He was a big believer in scoring easy points.
That year, near the end of the season, we were playing the Nuggets and got on a roll. At the end of the first quarter we had the lead 50-41. The game then slowed down to 76-74 at half. We got our second wind, though, and ended up scoring 151 with AD getting 53 of those. While that score was high, it was typical of the pace of the game. It wasn’t that teams played bad defense, there was just much more focus on offense and pace.
Getting up 120 good shots a game was the goa,l and that was only possible by getting up and down the floor.
My second year in the league I was traded to the Nuggets and spent the next 8 years playing full speed ahead. We routinely averaged 120 or more points a game and often had two of the top 5 scorers in the league. Alex English, Dan Issel, and Kiki Vandeweghe would often score 90 points in a game between them.
Alex was as smooth as they come. He was in constant motion with a great high arching shot. Unassuming off the court, he was relentless on it. And he was the highest scorer in the decade of the 80s, not Michael Jordan. (Surprised? You can win trivia contests with that one.)
Kiki was a deceiving scorer. He was a terrific pure shooter with a wicked first step. He caught the pass and was by you before you knew it.
He and I always got along. We both grew up with fathers who played in the league. He is also among the most unique people I have ever met. He has a whimsical sense of humor that masks a sharp mind. Early in his career he wore the same outfit every day. White golf shirt, tan pants, his UCLA letter jacket and sneakers.
It seemed like all he had to do was stick his toothbrush in his pocket and he was good for a five-game road trip.
When I compare these scorers, one of the things that they all had in common was that they did most of their work without the ball. That means that they made cuts, came off screens, and ran the floor. When they caught the ball their moves were quick and decisive since they already were either open or had the advantage on the defender.
Rarely did they isolate on the wing and go one on one by pounding the ball 10 times. Rarely did they get it in the post by setting up and waiting for the ball while we all stood around. They were always in motion, making the defense work constantly.
Plus they were all VERY GOOD SHOOTERS! Great scorers of the era typically shot a high percentage. All of these guys scored a large percentage of their points on outside shots, all shot over 50% from the field and 80% from the line.
Today it is common for a scorer to “create his own shot.” That is a code for, give him the ball, get out of the way, and let him go to work. As the game has evolved, so has the scorer. It is much more common for a prolific scorer of today to rely on the isolation as a weapon. He is more likely to be a scorer than a shooter. The pure shooter is more of a specialist than a prolific scorer. Think Kyle Korver.
The pace of the game is significantly slower, making it more difficult to get a lot of easy shots. Most of the time defenses are set and schemes are set up to slow everybody down.
The irony is that the league had to change the rules to increase scoring.
In the 80’s teams understood that high pace and ball movement is what created easy shots. In the days of two refs, hand checking, rooting out the post and enforcers, teams still managed to score 10 points a game more than now. Jordan averaged 35 while being held, pushed and knocked to the floor repeatedly (what’s a flagrant foul?).
Pace is what got you a shot before the defense had time to get set. Running off screens in a motion offense got you an open look. Swinging the ball to the weak side opened up driving lanes.
Every time the ball touched the ground on the dribble, all advantage was lost as the defense had time to recover.
We played the Pistons one night and the ball seemed to fly up and down the court. The passes were sharp, the cuts hard, and shots were dropping. After regulation the game was tied at 145! I don’t remember either team leading by more than 5 the entire way. Neither team had less than a 32-point quarter. It was back and forth for 3 overtimes! Conventional wisdom is that the game slows down in overtime. In the combined 15 minutes (just over 1 additional quarter) the score was 41-39!
When the dust settled it was probably the greatest offensive exhibition ever. Five players over 35 points, the teams shoot 54% and 59% from the field. Only the fact that the Pistons couldn’t hit a foul shot kept the game under 200.
(NOTE: The Nuggets were famous for their free throw defense. We ran so much in the altitude, the other team’s players were too tired to shoot well!)
Today’s scorers (and coaches) hopefully will figure out that picking up the pace of both transition and halfcourt ball movement will generate many more easy shots. One lesson that stands the test of time is the importance of getting easy scores.
Going one on one against set defenses all game is just too much work.
Danny Schayes is a retired 18-year-veteran of the NBA, a professional broadcaster and soon-to-be-published author now penning NBA columns for SheridanHoops. Follow him on Twitter.
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A very interesting piece. One question, though: how does the following apply to Dantley?:
“When I compare these scorers, one of the things that they all had in common was that they did most of their work without the ball. That means that they made cuts, came off screens, and ran the floor. When they caught the ball their moves were quick and decisive since they already were either open or had the advantage on the defender.”