Is it just me or does Scottie remind anyone of Lebron? The way I see it - Scottie was an A-, Lebron is an A. What separates the two of them is that Lebron is the first option offensively, while Scottie was second fiddle to Jordan for most of his career which led him to be more defensively focused. Here is a comparison of cumulative stats for Scottie, Lebron and Larry Bird in their 10th season (I throw in Larry just because we're in talking about great SFs).
Player From To G GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
1 L. Bird* 1980 1989 717 690 38.4 9.8 19.6 .503 0.6 1.7 .377 4.6 5.3 .880 2.2 8.0 10.2 6.1 1.8 0.8 3.2 2.7 25.0
2 L. James 2004 2013 759 758 39.8 9.9 20.2 .489 1.3 4.0 .336 6.5 8.7 .747 1.2 6.0 7.3 6.9 1.7 0.8 3.3 1.9 27.6
3 S. Pippen* 1988 1997 789 693 35.7 7.1 14.7 .485 0.7 2.3 .329 2.9 4.3 .688 2.0 4.8 6.9 5.3 2.1 0.9 2.9 3.0 17.9
Somethings that jump out to me:
- Lebron and Scottie shot nearly the same FG%, but Lebron averages about 5.5 more FGA which explains the difference in points averaged.
- From Larry to Lebron we see an increase in 3Pt shooting happening which probably could be attributed to the increased significance of the 3Pt shot in todays game.
- Lebron gets to the free throw line more often than Scottie but that is probably due Lebron being the number one option offensively while Scottie had Jordan.
- Lebron gets more rebounds than Scottie, but Scottie gets more ORebounds. Also, Scottie gets more steals than Lebron. If Lebron were to play Scottie's role, I think that his defensive stats would be much better than Scottie's
The way I see the two of them is that Lebron is a rich mans Scottie. Both of them had the ability to play point forward but one is first option and the other was the second option. Lebron's role on his team has him being more offensively focused, while Scottie was more focused on defense and intangibles because he had Jordan. The main difference I see between them two is their athletic ability which contributes to their role on the team.
TL;DR - Lebron and Scottie are similar players; one was the first option, the other was the second option; Lebron is more offensively focused, while Scottie focused on Defense and intangibles; Lebron is much more athletic than Scottie
My two cents