Frank Vogel has been coaching LeBron James for two years, and he already knows a lot about the process.
When the Los Angeles Lakers superstar is about to reach a milestone in personal data and add to his career, Vogel gets the news from the publicist in advance.
"Our PR team always says to us, 'Hey, he's going to get xx points or XX rebounds to surpass so-and-so.'" Vogel said he has experienced this situation an unknown number of times since 2019. "And sometimes you can see these things on social media."
When Vogel informed James and congratulated him on this, he found that the 36-year-old veteran, who is about to enter his 19th season, did not do any high-profile celebrations, but only quietly accepted, appearing to be unfazed.
"It's not an official honor, but when he does, you're going to celebrate for him," Vogel said, "but seriously, he's really more focused on the moment than he's conceiving those magnificent images." I think it's more like something you can't savor until you're done. When you actually cross the milestone and look back, you will feel the beauty of it. ”
"But when we win or lose last night's game, what should we do next? That's what you need to do tomorrow to keep training and do. He's really very focused on the moment. ”
James has said many times that he will not look back until he retires, and that is when he and his old friend and business partner Maverick Carter open a bottle of red wine and reminisce about the past.
So what's the reason for them to drink more later this season? This article will cover the data milestones james could reach in the 2021-22 season.
Regular season scoring
When James overtook Hall of Fame guard Allen Iverson in total scoring in 2015, he also poked at the media who called him not a scorer early in his career: "It's really cool for someone who doesn't really score — like you think." ”
While the reporter's above point of view is clearly wrong, there is a metaphor that people constantly use to describe James: James has a height of 6 feet 9 and a strong body of 250 pounds, and he is like a point guard's soul cramming into the body of Hall of Famer Carl Malone.
All-time scoring list: LeBron is near second place
The rankings end at the beginning of the 2021-22 season
This season's James is already likely to overtake the equally strong Malone as the second in the new all-time scoring list. Before the start of the regular season, James was just 1561 points away from Malone. If he averages 25 points per game — a statistic that should still be achievable given his average of points per game over the past two seasons — he will officially surpass Malone in his 63rd game of the season, march 5, at home against the Warriors.
In fact, if James can maintain a consistent average of 25 points per game, he only needs 121 games to surpass the legendary superstar Karim Abdul-Jabbar, who is also a Hall of Famer, to the top of the scoring list.
The ranking of the total score list highlights James' consistent offensive skills, as well as his longevity in terms of staying power. If he had played 82 games this season, he would have played a total of 1,392 games, which would have allowed him to jump from 19th to 10th in the all-time number of appearances, sharing that position with Tim Duncan. In addition, as long as James plays 1314 minutes or more, he will rise from 6th to 3rd in the all-time playing time list, surpassing Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki (currently Now, Nowitzki is third, with a total of 51368 minutes in the regular season)
Total goals scored
James scored 12,903 goals in athletic battles before the start of the season, third in all time, also behind Malone and Abdul-Jabbar. Just throw in 625 more goals and he can surpass Malone. Considering that he hit 643 goals in the 2019-20 season, the goal of 625 goals is still possible. But he's still a long way from Abdul-Abdul-Jabbar, who has shot 2,934 more shots than James — meaning James needs nearly four seasons at full attendance and an average of nine shots per game to overtake the center who once played for the Bucks and Lakers.
As for the total number of shots, James is currently fourth in history with 25,604 shots, and another 607 shots this season can surpass Kobe Bryant and Malone to rank second in history. As for Jabbar, James and he are still 2703 shots away.
In addition, James's career total is currently the fourth in history. If he loses another 718 or more shots. He can surpass Hall of Famer Ervin Hayes (third, 13,296 hits) and Celtics star John Haflicek (second, 13,417 hits) on the all-time playing iron list to become second, behind Kobe. Bryant is the player who missed the most shots in league history, playing 14,481.
Three-pointers and free throws
The NBA has undergone a big change in three-pointers over the past decade, and James himself has experienced that change, averaging 6.3 three-pointers per game last season, including 2.3 hits, all of which are new career highs.
"As long as I'm in the arena, it's all over my range." James told ESPN reporters.
His three-point shooting numbers are also on the rise. Before the season began, he had hit 1979 three-point attempts, 13th all-time, and was fourth in active duty behind Stephen Curry (second), James Harden (fifth) and Damian Lillard (tenth). He only needs to put in four three-pointers to overtake Nowitzki (an achievement he completed in Tuesday's opener) to reach the top 12, and then hit five more to overtake Kidd to become 11th. James' previous season-high three-point shooting total was 149, but if he hit 165 three-pointers this season, he could surpass Paul Pierce to ninth.
At the start of the season, James made a total of 7,582 free throws, ranking fifth on the total list of free throws, but his free throw shooting rate has been below 70% in the past three years and averaged only 5.7 free throws per game last season, a career low.
He hit another 113 free throws to surpass Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson to become fourth, but it seems unlikely he wants to reach the top of the free throw list. He is also 2,250 goals behind Malone, who currently hits the first number of free throws, and needs to play another 368 games (or four and a half seasons) after averaging six free throws per game to catch up.
Assists, rebounds and triple-doubles
James has made it to the top ten of the all-time total assists list, and he has a total of 9,696 assists before the start of the season, ranking eighth. If he can become the seventh player to cross the 10,000-point mark in assists, he will also surpass Oscar Robertson (9,887) in the process.
As long as he has 640 assists this season — a number he's reached four times in his career — he can leapfrog Magic Johnson, Mark Jackson and Steve Nash to reach the top five. Along the way, he'll also continue to catch up with his good friend Chris Paul, who finished fifth in total assists before the start of the season with 10,225 totals.
Compared to his other accomplishments, James' accumulation in rebounding is relatively less impressive. He is now ranked 42nd on the total rebounding list. With another 400 rebounds this season — which is about his career average — he'll overtake Johnny Cole and Sean Marion to make it into the top 40.
And if rebounds and assists are counted at the same time, his achievements can become more distinctive. For example, with 249 rebounds and 304 assists, he will become the first player in NBA history to break 10,000 in all three major technical statistics events.
Also, his next triple-double will be the 100th triple-double of his career, which will make him the fifth player to achieve this achievement. Behind Kidd, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and his new teammate Russell Westbrook. And his next triple-double will also break his tie for second place with Elgin Baylor in the Lakers' all-time triple-double list, and enjoy the second place (James has a total of 26 triple-doubles in the first three seasons of his Lakers career), second only to The Magician.
Defensively related achievements
James has always lamented that he never won the best defensive player, which he mentioned after the Lakers signed Mark Gasol last offseason. "My trophy for best defensive player is in Mark's house." James said this on the Road Trippin podcast. He was referring to himself as the second-best defensive player in the 2012-13 rankings, behind Gasol Jr.
But the most iconic scene of James's career happened on the defensive end — chasing from the back in the 2016 Finals to the blockbuster hat given to André Iguodala — and the stats showed what a good defender he was.
James is 13th on the all-time total steals list and can jump to tenth with just 50 more steals, surpassing Mutch Blairlock (12th) and Karl Malone (11th) to Alvin Robertson, and if he can deliver 100 steals this season, his total steals will reach 2163 and surpass two-time DPOY winner Hakim Olajuwon to move up to ninth.
James also finished 982 blocks, 104th all-time, and if he could deliver another 26 blocks — just one more than he did last season — he could easily make it into the top 100, surpassing Mike Gminski, Emeka Okafor, Chris Anderson, John Sally, Bobby Jones and Rick Mahon.
The first man in playoff stats
Back in 2017, James had already surpassed Michael Jordan to become the playoff scoring champion. At this year's training camp, he also told ESPN that he still had a strong mental drive to build on his four titles and then attack a new title to get closer to Michael Jordan (6 crowns).
'My inner desire is still burning, I still want to keep winning, I still want to be able to lift the O'Brien Cup at the end of the season. James said so.
And on his way to continue to pursue the championship, he can still strengthen his position in the accumulation of data.
James' current playoff scores, appearances, playing time, hits, free throw shots and hits, steals and turnovers are already the first in history, and he also has the opportunity to win the playoff triple-double list, as long as he can get three more triple-doubles in the playoffs, he can surpass Magic Johnson (a total of 30 triple-doubles in the playoffs, James 28 times) to the throne.
James is also second in the playoffs in three-point shooting, 38 behind first-place Stephen Curry. While Curry should have a long career left, James' team is likely to go further in the playoffs in the short term. James has hit more than 38 three-pointers in three playoff attempts since his career (2017, 2018, 2020).
Now he's second on the playoff assists list, with a total of 1,919 assists, but he's unlikely to catch up with the top-ranked Magician. Unless he plays another 61 playoff games at the level of 7 assists per game.
James has grabbed 2,381 rebounds in the playoffs, and if the Lakers work hard at the end, he may still catch up with two great centers in the playoff total rebounding list. If he had 118 rebounds in this year's playoffs, he could move from sixth to fourth, overtaking Abdul-Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal.
Vogel, the Lakers' PR team and James' teammates are all closely watching the four-time championship superstar's impact on these milestones.
"I always try to compliment people," Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony said, "and you have to do that." You'll want to celebrate any achievement, especially one your teammates will complete, can complete, or have a chance to complete. You don't want to ignore those moments, but don't take those moments for granted. ”