Is LeBron James really 'stat-padding' if that's his team's only chance to win?

Since the All-Star break, the Lakers have only won three games. And in those contests, LeBron James 56 points, 10 rebounds, 50.7 rebounds, 36 points, 9 rebounds. It's a common theme with this Laker team this year. The only way that this Laker team can win a game, LeBron has to put up otherworldly statistical outputs. This Laker team is simply not talented enough, as constructed, to compete on a night-in and night-out basis. You know, with that, I don't really see anything wrong with what Laker fans are doing. Laker fans are rooting for LeBron to go out there and chase all the numbers that he can get. Really, that's the only thing they have left to cheer for. And there's a direct correlation between those individual pursuits and the team's larger goals. And the numbers simply bear that out. And I think that particular point right there is just something that a lot of media pundits, such as Skip Bayless, don't understand. Skip Bayless posed the question, is LeBron James really stat-padding? And my answer would be yes, because that's the only way this Laker team has a chance to win games. So-called stat-padding, obviously, it's universally loathed. Nobody cares for it. I mean, the concept, the way people put it out there, when you see guys chasing stats, alright, the concept of it in our minds, obviously, as athletes, as players, is not something that you want to root for. But for LeBron James, it's both the only way his team can win games, and it's also the only way that these Laker games are even fun. Right, today we're going to be breaking that down here on FYL Sports. Man, let's get through the intro and we will get right to it. The Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks by an extremely large margin the other day, and really the only thing that Lakers have to cheer for this season is the milestones that he continues to break and surpass on the night in and night out, basically. Primarily, the scoring record, as he looks to eclipse Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA's all-time scoring list. LeBron has reached plenty of milestones this season, and with the Lakers' poor record, it would not be unfair to say that LeBron James might just be stat-patting. He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most combined regular season and postseason points last month in a loss to the Warriors. He also became the only player in NBA history to reach 30,000 points, 10,000 assists, and 10,000 rebounds, another milestone reached in a losing effort, and that was against the Phoenix Suns. However, Skip Bayless of the Undisputed Show on Fox continues to bash LeBron for his personal accolades not translating into wins for the Los LeBron is now fourth in minutes played at age 37 in year 19. He's fourth in minutes played. He wants to score because the only way he's going to have even a remote GOAT case is to pass Kareem and win a scoring title at age 37, and maybe he could win another one next year, for all I know, because what does it matter? Well, we can't win one because hopefully AD comes back, and we really would like for AD to lead the Lakers in scoring, to lift some of that load off LeBron. But that's what you wanted to see happen this year, and it did not happen when he was healthy, am I right? Yeah, he wasn't playing particularly well. He wasn't really showing up. No. Okay, so all of a sudden, LeBron is, he's 14th in three-point attempts. That's outrageously high because he's still only shooting 35.7 from three. That ranks 89th of 151 qualified, so he's below average in three-point percentage. Oh, you know, in Cleveland, we were hot tonight. You know what? I would agree with that. He will be hot tonight in Cleveland, because that's, he loves it. He lives there. I mean, his heart is there. You remember what happened last time, Skip? The guy was laughing at LeBron when he missed, when he missed that shot. But that was a bubble, D. Remember that? That was a bubble. Yeah, you got joke. Oh, you got joke. Yeah, you got, oh, you got joke. I know, but he could hear him, because nobody else was in the arena, right? Yeah. Okay, I don't think that will happen tonight, but the point is, it's, it's just on a silver platter for him. What better to say on your goat case, do you realize I won my second scoring title at age 37? Skip Bayless, as you guys just heard, was attempting to point out reasons why he felt LeBron James might be stabbed at him. He stated, LeBron is now fourth in minutes played at age 37 in year 19. He wants to score because the only way he's going to have an even remote goat case is to pass Kareem and win a scoring title at age 37. Kareem currently stands at 38,387 points about 1400 points ahead of LeBron James, who's currently around 36,000, which LeBron might pass sometime next season, if he continues to play at this level. LeBron James is having one of his best seasons in the NBA averaging over 30 points per game, just shy of his best scoring season in 2007, 2008, in which he became a scoring champion as well. LeBron James is averaging 8.2 rebounds a game. That's just shy of his career high of 8.6, and also 1.1 blocks per game, which is equivalent to his career high. James is also averaging the highest points per 36 minutes analytically, if you want to include that. He's broken many, many records this season, and even more impressively, LeBron is doing this at age 37. Is it time we just give this man his flowers as opposed to complaining about this poorly constructed Laker team? If LeBron keeps this up, he's probably going to break even these records next season. He's averaging the highest for anyone at age 37 in year 19. I think it's just time we start appreciating that, especially people like Skip Bayless. I mean, and I think really for LeBron James, I think all of the hate that he's getting, especially for these statistical records that he's accomplishing, it seems like there's a new record that he's breaking every month this season with so little to be cheered for with the Lakers this year. Obviously, this construction of this roster, the injuries, everything was a big letdown. I think the Laker fan base, I think they're really seeking something to cheer for, similar to how Kobe's last year in the NBA was. Seeking something to cheer for on a poorly constructed team. They wanted Kobe to go out there every night and do something amazing on his way out the door as he was going to retire. I think all of the jealousy with regards to LeBron James, when you look at, primarily, when you look at all of the hate that's coming towards LeBron James, it's generally coming from people who claim to be Laker fans or basketball aficionados to some degree. I think really the hate comes from the fact that LeBron James is doing all of this in a Laker uniform. That's what makes it special. Doing these things in a Laker uniform is automatically going to put him on the level of the Kobes and the Magics, if he's not already surpassed them, in your mind. They look at him because he switched teams multiple times, left Cleveland to go to Miami, left Miami to go back to Cleveland, and now in LA, they're looking at him in a different light because he's not homegrown. A lot of people use that against him. He didn't have a full-on Hall of Fame career just with the Lakers all in one stint. He's done it in multiple stints, in multiple places. He's much more like a Wilt or a Shaq in that way because they came to the Lakers, gave a championship or two, and then left, but they didn't build their legacies in LA. After next season, which is going to be LeBron James' 20th season in the NBA, LeBron will have spent one quarter of his career wearing a Laker uniform. When it's all said and done, these years and achievements and accomplishments while he's wearing a Laker uniform, they will matter. All of this is going to go down as a part of his legacy, the good and the bad. My word of advice, if this is something that LeBron James might see, even the LeBron James haters, obviously, my word of advice to LeBron James would be to just go out there and cook. You got to go out there and do your name. Get all the numbers you can. Who cares about stat pattern? Because again, that's fake. We see the people throwing that around out there. While this season will never be what any Laker fan hoped for, and I'm not even a Laker fan, but I even had high hopes for the way this roster was constructed, bringing in Russell Westbrook, hoping that AD would be healthy, hoping that LeBron would be healthy. We know this season is not what anybody, Laker haters, Laker fans alike had expected from this team. This season can still be special and LeBron James can make a special on any given night for the remaining games left in this particular season. Hopefully they can get to the play-in and maybe there are a few more games there where he can potentially get this team and give them an opportunity to get into the playoffs. Unfortunately, I don't believe this roster is just good enough. We saw how this roster played. You're talking about against the Dallas Mavericks, a team that's constructed similarly. If you look at all the moving parts around Luka Doncic, not very good. It's not something that's just jumping out to you. Outside of Spencer Dinwiddie, can you really name any players on that roster? These are just lower tier, lower 300 role players and Luka's doing everything to carry and galvanize that team. Unfortunately for LeBron James, he has a Laker roster that just can't defend, can't find the ways to be consistent without him on the floor. Again, LeBron James, I suggest you just go out there and cook, do your thing, chase all the numbers that you can because whether the Lakers are first in the West or last in the West, and we've seen it, we saw it in 2020, we've seen it multiple years. We even saw it last year when LeBron James was a front runner in the MVP race before the ankle injury. People are going to make these weird assertions and angles. They're going to find ways to slander the man, LeBron James, irregardless of what he does, whether they're winning, whether they're losing, whether ADs hurt, whether other guys around them are playing good or bad, it absolutely doesn't matter. It's lose, lose for LeBron. Again, with that being said, the only thing that you can do in this instance is just continue to cook, continue to do what you do because you're not going to get fully appreciated as a superstar in this league, as the face of the league, whether people want to accept it or not, right? You're not going to get fully appreciated until you retire and you're gone from the league. And when you're not there for people to use in their YouTube titles and descriptions, when you're not there to headline the biggest playoff matches, and when you have all these people who spend all this time hating, desperately scrambling and seeking, trying to find the next player to hate, these are the people that are going to flip. They're the ones that are going to flip and then start giving you your flowers. So again, we've seen it with Kobe. We saw it with Jordan. We've seen it with a lot of superstars in this league. And again, as the face of the league, this is just something that LeBron James will need to deal with and go through towards the end of his career. Hey, but you guys, let me know what you think about Skip Bayless and his take on LeBron James. Do you think too many people are chasing this stat pattern narrative, right? Do you think too many people are crediting the poor play of this Laker team or too much of the poor play on LeBron James because he himself hasn't I mean, I think for so many years, we've seen LeBron James take bad teams and make them play above. Finally, at age 37, he's been presented with a similar situation and he is just struggling to stay healthy and find the energy on a night in and night out basis to dig this Laker team out of massive holes that they find themselves in from the first to the third quarter. And these guys just look completely drained going into the fourth. But you guys, let me know what you think about this video, your thoughts on LeBron James this year. How does this season impact his legacy and do some of the statistical accomplishments this year? Does it kind of put a balance to the losing, right? Or just losing Trump ball? Does the team concept and losing because it takes five guys on that court to win? Does that outweigh what we're seeing individually from LeBron James, which is just sheer greatness? And I think a lot of people just simply tune in just to see what he's going to do next, because he's been putting up some massive, massive games, just trying to keep this Laker team competitive. But it's FYL Sportsman. It's been another great podcast episode. We will be back with more sports and news. Man, make sure you guys subscribe to our second channel news and entertainment channel. We're going to be going live on that channel real soon here. Apologize for all the delays, just a lot going on. But make sure you tune in and check us out over there. And we'll be dropping more sports videos and lives here as well. But until then, it's FYL sports. Yeah. You know, we got sports and bass banging. We never like it. Number one draft pick like I'm Lamont. I'm about that action. You can keep on talking. I promise I'll give it back. Yeah. FYF, we hear, you know, we dogs welcome back. Yeah. You know, we got sports and bass banging. We never like it. Number one draft pick like I'm Lamont. I'm about that action. You can keep on talking. I promise I'll give it back. Yeah. FYF, we hear, you know, we dogs welcome back. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome back. Yeah. Yeah. What? Welcome back. Yeah. Welcome back. Yeah. And I to the X.