Challenge #1: Who was the best offensive player in the NBA during the 2011-2012 regular season?
Though Kevin Durant is the best pure scorer in the NBA, the best offensive player (along with the best player overall) in the NBA for the 2011-12 season was LeBron James.
There are many great scorers in the league, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, etc. But in reality, none of them can take over the game like LeBron James can. His true shooting is off the charts (60.5%), his offensive rebound rate is 5.0, which is phenomenal for someone who is not considered a ‘True shooter”. But, the thing that really sets LeBron apart from the second best offensive player, Kevin Durant, is his assists per game. By no means is this an advanced stat, but when LeBron has 6.2 assists on average and Kevin Durant has 3.5 assists on average, it is apparent that one of them is affecting the game in a greater way than just scoring, and that one player is LeBron James.
More so than that, Lebron has basically double the assist to turnover rate that Kevin Durant does (1.82 to .93).
All in all, when you consider that Durant and James are generally the same in scoring, and the argument that they are the best two offensive players is already set in stone, then it comes down to the other stats. Lebron James rebounds the ball better than Durant, and more importantly, he is quite possibly the best passing forward in the league. His assist numbers back him up with that. So therefore, LeBron James must be the best offensive player in the league.
