Basketball Hall of Famer Alex English is one of the great scorers in the history of the NBA. He was left off the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team and was hurt by the omission, but he still loves the game and has admiration for this generation of stars. Two in particular, Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard, remind him the most of himself, though he thinks the game is so unique there isn’t a lot of replication.
“The game of basketball is so unique and beautiful that you don’t get people replicating other people’s talents,” English said, per Hoops Hype. “They may come close. Kobe Bryant had a lot of Michael Jordan, but he was still Kobe. He was a totally different player. Maybe the person who has my body’s build would be Kevin Durant. As far as my mid-range game, I would think that Kawhi Leonard knows how to get to that spot and get a nice open jump shot. Other than that, there are so many unique players. That’s the beauty of the game. You get to see something different from everyone whenever they step on the floor.”
Best Scorer Of His Era
His peak was during the 1980s with the Denver Nuggets, and amid the exploits of Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, and Larry Bird he’s often forgotten. But nobody scored more in the decade than English. He finished top-10 in MVP voting twice.
English and Vince Carter are the only players with at least 25,000 career points that did not make the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
If you read my work you know that I value scoring, but there are more ways to impact the game than scoring. In those areas English wasn’t as adept at some of the other stars of the era. But the man was a bucket. He was an eight-time All-Star, three-time All-NBA and led the league in scoring in 1983.
English’s career scoring average is 21.5 points per game on 50% shooting. He was efficient in an era where that wasn’t prioritized.
English Didn’t Court Adulation
The late NBA scout Marty Blake once told the Dallas Times Herald that English doesn’t get the adulation of stars in his era because he didn’t court it enough.
“The thing that hurts Alex, at least when you try to compare him with the greats, is that he isn’t flamboyant. And his nagging problem is that he doesn’t get much recognition. [But] I’ve been associated with 18 players who made the Hall of Fame, and I think Alex is one of the great ones.”
Still, he was a great player in his era and he is still the Nuggets’ all-time leading scorer with 21,645 points. He’s held the franchise record for 33 years.
Nuggets’ current superstar Nikola Jokic has 12,352 career points through nine seasons. Let’s say he averages 1,800 points per season. He’ll finish this season with 13,952 career points. If he maintains that season total, he will become the franchise leading scorer early in the 2028-29 season. Assuming he wants to play that long.
