TOMASSON: Class of 2003 flexes scoring muscles

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 4, 2008 at 8:02 p.m.

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Photo by Victor Baldizon / Nbae/Getty Images

Dwyane Wade of the Heat is leading the league in scoring at 28.4 points per game.

Photo by Tony Dejak / Associated Press

LeBron James of the Cavaliers is second in the NBA in scoring with a 27.4 average.

Photo by Ron Turenne / Nbae/Getty Images

Chris Bosh of the Raptors is third in the NBA in scoring with a 26.6 average.

Turn back the pages of the NBA record book.

Keep turning.

Go back to 1995-96, when Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, both from the draft class of 1984, finished Nos. 1 and 2 in scoring. Go back to 1951-52, when Paul Arizin and Bob Cousy, both drafted in 1950, were Nos. 1 and 3 in scoring.

Keep going back until the first draft in 1947.

It has never happened.

Never in NBA history have the top three scorers in a season all come from the same draft class.

But it could happen this season.

Yes, it's early. But the top three scorers, Miami's Dwyane Wade (28.4 average), Cleveland's LeBron James (27.4) and Toronto's Chris Bosh (26.6) are all from the class of 2003.

"That would be pretty cool," Bosh said of the three possibly making NBA history. "I think it would really add to that '03 thing that everybody has been talking about. . . . We're all doing big things together."

There's been plenty of talk about a draft class that could end up being the best ever. Keep in mind, the class also includes the Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony, who was second in scoring in 2006-07 and fourth last season but is just 27th this season with a 19.8 average, a sore elbow having slowed his start.

The guys from 2003 are often compared to the 1996 and 1984 classes. It would figure those are the only two classes ever to have members finish first and second in an NBA scoring race.

The class of 1984 did it first when Chicago's Jordan and Houston's Olajuwon led the way in 1995-96. Philadelphia's Charles Barkley was the next-highest- scoring member from that class, finishing sixth.

In 2004-05, the class of 1996 featured Philadelphia's Allen Iverson winning the scoring crown and the Lakers' Kobe Bryant second. The next season, the two players shifted places, with Bryant first and Iverson second. (Seattle's Ray Allen, another member of the 1996 class, was 10th each of those seasons.)

There have been eight other occasions when two of the top three scorers came from the same draft class, including 1985-86, when Adrian Dantley, then with Utah and now a Nuggets assistant, was second and fellow 1976 draftee and Nuggets star Alex English third.

"It has the makings of it," Bosh said when asked if the 2003 class could go down as the best ever. "But the thing that other (top) draft classes have on us is championships. It's still early in our careers and everything. But I think in order to be mentioned with the greatest, somebody's going to have to win a lot."

Wade so far is the only marquee member from the class with a ring. Lesser class members Kendrick Perkins and Darko Milicic, the colossal bust who stumbled into a title after Detroit drafted him No. 2 in 2003, also have them.

James, though, has been to the Finals. So has 2003 No. 29 pick Josh Howard of Dallas, the fifth member of the class, after the three top scorers and Anthony, to have played in an All-Star Game.

But back to scoring. Anthony averaged more than 25 points the previous three seasons, including 28.9 in 2006-07.

So does Anthony feel left out that his three buddies from the 2003 draft and the U.S. Olympic team are on top in scoring and he's way back?

"It goes to show you how strong that class is," Anthony said. "I don't feel left out at all. I might be there at the end of the season. You never know."

If Anthony can make it a foursome at the top, it might be time to retire the record book in that category.

Issel shaken

Dan Issel, Rodney Rogers' first NBA coach, knows how dire the condition is of the former Nuggets forward who suffered paralysis from the shoulders down in an all-terrain vehicle accident last week in North Carolina. But Issel is maintaining hope.

"We're all saying prayers right now," said Issel, who has been contacting those close to Rogers for updates on his condition.

Rogers played for the Nuggets from 1993 to 1995, and Issel coached him his first 11/2 seasons. Issel remained close to Rogers, 37, who went on to play for six more teams in a career that ended in 2005.

When Rogers became a free agent in 1999 after spending four seasons with the Clippers, Issel flew to Rogers' native North Carolina to try to lure him back to Denver.

"I spent the day with him," Issel recalled. "He had a trucking company and was really kind of an entrepreneur in that area (Durham). . . . I was trying to bring him back to Denver, and he was somewhat open to it. But I think he felt somewhat betrayed that he had been traded to the Clippers (from Denver in 1995), so he went to Phoenix."

It turned out to be a good choice. Rogers won the NBA's 1999-2000 Sixth Man Award while averaging 13.8 points.

In his two Nuggets seasons, Rogers averaged 10.2 points. He began to really develop when he averaged 12.2 in his second season before being traded by then-coach and president Bernie Bickerstaff to the Clippers on draft night 1995, along with the rights to Brent Barry, for Randy Woods and the draft rights to Antonio McDyess.

"I have always admired Rodney," Issel said. "(The accident) is something terrible and tragic."

A Nuggets holiday

Need a unique Nuggets holiday gift and want to keep it under $20? The NBA might help.

If you visit NBAStore.com and go to the Nuggets page, you can find for a mere $19.99 a Nuggets Mr. Potato Head doll.

Not unique enough? Then how about a $19.99 CD in which a professional broadcaster will insert a customized name more than 30 times into a mock NBA game broadcast?

A one and a two . . .

The NBA's current top three scorers were drafted in the same year (2003), though it would be a first if they ended the season that way. But three times, the top two scorers have been from the same draft class.

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