If you ever need a question to win a game of sports trivia, this is the one for you… in the NBA, who scored the most points in the 1980’s? You’ll get a lot of the same names. Larry Bird? Nope. Kareem? Also, no. Michael Jordan? Drafted in 1984, so he didn’t play the entire decade. Dominique Wilkins? Same as MJ, no. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…
ALEX ENGLISH
Alex English was an NBA forward who played from 1976 to 1991. He had brief stints playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks, but the majority of his career was played with the Denver Nuggets. There were flashes during his initial stints with the Bucks and Pacers in which he proved himself to be an adequate scorer, but either there was somebody more established playing ahead of him, or the team didn’t seem to know how to use him. He was traded midway through the ’79-80 season to the Denver Nuggets, where he would then flourish.
English teamed with Kiki VanDeWeghe in the early 80’s to form a prolific scoring duo. Those two would propel the Nuggets to some incredible scoring exhibitions, with some games the team eclipsing 160 and even 180 points. English won the individual scoring title in 1982-83 and finished second and fourth in subsequent seasons. In fact, he is the first player in history to score over 2,000 points in eight consecutive seasons. The team experienced success as well, advancing as far as the Conference Finals in 1985 to face the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers, losing in five games.
Throughout the 80’s, Alex English played almost every game each season, and was one of the most consistent and reliable scorers in the league. From 1982 to 1989, his scoring averages were always between 25-30 points per game.
So why is it that we don’t hear much about Mr. English? For one, his game was not particularly flashy… not a slasher or dunker, but more of a midrange shot maker. He also wasn’t very flashy or loud as an individual either. He didn’t fly like Jordan, smile like Magic or talk like Bird. He just put points on the board, in fact more so in the decade of the 80’s than any other player.