NBA - Best "Scorer" = volume advantage
WEN ROBERTS/AFP/Getty Images
By: Tamir Barkan
Best NBA Scorers: Usual Suspects = Kobe, Carmelo, Durant, etc. vs. Reality!!!
All the regulars are great scorers. Iverson was a great scorer too. Below is a list of the top 15 (Guards/Small Forwards) in PPG (who played most their careers in the 3pt shot era (sorry West, Baylor, etc). You will see all the usual suspects in the "Best Scorer Discussion". Jordan #1, Durant #3, Iverson #4, Kobe #6, Carmelo #7, Peirce #13 in Career PPG. You think of these players you think "Pure Scorer", the best of the best. But look at the heat map to see how did they get those shots. 1st chart will show these 15 players ranked in the Regular Season PPG. The 2nd Graph will show how they rank in FG%.
Other than Jordan, the majority of the debated "best scorers" are at the bottom of this list when it comes to FG% (efficiency of scoring). So why are players like Bird and Lebron never in the discussion???
Because their priority isn't scoring 30, 40, 50, etc. They can, and they have, with the best of them, but their all around game diminishes the perception of their scoring prowess. This isn't saying that Kobe, Iverson, and Durant aren't great scorers, but it is saying that Lebron and Bird may be better because they scored (A LOT) but did it with an unmatched efficiency and the ability to impact other area's of the game (rebounds, assist, etc).
Below is showing the following "Scorers" and showing how they got their points, did it help their team win, and what else in those high scoring games did they do.
This chart shows
- Bird, Jordan, Kobe, Iverson, Lebron, Carmelo, and Durant ("the usual suspects")
- How many 40 point games they have ("the Scorer's Standard")
- How often did their team win when they scored 40+("the point of scoring is to win")
- How often their 40 point games were achieved while shooting 60+FG% and 50+FG% ("marks of efficiency")
- How often, when scoring 40, did the player have at least either 7reb and 7ast, and have at least both 7ast and 7reb ("what else they do to help their team win")
Notice the almost perfectly correlated relationship between teams win%age and how efficient the players 40+ point performances were and what else they did for the team.
Carmelo, Kobe, and Iverson have 3 relatively low win% and they also rank worst in Efficiency and Additional Stats. While Bird and Lebron have the 2 highest win%ages while they are the 2 best in Efficiency and Additional stats.
Bird scored 40+ 52x in his career, and 88.5% of the time his team won. He also had they highest %age of 40+ pt games shooting 60+% and 50+%, highest percentage (97.4%) of 40+ pt games with also at least 7 ast or 7 reb, and the highest percentage (46.2%) of 40+ pt games with BOTH at least 7ast and 7 reb.
Lebron scored 40+ 64x in his career and is right behind Bird in all the categories mentioned above.
My last item supporting my perception of "scorer" -
In the 12 years Kobe (widely considered the best scorer since Jordan) has been All NBA 1st Team, he has averaged 28.1 ppg while shooting 45.3 FG%, 33.8 3FG%, and 84.1 FT%.
While Lebron in 9 years since being All NBA 1st Team, he has averaged 28.3 ppg, while shooting 50.8 FG%, 34.4 3FG%, and 74.6 FT%.
