Which player scores the most per FG attempt? In other words, who's the most efficient scorer? I was curious about modern efficiency and some of the bigger names in the history of the game. To me it's probably better to make the equation Points/FGA+TOs but I just went with simplicity: Points per FGA. This obviously isn't the actual answer but I found the results interesting. Spoiler: For the answer Dwight Howard 1.62 --- 1.64 in the playoffs Larry Bird 1.26 Magic Johnson 1.48 Doctor J 1.28 Charles Barkley 1.52 --- 1.44 in the playoffs Moses Malone 1.43 Reggie Miller 1.44 Tim Duncan 1.30 Scottie Pippen 1.21 David Robinson 1.46 Kevin Durant 1.44 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1.36 Karl Malone 1.41 Clyde Drexler 1.26 Dirk 1.34 Jerry West 1.32 --- 1.29 in the playoffs Steve Kerr 1.28 Robert Horry 1.16 --- 1.24 in the playoffs From the poll: Lebron James 1.39 --- 1.37 in the playoffs Shaq (was my vote) 1.47 --- 1.45 in the playoffs Kobe Bryant 1.28 --- 1.25 in the playoffs Steph Curry 1.36 --- 1.36 in the playoffs Hakeem Olajuwon 1.28 --- 1.32 in the playoffs Michael Jordan 1.32 ---- 1.33 in the playoffs James Harden 1.50 --- 1.46 in the playoffs How in the world did James and Howard struggle so much together? Jebus... Harden is down a bit so far this year with fewer FTs but he's still at 1.45 per attempt. Pretty amazing player we've got here in Houston. Jordan was 1.18 per (attempts + turnovers) Harden is 1.22 and that's not discounting all the turnovers he has when creating assists or being the primary ball-handler. For (points + (assists x 2)) / (attempts + turnovers) Harden 1.86 Jordan 1.59 There's a lot of discussion about Harden's turnovers but the guy flat out produces points in many ways at a very high rate. Edit in Rudy Gobert at 1.68 per attempt.
No need to discuss hardens turnovers. Doesn’t matter how many minutes he plays. Doesn’t matter how much he has the ball in his hands compared to others. Doesn’t matter how many points he produces when compared to how many turnovers he has. Absolutely no context necessary. Just look at that final number. Dude is the biggest turnover machine in league history. Signed the usual Harden “truthers” of clutchfans
Don’t think this says much tbh. Even with Howard having the highest, you still take almost all those others over him to get you points, even in his prime.
Punishes players who shoot threes if you just go by Points / FGA. Heavily favors players that get a lot of points in the paint and/or goes to the foul line a lot.
Capela career: 1.42 Capela this season: 1.57 Makes sense that it would favor guys who play around the rim, get a lot of offensive rebounds/putbacks/alley-oops, and/or get to the free throw line a bunch.
Yeah, isn't the Morey Math that a 3 pointer nets more points per attempt? Take 100 2 pt jump shots and make 50% and your point/FGA = 1. Take 100 3 pointers and make 40% and your point/FGA 1.2. 35% = 1.05
Can't compare the full career of retired players to players in their prime...I mean, unless they quit at the top of their game, right?
Sure you can. You're looking at half of a sine wave. Rookies do about what old vets do. So Harden is fair to compare, but I'm not sure about LeBron. He hasn't seen twilight and he's been in there forever. Same with Dwight. Barkley was a shocker for me.
Think about what you just wrote. Your math is off, even if it is a perfect wave, which it isn't. Let's say the division is equal rise and equal fall of stats, and the even split is: 1/3rd uphill newbie, 1/3rd prime, 1/3rd downhill vet. Or 1/4th uphill, 1/2 prime, 1/4th vet. The prime numbers have their most dominance in the addition of those fractions prior to adding the fall numbers. Bottomline: you can't compare career numbers at their peak (which will be before the downhill vet fall), to a full career.
You have to look at it from a points per possession standpoint and also realize that it's not additive for all the players on the court at the same time. Points/FGA is heavily skewed towards players who get a lot of FTs. Keep in mind that you also need to be a net positive to win, it's not only about offense. In our earlier playoff years, Harden was the focus on defense. Teams made a point to involve Harden on defense to make the team defense rotate for Harden's lack of effort. Once Harden missed his assignment, teams could easily create a high percentage shot as our defense scrambled to recover. One stat on paper won't tell you who is a winning combination. It's much more complex than that.
Points per field goal is misleading in terms of efficiency metrics. Look at points per possession used. Count .44xFTA plus FGA plus turnovers as tusk possessions used. Guys like Dwight are artificially high on points per FGA because they shot so many free throws. But when you count their turnovers and you see how many possessions they chewed up missing free throws then their offensive efficiency sinks. In James' case turnovers really hurt his efficiency a lot.
