Tmac and AI have nearly identical TS% for their careers. Tmac's dropped dramatically as his career went on due to injuries. Efficiency wasn't a focus back in the day like it is today.
Looking at the raw number is also pointless. You have to look at TS+, your TS compared to league average. He also posted a TS above .500 in 9 of his first 10 seasons so idk what he’s talking about there either. His career efficiency is better than iverson’s and that’s even with his crappy old man seasons.
TBH, I don't even know where to find TS+ stats. When looking at contemporaries I think looking at just TS% is fine. Tmac and AI are from the same era playing a similar role. It's looking across eras where TS+ is useful. Vince Carter was in his absolute prime in Toronto and had a 52.8 TS% while there, which is lower than Jalen Green's worst year. TS+ becomes a necessity to compare them because the league has drastically changed since then, whereas I think we can compare Vince to Kobe, Tmac, or AI without it.
And regardless of anything else, TS% is hardly an indicator of who is a better player. Especially as it tends to favour low-volume shooters in comparison to the actual superstars of the league. Here's an example of people who played in the same era's TS%. Does this appear to indicate who is the better player? Reggie Miller (18th all time TS%) 61.3% Michael Jordan (141th all time TS%) 56.8% Steve Nash (32nd all time) 60.4% Chris Paul (88th all time) 58.09% Kyle Korver + JJ Redick (36 and 37 all time) 60.2%, 60.19% Ray Allen (91st all time) 58.01% Klay Thompson (121st all time) 57.25% It just doesn't really indicate who's a better scorer at all, even when you compare people within the same era. As long as you're either a big man who shoots from 3 feet or a specialist sharpshooter who shoots lower volume then your TS% is good. It literally just favours a couple of specific archetypes, no real indicator of success. Morey fans love it though because it lets them pretend that Morey and Harden are better than literally all of the actual great GMs and shooting guards. Doesn't actually hold up to scrutiny sadly (or hilariously, depending on your position.)
For sure, if you're looking at the same time frame you can use regular TS%, just if you want to compare different times you need to use TS+. It's on basketballreference if you click advanced shooting i believe.
SAME! T-Mac talks about them Laker Teams He literally played with THE ONE GUY THAT COULD MATCH SHAQ He did no better with YAO than Francis and Cuttino did Rocket River
TS% is just a piece. This is a strawman. None of the players you listed had below average TS% in their prime, and the comparisons were drastically different players besides their scoring efficiency. Find two players with similar ppg and one with a top 25% TS% and the other a bottom 25% TS%, odds are very good the player with the better TS% is a better scorer.
That's the point, you can't. It ALWAYS favours low volume shooters over superstars. It's why it's ridiculous when people try to use it as an indicator of overall scoring ability, it isn't, because the superstars are always WAY lower on the list than the roleplayers and big men.
Have you heard of guys like jokic, jordan, harden, shaq, curry, etc. etc. etc., superstars who had monster TS%
Using the same PPG would means you are comparing apples to apples by either comparing low-volume scorers with low-volume scorers or high-volume scorers with high-volume scorers. A low-volume scorer vs a low-volume scorer, the low-volume scorer doesn't have an advantage as the other player is of the same low volume. When comparing high volume to high volume, there is no low-volume scorer. For instance, Paolo, Cade, and Booker scored about 26 ppg last season. Cade was a better player last season than Booker despite the 56.8% vs 59.3% because of other areas of the game, but I'd say Booker was easily the better scorer (volume the same, but efficiency a lot better). On Cade vs Paolo, I'd say Cade is a better scorer because of TS% (56.8% vs 55.2% with similar volume) and is the overall better player as of last season. I'd say boxing in low-volume players versus superstar players is a strawman, as TS% only lets one know who scored more efficiently. TS% should not be used by itself for overall scoring. It can be used by itself to say who scored more efficiently. That doesn't mean there aren't other factors that would say a less efficient player isn't better. TS% favors efficient players. All else being equal, the better TS%, the better the player. For the most part, I hate well below-average efficiency players on high volume unless it is really early in their career and they still have a good chance to turn it around. These guys drag the team's TS% down such that even if all the other players are highly efficient, the offense isn't great. For Paolo, he's like really close to being efficient enough that his volume scoring is worth a lot. He's a Schrödinger's Star to me... open the box in 2 to 3 years, and he could either be a superstar or Domantas Sabonis (a good player, but not good enough to lead a team, yet good enough to command a salary high enough that it is tough to build a team around him). Orlando has some good young players so maybe it works out even if it is Franz that pops. My favorite players are the high volume, high efficient scorers like Jordan, Lebron that do other things well besides just scoring. TS% at the team level is very important. High volume, high efficiency guys are the best at making a big difference in that stat. High volume, low efficiency guys kill it.
I wouldn't put that on Yao or Tmac. When they played together they dominated. They both improved their play in the playoffs. We just had TERRIBLE role players for the majority of their healthy years. David Wesley and Ryan Bowen ain't gonna cut it. As much as I love Ry Bo.
Anyone who thinks Tracy McGrady was close to Kobe Bryant is a blind homer or just rage baiting. McGrady was a career loser in every sense of the word.
Nailed that on the head, Houston version of Tmac in his 3rd year was not much better than Prime Francis and Mobley combined. Franchise and Cat were no slouches when they had it going.......both were All Star Reserves types. Steve Francis had alcohol and substance abuse issues and career also cut short.
Man, that behind the back dribble with the defender on his back was ridiculous. Probably don't watch enough basketball, but don't think I've seen that before. Gotta say, the last time I was this hyped for a Rockets season was when we got Tmac. I don't think most people understood what Harden would turn into when we got him, so my reaction was just kina like 'oh, that's interesting'.
