The Stats Nerd’s Top Scorers — December 20th
So I am going to try to post these top scorers rankings every couple of weeks now. For those new to the rankings system, these are the most efficient scorers — by way of True Shooting Percentage — who can be considered first or second options, or players who are the go to guy coming off the bench in a sixth man type role. To make sure the players fit into that particular criteria, in order for a player to qualify they must have played at least 13 games, 20 minutes per game, and have a usage rate of at least 20 percent. I go in depth on the True Shooting Percentage statistic and the reason for those filters in previous Stat Central articles. All that being said, here are this week’s rankings:
| Rk | Player | G | MP | TS% | USG% | MP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LeBron James | 25 | 888 | 0.681 | 29.6 | 35.52 |
| 2 | Brook Lopez | 16 | 489 | 0.641 | 26.8 | 30.56 |
| 3 | Jeremy Lin | 18 | 518 | 0.637 | 21.5 | 28.78 |
| 4 | Kevin Durant | 24 | 914 | 0.622 | 30.1 | 38.08 |
| 5 | Stephen Curry | 23 | 858 | 0.603 | 28.8 | 37.30 |
| 6 | Dirk Nowitzki | 24 | 778 | 0.602 | 26.2 | 32.42 |
| 7 | Dwight Howard | 26 | 873 | 0.598 | 23.5 | 33.58 |
| 8 | J.J. Redick | 17 | 479 | 0.598 | 22.5 | 28.18 |
| 9 | Chris Bosh | 24 | 691 | 0.595 | 22.3 | 28.79 |
| 10 | James Harden | 22 | 852 | 0.595 | 27.8 | 38.73 |
| 11 | Isaiah Thomas | 24 | 730 | 0.595 | 27.2 | 30.42 |
| 12 | Goran Dragic | 21 | 740 | 0.593 | 23.6 | 35.24 |
| 13 | Paul George | 25 | 927 | 0.592 | 28.3 | 37.08 |
| 14 | Arron Afflalo | 25 | 941 | 0.590 | 24.5 | 37.64 |
| 15 | Manu Ginobili | 25 | 580 | 0.589 | 23.1 | 23.20 |
| 16 | Chris Paul | 26 | 898 | 0.588 | 24.7 | 34.54 |
| 17 | Dwyane Wade | 19 | 641 | 0.588 | 28.4 | 33.74 |
| 18 | Eric Bledsoe | 18 | 621 | 0.587 | 25.8 | 34.50 |
| 19 | Jon Leuer | 16 | 323 | 0.587 | 21.1 | 20.19 |
| 20 | Klay Thompson | 26 | 993 | 0.584 | 22.2 | 38.19 |
| 21 | Marcus Morris | 24 | 548 | 0.580 | 20.5 | 22.83 |
| 22 | Ryan Anderson | 15 | 542 | 0.579 | 23.7 | 36.13 |
| 23 | Kevin Love | 25 | 901 | 0.578 | 28.3 | 36.04 |
| 24 | Al Horford | 26 | 859 | 0.574 | 24.7 | 33.04 |
| 25 | Damian Lillard | 27 | 973 | 0.571 | 25.1 | 36.04 |
Other Noteworthy Players: Ryan Anderson has made his way onto the list (23rd), but there are now a few other players who just barely missed the cut because they did not meet minimum requirements. Chandler Parsons has 60.8 True Shooting Percentage — which would tie Stephen Curry’s 5th ranked figure — but his usage rate (19.3 percent) just missed the minimum usage rate. Also, Spencer Hawes‘ 59.4 percentage would rank 12th, but Hawes only has a 19.4 usage rate.
Other Notes: As the season is going on, the rankings are starting to skew towards the predictable. The presence of players like Tony Allen and Boris Diaw (who is still a really good scorer) is quickly fleeting and this week the only name that really stands out is Jon Leuer at 20th. As the season starts to find its groove you could expect this list to become even more accurate with larger sample sizes. That LeBron James guy will probably always be at the top, though.