The Stat Nerd’s Top Scorers — Dec. 31
Apr 21, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lin (7) in the second half during game one of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
With the new year just around the corner, this seems like as good a time as any to check in our biweekly top scorers rankings. For those new to the rankings, we use True Shooting Percentage to rank a player’s ability to score the basketball. We weed out the low volume scorers by filtering out players who have played less than half of potential games (16), have a usage rate less than 20 percent and play less than 20 minutes per game. I have written on the True Shooting Percentage statistic and the reasoning behind the filters in previous articles. Let’s check out the rankings:
| Rk | Player | TS% | G | MPG | USG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LeBron James | 0.673 | 29 | 36.00 | 29.2 |
| 2 | Kevin Durant | 0.629 | 30 | 37.77 | 30.1 |
| 3 | Brook Lopez | 0.629 | 17 | 31.35 | 26.8 |
| 4 | Arron Afflalo | 0.609 | 29 | 37.83 | 24.1 |
| 5 | Paul George | 0.606 | 29 | 36.41 | 28.0 |
| 6 | Jeremy Lin | 0.606 | 23 | 29.74 | 21.7 |
| 7 | Manu Ginobili | 0.602 | 30 | 23.83 | 23.4 |
| 8 | Chris Bosh | 0.601 | 29 | 29.38 | 23.7 |
| 9 | Dirk Nowitzki | 0.601 | 29 | 32.83 | 26.5 |
| 10 | Isaiah Thomas | 0.601 | 29 | 31.76 | 26.3 |
| 11 | J.J. Redick | 0.598 | 17 | 28.18 | 22.4 |
| 12 | Eric Bledsoe | 0.596 | 23 | 33.57 | 24.6 |
| 13 | Dwight Howard | 0.596 | 33 | 33.48 | 24.3 |
| 14 | Kevin Love | 0.595 | 29 | 36.34 | 28.0 |
| 15 | James Harden | 0.589 | 27 | 38.52 | 27.3 |
| 16 | Al Horford | 0.588 | 29 | 33.03 | 24.6 |
| 17 | Tim Hardaway | 0.586 | 29 | 19.59 | 19.9 |
| 18 | Gerald Green | 0.584 | 29 | 26.48 | 21.1 |
| 19 | Dwyane Wade | 0.582 | 22 | 33.82 | 28.3 |
| 20 | Goran Dragic | 0.581 | 26 | 35.00 | 23.0 |
| 21 | Marcus Morris | 0.581 | 29 | 22.86 | 20.7 |
| 22 | Stephen Curry | 0.578 | 29 | 37.62 | 28.2 |
| 23 | Chris Paul | 0.577 | 31 | 35.29 | 24.9 |
| 24 | Damian Lillard | 0.576 | 30 | 36.23 | 24.8 |
| 25 | Blake Griffin | 0.574 | 32 | 36.63 | 26.7 |
Others To Note: Chandler Parsons and Spencer Hawes again just barely missed the mark with usage rates just less than 19.5. Jordan Hill also joins Parsons and Hawes just barely missing the usage rate cut but earning a 60.7 True Shooting Percentage. Also, Anthony Davis almost made the list, earning a 57.2 True Shooting Percentage — just 0.2 points below Blake Griffin at 25.
Final Notes: Tim Hardaway, Jr. deserves a mention as the only rookie to make the list, though he barely managed to make the cut by earning a 19.9 usage rate and only playing 19.59 minutes away (yay for rounding up). This will mark Brook Lopez’s last appearance on the list this season as his number of games played will become less than required in a few days. Also, LeBron James and Kevin Durant are No. 1 and No. 2. Who saw that happening?