Friday, March 28, 2014

NBA HISTORY: STATISTICS ABOUT THE MOST EFFICIENT SCORERS IN THE REGULAR SEASON.

Most impressive records in NBA history about efficient scorers in the regular season.

This is the second part of a series of articles about historical records on the major statistics in NBA history (points, assists, rebounds…) while looking at which current player could eventually challenge these records along his career.
The first article was about points (see the article: NBA HISTORY: STATISTICS ABOUT POINTS IN REGULAR SEASON.). We saw that one of the two best current players in the game today, Kevin Durant (Lebron James being the other), could challenge some records in points over his career.
We will see today that he is also in a position to make history in term of efficiency in scoring.


A. RECORDS IN SCORING EFFICIENCY.
I looked at players that reached the “magic trio” of at least 50% in 2 points field goal %, 40% in 3 points field goal % and 90% in free throw field goal % over the regular season (with a minimum of 62 games, or 75% of a season, and 24 minutes played per game).
Only 11 players reached this benchmark in NBA history. Two players lead this statistic with Steve Nash (4 years) and Jose Calderon (3 years). The first player to reach this threshold was Larry Bird in 1987. The most recent players who achieved it were Kevin Durant and Jose Calderon last year (see table (b) below for the details per year).
Furthermore, no players from 1947 to 1979 reached this benchmark if we remove the 3-Point Field Goal Percentage (available only since the 1979-80 season in the NBA).
Overall, this short list delivers some illustrious names of great shooters like Larry Bird, Chris Mullin, Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Kevin Durant.

a. For single seasons; in the regular season; from 1946-47 to 2013-14; requiring 2-PT Field Goal Pct >= 0.5 and 3-Pt Field Goal Pct >= 0.4 and Free Throw Pct >= 0.9 and Games >= 62; sorted by most seasons matching criteria.
Rk
Player
From
To
Count 
1
2006
2010
4
2
2008
2013
3
3
1989
1993
2
4
1987
1988
2
5
Kevin Durant
2013
2013
1
6
2009
2009
1
7
2007
2007
1
8
2004
2004
1
9
2002
2002
1
10
1998
1998
1
11
1994
1994
1

b. For single seasons; in the regular season; from 1946-47 to 2013-14; requiring 2-PT Field Goal Pct >= 0.5 and 3-Pt Field Goal Pct >= 0.4 and Free Throw Pct >= 0.9 and Games >= 62; sorted by descending Season.




Totals
Per Game
Shooting
Rk
Player
Season
Age
G
MP
PTS
FG%
2P%
3P%
FT%
1
2012-13
31
73
29.6
11.3
.491
.516
.461
.900
2
2012-13
24
81
38.5
28.1
.510
.539
.416
.905
3
2009-10
35
81
32.8
16.5
.507
.540
.426
.938
4
2008-09
33
79
36.4
18.2
.480
.542
.409
.952
5
2008-09
27
68
34.3
12.8
.497
.538
.406
.981
6
2008-09
34
74
33.6
15.7
.503
.529
.439
.933
8
2007-08
26
82
30.3
11.2
.519
.551
.429
.908
9
2007-08
33
81
34.3
16.9
.504
.527
.470
.906
10
2006-07
28
78
36.2
24.6
.502
.515
.416
.904
11
2005-06
31
79
35.4
18.8
.512
.548
.439
.921
12
2003-04
26
81
40.3
24.2
.480
.511
.433
.927
13
2001-02
32
82
24.2
9.0
.489
.508
.469
.931
15
1997-98
34
82
26.5
11.3
.481
.503
.440
.939
16
1993-94
28
79
33.4
19.9
.503
.535
.421
.908
17
1992-93
28
75
31.7
18.2
.484
.512
.416
.948
18
1988-89
24
75
36.4
18.9
.526
.548
.441
.901
19
1987-88
31
76
39.0
29.9
.527
.546
.414
.916
20
1986-87
30
74
40.6
28.1
.525
.547
.400
.910



B. CURRENT SEASON 2013/2014.
Currently, no player is in position to reach this threshold during the season 2013/14. However, here is the list of the 10 players that come the closest to the “magic trio”.
Again, Kevin Durant is in the short list, missing my benchmark only because of his FT%.





Totals
Per Game
Shooting
Rk
Player
Season
Age
G
MP
PTS
FG%
2P%
3P%
FT%
1
2013-14
38
63
26.5
9.7
.448
.540
.372
.914
2
2013-14
25
22
36.1
19.8
.438
.463
.409
.952
3
2013-14
33
61
30.4
18.7
.421
.462
.368
.862
4
2013-14
25
67
36.4
23.5
.464
.504
.415
.878
5
2013-14
25
68
38.6
32.2
.507
.546
.409
.868
6
2013-14
23
69
35.9
22.0
.431
.472
.363
.874
7
2013-14
32
62
34.1
12.3
.486
.487
.486
.939
8
2013-14
28
65
24.4
9.9
.486
.541
.364
.882
9
2013-14
35
68
32.2
21.5
.492
.525
.395
.914
10
2013-14
29
30
28.8
15.7
.459
.510
.396
.914

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