Allen Iverson is casually known for being the Beacon of Inefficient Scoring.
Looking at Iverson through his overall Regular Season Career 2PT converted Points Per Shot or rTS%, his relative TS% is -0.9% TS+ 98. Here are former & current players who more inefficient scoring the basketball than Allen Iverson in their respective careers: ■Isiah Thomas: relative TS% -2.1% TS+ 96 ●Peak Scoring – 1986: 22PPG IA/75 on +1.3 rTS% ●Scoring Efficiency was Below league average every year of his Regular Season Career outside of 1986.
■Mahmoud Abdul Rauf(Chris Jackson): relative TS% -2.7% TS+ 95 ●Peak Scoring – 1995: 23.4PPG IA/75 on +0% rTS% ●Scoring Efficiency was Below league average every year of his Regular Season career outside of 1995.
■John Starks: relative TS% -1.8% TS+ 97 ●Peak Scoring – 1994: 23PPG IA/75 on -1.2% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency was Below league average 11 out of 15 years of his career.
■Latrell Sprewell: relative TS% -1.1% TS+ 98 ●Peak Scoring – 1997: 24PPG IA/75 on +3.4% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 10 out of 13 Seasons in the NBA.
■Jason Kidd: relative TS% -2.3% TS+ 96 ●Peak Scoring – 2003: 22PPG IA/75 on +0.7% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 14 out of 18 Seasons in the NBA.
■Chris Webber: relative TS% -1.4% TS+ 97 ●Peak Scoring – 2002: 30PPG IA/75 on +2% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 10 out of 15 Seasons in the NBA.
■Jermaine O’neal: relative TS% -1.2% TS+ 97 ●Peak Scoring – 2003: 24PPG IA/75 on +2% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 13 out of 18 Seasons in the NBA.
■Metta World Peace(Ron Artest): relative TS% -2.3% TS+ 96 ●Peak Scoring – 2003: 20PPG IA/75 on +1% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 16 out of 18 Seasons in the NBA.(Averaged 16 FGA per 75 from 2003-2009; Below League Average Efficiency every year except 2005 where he only played 7 games due to Season long suspension)
■Nick Van Exel: relative TS% -2% TS+ 96 ●Peak Scoring – 1998: 18PPG IA/75 on +1.4% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 11 out 13 Seasons in the NBA.
•Former Players with Similar Career Efficiency: ■Tracy Mcgrady: relative TS% -0.9% TS+ 99 ●Peak Scoring – 2003 35PPG IA/75 on +4.5 rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 11 out of 15 Seasons in the NBA. TS+ was never above 102 or rTS of +1% outside of 2003
■Pete Maravich: relative TS% -0.7% TS+ 99 ●Peak Scoring – 1976 26PPG IA/75 on +2% rTS ●Scoring Efficiency Below League Average 7 out of 10 Seasons in the NBA. Led the league in Scoring in 1977 averaging 31.1 ppg on -1.9% rTS
•Active Players ■Donovan Mitchell: 2018: -1.5% rTS 2019: -2.3% rTS 2020: -0.7% rTS 2021: -0.3% rTS 2022: +0.6% rTS 2023: +3.3% rTS Career -0.2% rTS
■Dejounte Murray: 2017: -4.9% rTS 2018: -7.1% rTS 2020: -4.1% rTS 2021: -6.3% rTS 2022: -3.3% rTS 2023: -4.1% rTS Career relative True Shooting: -4.7% rTS Career TS+ 93
■Pascal Siakam: 2017: -2.9% rTS 2018: -0.7% rTS 2019: +6.8% rTS 2020: -1.1% rTS 2021: -2.5% rTS 2022: -0.1% rTS 2023: -2.6% rTS Career relative True Shooting: +0.0%
■CJ McCollum: 2014: -2.1% rTS 2015:: +0.0% rTS 2016: +0.3% rTS 2017: +3.3% rTS 2018: -2% rTS 2019: -0.7% rTS 2020: -2.4% rTS 2021: +0.5% rTS 2022: -1.3% rTS 2023: -4% rTS
Career relative TS+ 99
Any player’s Efficiency you’re surprised by?
That’s why they used relative true shooting. Maravich was below league average efficiency in his time.
Yes, bc he shot from 3pt range and beyond, which was a bad %age shot back then. Also league avg during the center era is not going to favor guys like him. TS% makes a lot more sense in the 3pt era
Relative TS% is only comparing Efficiency to the players’ scoring Efficiency of the times.
You can only compare players relative to the rules & strategies of the times in which they’re playing in.
Lack of a 3pt shot didn’t stop Tiny Archibald, a player smaller than Pete Maravich, from being efficient. Same for Gail Goodrich, Rick Barry & David Thompson.
The truth is Pete Maravich just took way too many shot attempt.
Wait, do I get it right? He was an inefficient scorer but should get a pass because he took bad shots?
No, he was not inefficient. He shot the same FG%percentage as players like Kobe, Melo, Pierce, and others. TS% changes everything when the 3 ball is part of the game. But yes, he took bad shots
There was a study of Pete’s shots from distance and he made tons of those threes that counted as twos
Somebody made that and it was like a 40ppg on college
He already averaged 44 ppg lol
You’re thinking of the quote from his old coach, who said he went back and watched film and determined that Pete made 13 3P shots a game. Which is kind of nonsense, because he only made 16.7 shots total. So that means he would’ve made 3.7 2-pointers, 13 3-pointers, and 10.8 free throws per game. The shot distribution makes no sense (you don’t draw 14 FT attempts a game by taking 80% of your shots from 3)
Just for comparison, in '78 Paul Westphal (a guard who was an inch shorter than Pistol) averaged 25/6 on 57% TS. Pistol Pete averaged 27/7 on 49% TS. I think the “era” argument falls apart when you compare him to other guards in his own era.