Better offensive player: Joel Embiid vs Bob McAdoo

[durantbird]

Which player is better offensively on their prime?

[tsherkin]

I voted Embiid, but McAdoo deserves this thread. He was wild for his first couple of years. And him leading the league in scoring and rocking a 59.4% TS in 1974 was crazy business. An essentially forgotten scoring monster for like the first half-dozen years of his career, basically.

[kcktiny]

The 3 seasons McAdoo scored 30+ pts/g he averaged 32.1 pts/g shooting 51.4% on 2s. But the league average C those 3 seasons shot just 47.2% on 2s. He shot 4% higher/better than did just the league average C. Only Jabbar and Clifford Ray shot better on 2s than did McAdoo. So not only was McAdoo scoring a ton of points but he was doing so at much higher offensive efficiency than the league average C.

The 3 seasons Embiid scored 30+ pts/g he averaged 32.5 pts/g shooting 55.8% on 2s. But the league average C shot 60.5% on 2s those 3 years. He shot close to 5% lower/worse on 2s than did just the league average C.

Compare these two relative to the eras they played in and it's not much of a comparison.

[tsherkin]

The 3 seasons McAdoo scored 30+ pts/g he averaged 32.1 pts/g shooting 51.4% on 2s. But the league average C those 3 seasons shot just 47.2% on 2s. He shot 4% higher/better than did just the league average C. Only Jabbar and Clifford Ray shot better on 2s than did McAdoo. So not only was McAdoo scoring a ton of points but he was doing so at much higher offensive efficiency than the league average C.

The 3 seasons Embiid scored 30+ pts/g he averaged 32.5 pts/g shooting 55.8% on 2s. But the league average C shot 60.5% on 2s those 3 years. He shot close to 5% lower/worse on 2s than did just the league average C.

Compare these two relative to the eras they played in and it's not much of a comparison.

Embiid has been a 61.6, 65.5 and 64.4% TS guy in those 30+ ppg seasons on 37.2, 37.0 and 39.6% USG. That's a little different an experience than being a < 10 FGA/g guy catching lobs and rolling out of screens and stuff. I don't know that it's quite comparable.

[Cavsfansince84]

Have to give it to Bob for not only being the league's best scorer or close to it(yes I know Kareem was there) but also getting it done in the playoffs early on. There might be a gap with passing that you could still go with Embiid here but Embiid just always feels like he's playing with a hand tied behind his back in the playoffs. I think Embiid also gets some adv from the way the game is officiated now. Back in the 70's you weren't just walking around in the paint and it was still somewhat easy to get an off foul called.

[70sFan]

Always a good moment for sharing peak McAdoo highlights

Watch on YouTube

[Dr Positivity]

McAdoo just seems like more natural offensive player to me with his by far ahead of his time perimeter game. Embiid like peak Harden the offensive stats are a bit higher than the talent, which is still very good, but on paper he is like Shaq and Kareem and he's not that.