Best individual scoring season of all time? Post-merger

[edgymnerch]

Title. Efficiency does matter too so it's not who has the highest pp75

[70sFan]

Not single season, but to me 1977-80 Kareem is the GOAT post-merger scorer, considering combination of volume, efficiency and resiliency.

[lessthanjake]

If just considering the regular season, it’s surely got to be Steph putting up 42.5 points per 100 possessions on 124 TS+ in 2015-2016.

Durant’s 2012-2013 season was 37.6 points per 100 possessions on 121 TS+, and his 2013-2014 season was 41.8 points per 100 possessions on 117 TS+. Jordan had a four-season span from 1988 to 1991 where he scored between 40.0 and 43.6 points per 100 possessions each season on between 112 and 114 TS+. Embiid just put up 47.4 points per 100 possessions on 113 TS+. Harden’s 2018-2019 season was 48.2 points per 100 possessions on 111 TS+. Adrian Dantley had a 120 TS+ season on 37.1 points per 100 possessions.

Those are all great scoring seasons, and there may be ones I’m missing. But I don’t think anything really comes close to the volume and efficiency of Steph in 2015-2016. Of course, it gets more interesting if we include playoffs, since Steph was not quite as good in the playoffs that year. I’d have to really dig through a lot of info (including players’ playoff TS% and scoring, playoff opponents’ TS%’s, etc.) to figure out exactly what I thought with playoffs included, but I think Steph in 2015-2016 is the clear answer if we are just talking about regular season.

[Narigo]

Probably MJ from 88-91 span

[MiamiBulls]

Embiid this Regular Season 35per 75 on +7% rTS.

Harden 2019 Regular Season 35 per 75 on +5% rTS

Those are the best Regular Season scoring outputs.

[rk2023]

With Regular Season stats listed before Playoffs, all data from BBR & Thinking Basketball -

1a. 1977 Abdul-Jabbar:
- 27.2 Adjusted Points per 75 on +9.7% relative true shooting, 2.5 ScoreVal, 6.8 BBR OBPM, 345.3 TS Add
- 31.2 Adjusted Points per 75 (34.6 PPG) on +13.7% adjusted rTS, 4.4 ScoreVal, 9.6 BBR OBPM

1b. 1989 Jordan:
- 30.6 Adjusted Points per 75 (32.5 PPG) on +7.7% relative true shooting, 2.3 ScoreVal, 8.4 BBR OBPM / 6.2 TB OBPM, 330.4 TS Add
- 34.0 Adjusted Points per 75 (34.8 PPG) on +7.6% adjusted rTS, 2.7 ScoreVal, 9.1 BBR OBPM / 7.0 TB OBPM

3. 2014 James:
- 29.3 Adjusted Points per 75 on +10.8% relative true shooting, 2.5 ScoreVal, 7.8 BBR OBPM / 5.5 TB OBPM, 347 TS Add
- 32 Adjusted Points per 75 on +14.5% adjusted rTS, 3.7 ScoreVal, 8.5 BBR OBPM / 7.1 TB OBPM

After these, there is less separation across the board between candidates. I feel like Kareem, Jordan, James are the three best scoring peaks and career value scorers - substantially so. I would say West (pre-merger) isn't far from them as well, but it's hard for me to argue anybody else as a Mount Rushmore scorer. For regular season scoring only, I think Bucks Kareem, Curry (16, and Durant (14 ) would be the best scoring peaks - but I have questions and gripes regarding the latter 2's playoff translation as a scorer.

As for Jordan, I think his offense became better and more disciplined in 1990 and 1991 quite confidently so. However, I chose 1989 due to the higher motor and (assumably, as a result) better rim pressure. I think the playmaking, effectiveness of motion, and lesser scoring blindness improved rather than his scoring efficacy as Jordan peaked as a player. This younger version, however, was more athletic and absorbed fouls at a better rate.

[rk2023]

Embiid this Regular Season 35per 75 on +7% rTS.

Do you have an update on the playoff stats?