RealGM

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

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

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.

Probably MJ from 88-91 span

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.

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.

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

Do you have an update on the playoff stats?