Who’s the worst 20ppg player ever?

[vct33]

Who are some of the worst players that you can think of who had a 20ppg season?

[rrravenred]

Corey Maggette comes to mind.

An incredibly efficient foul drawer and scorer (ISTR he at one point scored 20 points on 2 FGA) but who offered neither passing, defence nor spacing.

Edit: I was wrong. It was 17 points on 0/2 in 14 minutes. And it was in a preseason game. But still gives you an idea about how unique his skillset was.

[Amare_1_Knicks]

Jerry Stackhouse was the first name that came to mind. Antoine Walker was the next.. realistically, it’s not either of these guys but they did have some miserably inefficient 20PPG seasons.

[Fadeaway_J]

Mike James in Toronto, although my fantasy team appreciated his contributions that year.

[GSP]

Andre Bargnani has to be up there. Was a 'stretch' big that couldnt reliably stretch the floor, couldnt pass and was one of worst defenders and rebounders in the league

[SHAQ32]

Shareef Abdur-Rahim

[SNPA]

Shareef Abdur-Rahim

Better leave the future commissioner out of this.

[The Explorer]

Terry Rozier

[Prez]

Jabari Parker lol. I remember being totally delusional at the time, convincing myself that the defense and, well, everything else would come in time with more reps/experience. They uh...did not. And wouldn't have even without the ACL injuries.

[penbeast0]

Anyone have TS Added on a searchable database and can give us the 10 worst 20 ppg scorers in terms of efficiency? Some of those players may have other characteristics outside of scoring in their favor but it would be a nice starting point.

[eminence]

1973 Fred Carter is my first guess.

[MiltownHawkeye]

Jabari Parker lol. I remember being totally delusional at the time, convincing myself that the defense and, well, everything else would come in time with more reps/experience. They uh...did not. And wouldn't have even without the ACL injuries.

Yeah sometimes people talk about him as a guy whose career was derailed by injuries, but I think he was always going to be a disappointment. Defense aside,coming in he was billed as a walking bucket in the half-court, Pierce/Carmelo type player and that never really materialized, even at his peak athleticism he just looked a shorter Blake Griffin with much worse basketball IQ and an aversion to contact. He's a good shout for this thread because even during his 20 ppg season it rarely felt like he was positively impacting a game.

[trex_8063]

Several names, many already mentioned, come to mind.....

Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Jordan Poole
the fringes of Kiki Vandeweghe's prime (like '82 and '88); just a terrible rebounding and defensive forward
holy cow, Jabari Parker avg 20+ once??

Kyle Kuzma
LaPhonso Ellis
Roy Tarpley (maybe a bit of a cheat, since he only played 5 games that year)

[SilentA]

Anyone have TS Added on a searchable database and can give us the 10 worst 20 ppg scorers in terms of efficiency? Some of those players may have other characteristics outside of scoring in their favor but it would be a nice starting point.

Does this work? Idk. A lot of pre-3 point line but there are some newer names further down.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=who+has+the+all-time+lowest+ts%25+with+20+or+more+ppg

Single season below (funny seeing Wizards MJ next to Antoine Walker down the list). 33.2% TS on 20+ppg is wild though even if it's the 1940s.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=who+has+the+all-time+lowest+ts%25+season+with+20+or+more+ppg

[penbeast0]

Era comparison is the reason I was looking for TS Add rather than ts%; though rts% would work too.

[penbeast0]

Several names, many already mentioned, come to mind.....

Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Jordan Poole
the fringes of Kiki Vandeweghe's prime (like '82 and '88); just a terrible rebounding and defensive forward
holy cow, Jabari Parker avg 20+ once??

Kyle Kuzma
LaPhonso Ellis
Roy Tarpley (maybe a bit of a cheat, since he only played 5 games that year)

2 current Wizards on your list, ouch!

My first thought was Pete Maravich. Combines poor efficiency with high turnovers and weak defense.

[TheSheriff]

Jerry Stackhouse was the first name that came to mind. Antoine Walker was the next.. realistically, it’s not either of these guys but they did have some miserably inefficient 20PPG seasons.

Walker at least was a rebounder and playmaker. The efficiency was bad, but he helped his teams in other ways. The worst 20 ppg scorers don’t rebound, don’t create for others and play bad defense.

[giberish]

Did Ricky Davis get to 20 ppg? He was pretty good at leading teams to high lottery picks.

[Doctor MJ]

bkref never made TS Add great for querying, but I'll say this:

On an absolute standard, I think Joe Fulks is the clear nadir here.
And if we just go to the leaderboard of worst TS Add by year, with the 20 PPG guys in bold and the rookies in talics.

'22-23: Killian Hayes
'21-22: Reggie Jackson
'20-21: Russell Westbrook
'19-20: RJ Barrett
'18-19: Russell Westbrook
'17-18: Dennis Smith
'16-17: Zach Randolph
'15-16: Emmanuel Mudiay
'14-15: Trey Burke
'13-14: Josh Smith
'12-13: Monta Ellis
'11-12: Kemba Walker
'10-11: DeMarcus Cousins
'09-10: Brandon Jennings
'08-09: Baron Davis
'07-08: Tracy McGrady
'06-07: Adam Morrison
'05-06: Chris Webber
'04-05: Antoine Walker
'03-04: Ben Wallace
'02-03: Antoine Walker
'01-02: Michael Jordan
'00-01: Charles Oakley
'99-00: Larry Hughes
'98-99: John Starks
'97-98: Antoine Walker
'96-97: Antoine Walker
'95-96: Jason Kidd
'94-95: Lamond Murray
'93-94: Lindsey Hunter
'92-93: Tom Gugliotta
'91-92: Marc Macon
'90-91: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
'89-90: Clifford Robinson
'88-89: Rex Chapman
'87-88: Vinnie Johnson
'86-87: John Long
'85-86: Fat Lever
'84-85: Gus Williams
'83-84: Cliff Robinson
'82-83: Ray Williams
'81-82: Frank Johnson
'80-81: Elvin Hayes
'79-80: Bob Wilkerson
'78-79: Jim Chones
'77-78: Bob Wilkerson
'76-77: Tim Bassett
'75-76: Fred Carter
'74-75: Gar Heard
'73-74: Bob Love
'72-73: Fred Carter
'71-72: Fred Hilton
'70-71: Elvin Hayes
'69-70: Joe Ellis
'68-69: Art Harris
'67-68: Art Williams
'66-67: Ron Reed
'65-66: Guy Rodgers
'64-65: Guy Rodgers
'63-64: Guy Rodgers
'62-63: Woody Sauldsberry
'61-62: Woody Sauldsberry
'60-61: Woody Sauldsberry
'59-60: Woody Sauldsberry
'58-59: Woody Sauldsberry
'57-58: Jack McMahon
'56-57: Maurice Stokes
'55-56: Dick Ricketts
'54-55: Joe Graboski
'53-54: Bill Tosheff
'52-53: Joe Fulks
'51-52: Joe Fulks
'50-51: Ralph Johnson
'49-50: Joe Fulks
'48-49: John Mahnken
'47-48: Irv Torgoff
'46-47: Ariel Maughan

Key takeaways:

In terms of raw times doing the most damage to his own team by shooting like no one else, it's Woody.

In terms of the guy who looks the most damaging among 20 PPG scorers, I'd say it's Antoine Walker.

Focused on the rookies because I just see so many examples of this in more recent history. I think clearly a situation where teams are seeing what the rookie can do, and then either a) they get better, b) they exit the NBA, or c) they Antoine Walker.

[SportsGuru08]

Orlando Woolridge. Contributed nothing else and only averaged that much when he was on bad teams.