Kobe's out to make the record books this year. He's already on a pace to be the worst scoring leader in the NBA's history, and may become the first scoring leader to have more shots than points. He is, essentially, shooting the Lakers out of games. Stealth tanking!
In the turnover era, here is the list of players with > 1000 minutes who have taken more than 30 shots per 48 minutes (along with Kobe this year, who, barring injury, will easily eclipse 1000 minutes), and their true shooting percentages:
| Player | FGA/48 | TS% |
|---|---|---|
| Kobe Bryant 2005-06 | 34.51 | 55.9% |
| George Gervin 1981-82 | 33.86 | 56.2% |
| Freeman Williams 1980-81 | 33.55 | 52.4% |
| Michael Jordan 1986-87 | 33.34 | 56.2% |
| Kobe Bryant 2014-15 | 32.7 | 49.5% |
| Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf 1990-91 | 32.18 | 44.8% |
| Dominique Wilkins 1987-88 | 31.86 | 53.4% |
| George Gervin 1979-80 | 31.74 | 58.7% |
| Michael Jordan 1992-93 | 31.35 | 56.4% |
| Allen Iverson 2001-02 | 30.55 | 48.9% |
| Alex English 1988-89 | 30.54 | 53.1% |
| Freeman Williams 1979-80 | 30.44 | 52.7% |
| Michael Jordan 2001-02 | 30.38 | 46.8% |
| Paul Westphal 1977-78 | 30.34 | 56.5% |
| Walter Davis 1989-90 | 30.33 | 53.3% |
| Bernard King 1984-85 | 30.32 | 58.5% |
| Bernard King 1990-91 | 30.21 | 52.7% |
| Dominique Wilkins 1984-85 | 30.03 | 51.4% |
| George Gervin 1980-81 | 30.02 | 55.5% |
As you can see, unlike the 2006 version of himself, Kobe isn't shooting remotely well enough to justify his chucking. Only three other players on this list had true shooting percentages below 50%:
- Abdul-Rauf played for Paul Westhead's infamous Nuggets team in the early nineties that played obscenely fast, leading the NBA at 119 points a game while being last in points allowed at 129 per game. It's safe to say no other team would have allowed such a poor shooter to chuck that many shots.
- Much has been said here and in the pages of The Wages of Wins about Allen Iverson. He is probably the least deserving MVP of all time, and definitely one of the most overrated players of all time. Perhaps he should have practiced more.
- We like to pretend that Michael Jordan's stint with the Wizards never happened. It could have seriously tainted his legacy, if it weren't for the fact that this whole "running the Bobcats into the ground" thing hadn't already done that.
I would also note that 12 of these players 19 player seasons were from the 80s, when pace of play was *much* faster, and we've already mentioned Abdul-Rauf's Nuggets. In fact, only Iverson, Jordan '02, and Kobe are from the modern era.
It's time to break out #FreeEdDavis.