In NBA history, there are players who are considered to be great scorers, and then there are the guys left off that list due to their lack of efficiency. The scorers who are usually considered to be great are the ones who shot a high volume and knocked their shots down at a high percentage. The ones who are not considered to be great usually shot at a high volume and scored a ton of points but never get the credit they deserve due to being inefficient or less professionally known as “shot-chuckers.”
A great scorer is a great scorer, whatever way you want to slice it. Some of these players are the ones throughout NBA history that delivered NBA championships and sit atop the rankings as the greatest scorers of all time. The efficiency side of things should take absolutely nothing away from the 10 players below, as they are still tremendous talents who were MVPs and NBA champions. In many ways, efficiency can be overrated, especially when using it to determine where a player sits on an all-time scale. The players below are great scorers who most likely tried to put their teams on their backs as the number one option en route to individual accomplishments such as scoring titles and MVP awards.
These are the 10 best high-volume, low-efficiency scorers in NBA history.
10. Bob Cousy
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For many reasons, Bob Cousy is not what many NBA experts would call a scorer. He was a wizard on the court with his handles and passing, leading him to eight assists titles in his career and the nickname “The Houdini of the Hardwood” as a leader of one of the greatest dynasties ever. Many people do forget that Cousy averaged over 18.0 PPG for his career and averaged 20.0 PPG or more in a season four times as well. He is also what many would call the most inefficient superstar in NBA history.
On average, for his NBA career, Cousy attempted 17.8 shots per game. His career field goal percentage is 37.5%. Not once did he ever touch the 40.0% shooting mark for a season in his NBA career, even though he attempted over 15 shots per game in 12 of his 13 seasons on the court. During his 1957 MVP campaign, Cousy averaged 20.6 PPG on just 37.8% shooting from the floor on 19.8 attempts. Of all the scorers on here, Cousy is by far the most inefficient.
9. Joe Fulks
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Joe Fulks played with the Philadelphia Warriors for eight seasons from 1947 thru 1954. Fulks was the definition of high volume and low efficiency. Fulks attempted 20 or more field goals per game in four of those eight seasons, and his career-high in field goal percentage was 34.6%. Fulks was the winner of two scoring titles in each of his first two NBA seasons and shot 28.5% combined over those two years.
The field goal percentage didn’t improve in the playoffs, either. For his career, Fulks was a 25.8% shooter in the playoffs and averaged 19.0 PPG. In the regular season, Fulks not only never reached 40.0% shooting from the field, but he failed to reach 35.0% as well. In the season that he led the Warriors to an NBA championship in 1947, Fulks shot 30.5% on 26.0 attempts in the regular season and 28.8% on 25.7 attempts in the playoffs.
8. Elvin Hayes
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It is no secret that Elvin Hayes is one of the greatest power forwards of all time. That does not mean he was efficient when scoring the ball by any means. Hayes averaged 21.0 PPG for his career and shot the ball at just 45.2%. Hayes averaged 18.6 attempts from the field over the course of 16 seasons and averaged over 20.0 shot attempts seven times. The 12-time All-Star and NBA champion was not afraid to let it fly once he stepped foot on the court, much to the dismay of his teammates.
Hayes was a bit more efficient in the NBA playoffs during his career. He averaged 19.8 attempts from the field per game and shot slightly higher from the floor at 46.4%. As much as the other players we have already discussed missed the mark, Hayes was certainly more efficient than them, although not much better. En route to an NBA title in 1978 with the Bullets, Hayes shot over 45.0% from the floor in the regular season and over 49.0% in the playoffs.
7. Pete Maravich
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Pistol Pete Maravich is one of the most underrated stars to ever play the game of basketball. Known to be born far ahead of his time, Maravich was a scoring machine at both the college and professional ranks. While he was wowing audiences with his incredible ball-handling and insane court vision, Maravich was never afraid to let it fly when he got the green light which was quite often at the pro level.
Maravich averaged over 20.0 field goal attempts from the floor six times in 10 seasons in the NBA. During those six seasons, his career-high shooting from the field was 45.9%. Maravich only made four appearances in the NBA playoffs in his career and shot 42.9% from the floor for his career. Maravich is an all-time great and should be honored as such. Let us not forget that he would chuck the ball when attempting to score at an all-time level as well.
6. Tracy McGrady
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One of the most talented scorers of the 2000s was Tracy McGrady. Not only was McGrady a true three-level threat, but he was also a talented shot-creator, finisher, and as clutch as they come at his peak. As often as McGrady was chucking up 20.0 shots per game on average, he never reached the 46.0% shooting mark. As a three-point shooter, he shot 33.8% from beyond the arc. Not to take away from McGrady’s talent, but he was quite inefficient, but to his credit, in a very tough defensive era.
McGrady’s inefficiency and the pressure he put on himself to perform was a major reason for the lack of playoff success in his prime. As a number one option and when healthy, McGrady was never able to lead his team out of the first round. For his career in the playoffs, McGrady shot just 29.0% from three-point range and 42.6% overall from the field. These numbers aren’t exactly bad efficiency, but you certainly want your MVP to be more efficient with better shot selection.
5. Elgin Baylor
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Make no mistake about it, Elgin Baylor is one of the greatest small forwards and overall players to ever play the game. Baylor was one of the first players in NBA history to really play above the rim and be considered a high-flyer. Baylor played 14 seasons in the NBA, all with the Lakers, and attempted over 20.0 attempts from the field 10 times. What makes that interesting is his career-high in shooting 48.6% in 1970, the only time he ever shot over 46.0% from the field.
Baylor has to be one of the unluckiest superstars ever as well. He made eight appearances in the NBA Finals and lost every single one. Just as he did in the regular season, Baylor’s volume was extremely high while shooting just 43.9% from the field for his career. Another interesting part of Baylor’s efficiency is that he shot under 77.0% from the foul line for his career. Baylor was a spectacular player and talented scorer but was never shy to put up 25 to 30 shots per game, an outstanding amount of shots for any player considered an all-time great scorer.
4. Bob Pettit
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Bob Pettit is another one of the greatest power forwards to ever lay the game. Pettit was the leader of the St. Louis Hawks during the 50s and 60s, becoming the only man to ever dethrone Bill Russell in the NBA Finals. He won two MVP awards and one NBA title in his career as well as 11 trips to the All-Star Game and four All-Star MVP awards. Pettit set the standards for big men everywhere during his time in the NBA.
Pettit was also not afraid to put his fair share of shots up during his prime. Out of his 11 seasons in the NBA, Pettit attempted over 20.0 shots per game nine times. He shot over 45.0% from the field just twice and was a career 76.1% free throw shooter. It wasn’t bad efficiency by any means, but it certainly wasn’t elite, even by the standard set during his playing time. His accolades and outstanding career certainly outweigh the poor shooting, but we cannot pretend it didn’t exist.
3. Antoine Walker
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One of the most polarizing players of the 2000s with the Boston Celtics was Antoine Walker. He and Paul Pierce were the foundation for competitive Celtics teams during the early 2000s, with Walker showing no regard for teamwork during his peak. Walker was never afraid to let his shots fly, known as one of the true shot-chuckers of his time.
Walker would average anywhere from 15 to 20 shot attempts from the floor during his career and never shot over 44.0% from the field. He shot just 41.4% for his career overall and 32.5% from three. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Walker was just a career 63.3% free throw shooter. As a multiple-time 20.0 PPG scorer, Walker’s efficiency is among the worst on this entire list which heavily outweighs what he was able to accomplish on the court.
2. Russell Westbrook
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There are not many players in NBA history that have accomplished the things that Russell Westbrook has on the basketball court. Playing with extreme energy and always at full throttle, Westbrook’s inefficiency is something that has been well-documented over time. Amongst his historic triple-doubles and accomplishments, Westbrook has one thing hanging over his head, his inefficiency.
Amongst his scoring titles and MVP awards stands a player who has attempted 18.4 shots on average and has only shot above 45.0% three times. His three-point percentage is even worse as a career 30.4% shooter from beyond the arc. His shooting woes have been under a microscope ever since joining the Lakers in 2022, but they have been present for most of his career.
1. Allen Iverson
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The most infamous of all the inefficient scorers in NBA history is Allen Iverson. For most of his career, Iverson was labeled as selfish and self-serving on the basketball court. While those labels are quite unfair, his play on the floor never helped his case to shed them. With a big chip on his shoulder and as a fearless competitor, Iverson put all the pressure on himself to succeed, which in the end, hurt his case rather than helped it among all-time greats.
At his peak, Iverson was one of the best scorers in basketball, averaging 29.0 PPG from 1999 thru 2007. During that time, Iverson took 24.2 shot attempts on average and shot just 42.0% overall from the field. He shot 30.6% from three as well and just 78.8% from the foul line. Iverson was an amazing talent who set the standard for players at 6’0’’ tall during the 2000s. However, efficient he was not shooting the basketball.
Source: fadeawayworld
