Who was the furthest from being the best on his team while being leading scorer?

[Kblaze8855]

I may have worded that poorly but I think you get it. I’m looking for who you think led a team in scoring while being furthest from being the team‘s best player. For example…..

Rip Hamilton.

He led the pistons in scoring but was he better at basketball than Ben, Billips, or Rasheed? I wouldn’t say so.

So I’d put him on the list being 4th. I feel like we won’t find anyone more than 4th best. We tend to call the scorer the best no matter what but there are some clear exceptions.

Byron Scott has to be on here somewhere.

Give me who comes to mind. Leading scorer who was second best is easy. It’s the 3rd and 4th best guys who are hard.

Can anyone else match Rip and Byron Scott as the 4th best players on teams they led in scoring?


Who would you put on that list in todays league? Top scorer not best player?

[Kblaze8855]

I feel like Cliff Robinson may have led a couple sun teams in scoring when they had better players. And Keith van horn now that Kidd is on my mind. Jim Jackson was probably the leading scorer but 3rd best player on the Mavs when Kidd and Mashburn were there.

[tpols]

Tony Parker in some years.

[SouBeachTalents]

Gail Goodrich deserves a mention as the leading scorer over Wilt/West.

[Kblaze8855]

JR Rider led one or two of those Jailblazer teams in scoring and I’m not sure he was top 4 on them.

[Akeem34TheDream]

Tony Parker in 2014. Duncan, Manu, Kawhi were better and some role players were arguable imo.

[Kblaze8855]

Now that I remember Leonard yea I suppose Tony goes on the wall of shame.

Oh and Rider led a team that had Sheed, Sabonis, Stoudamire, and Brian Grant in scoring. Is he 5th? The record holder?

[Smook A.]

Rudy Gay when he was on the Grizzlies.

Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, and Mike Conley were all better

[Kblaze8855]

Rudy Gay when he was on the Grizzlies.

Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, and Mike Conley were all better


Maybe Tony Allen too. And you could argue OJ Mayo though I don’t think I would.


Rudy is arguably 5th along with Rider. That has to be as far as it goes right? 5th?

[ralph_i_el]

Nick Young led the 2010-11 Wizards in scoring (17.4 ppg). You could argue that he was the 5th best player to play most of the season, and maybe the 10th best player to suit up overall.

[Reggie43]

Parker easy.

Rip Hamilton was still arguably the best player on their championship run especially if you consider that he was their only source of offense when everyone was struggling to score.

Was still traumatized by that 2004 Pistons Pacers series when he was virtually unguardable. Looked it up and he was at around 24ppg on a team that was scoring just 75ppg. He was 11 pts better than their next best scorer while being vastly more efficient in that series.

[Kblaze8855]

Oh he was definitely a major contributor to them winning im just saying….

Ben, Rasheed, and Billups are probably the first 3 picks as total players aren’t they? Though I guess Ben being so one sided hurts his “total” player case.

[Reggie43]

Being more skilled/better all around doesnt really mean you were much more impactful/effective.

[Kblaze8855]

Well those are different things for a number of reasons. The other team can at times choose who to allow to play their natural game at the expense of a teammate. If I choose to double Hakeem on every touch so we force it to Horry for 9 threes that game while Hakeem has 16 points maybe Horry was effective in that role but not better at basketball.

Impact is similar. There are guys who can make a massive defensive impact on a switching defense who would be wasted in the zone. Would that make it fair to judge their ability by their impact on games the coaching limits their impact during?

Ability while abstract just is what it is. How impactful that ability can be at the moment has an awful lot of factors the player can’t always control. Rules can change your impact while you’re the exact same player.

[Jasper]

lonzo and Johnson during the old Hornets years.

Some could even go back to the 6'ers years with Bobby Jones and Caldwell .. / cheeks.. Toney besides Dr. j on that squad.

[NBAGOAT]

Steve smith on the 90s hawks could be 3rd