Editor’s note: list counts down from best to worst. 

12) Eddy Curry, field goal percentage, ’02-’03

Though he’s the subject of many a punch line for his conditioning (or lack thereof), locker room poisoning, and self-serving play, one thing you can’t deny about Curry is that in his prime he could put the ball in the basket at an incredibly efficient rate. Despite entering the NBA at age 18, Curry came to the Bulls with a mature set of offensive skills. He shot an impressive 54% or higher from the field four times in his early career, including a league-leading 58.5% in just his second season in the league. To be fair, that is one of the lower shooting percentages to lead the league in the modern era, and the league leader these days regularly tops out above 70%. Curry continued to shoot well from the field throughout his career, even as an early lack of focus and a later discovered genetic heart condition kept him from reaching full potential.

11) Ernie DiGregorio, assists per game, ’73-’74; free throw percentage, ’73-’74 and ’76-’77

With an exciting playmaking style, DiGregorio took the NBA by storm in his rookie ’73-’74 season, but then disappeared almost as fast. He was already a legend by then in Providence, where he led his high school team to a state championship, then helped Providence College to the Final Four in 1973. Drafted third overall by the Braves, DiGregorio led the league in assists per game (8.2) and free throw percentage (90.2%) in his first season and won Rookie of the Year. He also set the rookie record for assists in one game with 25 (he still holds a tie in the record with Nate McMillan) and finished third on Buffalo in scoring with 15.2 points per game. But DiGregorio would never fully recover from a knee injury suffered in his second season, which left him so flat-footed later in his career that his nickname “Ernie D” was sarcastically altered to “Ernie No D.” One skill he held on to was foul line shooting, and DiGregorio not only led the league in free throw percentage again in ’76-’77, but broke Bill Sharman’s single season record by hitting at a 94.5% clip (that total still stands as the ninth highest of all time). After later failed stints with the Celtics and Lakers, DiGregorio retired in 1978 at the age of 27.

10) Gheorghe Muresan, field goal percentage, ’95-’96 and ’96-’97

Towering over opponents at 7″7′, Muresan’s accuracy from the field could be mainly attributed to his being the tallest player in NBA history. After struggling to adjust to the NBA in 1993 when he first came to the Bullets from Romania, Muresan took a brief respite playing in France and came back a seemingly new player in ’95-’96. He won the Most Improved Player award while averaging 14.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, and leading the league in field goal percentage at 58.4%. Though his numbers dipped the next season, his shooting from the field actually improved, up to 60.4% to again lead the league. As befitting a man of his size, Muresan struggled to remain healthy, and his body started to break down in 1997, when an ankle injury forced him to miss the entire subsequent season. After further back and knee surgeries, Muresan would play just 33 more games in the NBA before retiring in 2000.

9) Ron Lee, steals per game, ’77-’78

Though several legendary players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Allen Iverson, and Chris Paul have led the NBA in steals per game multiple times each, it started out as an obscure stat when the league began tracking it in the ’73-’74 season. Lee was the fifth player in league history to top the leaderboard in the category, and the one guy who seemed to do so based purely on hustle. Nicknamed the “Tasmanian Devil” for his constant energy and “Kamikaze Kid” for his reckless abandon on the court, Lee delighted Phoenix crowds in the late ’70s by diving for loose balls and harassing opposing guards. This playing style was certainly exciting but wasn’t conducive to his longevity, as Lee played just six seasons in the NBA. But while he was there, Lee was 1st-Team All-Rookie for the Suns in ’76-’77, and then led the league with 2.7 steals per game in ’77-’78. His 225 total steals that year was a low total at the time (Don Buse had led the league with 281 one year prior), but would have led the NBA in each of the last 21 seasons.

8) Jon Sundvold, three-point field goal percentage, ’88-’89

His range was legendary but the rest of Sundvold’s skills were decidedly average. After starring at Missouri for four years, Sundvold was drafted in the first round by Seattle in 1983 and expected to shoulder a scoring load early in his career. Though he could light up the scoreboard from time to time (he averaged a respectable 11.2 points per game in ’86-’87 for the Spurs), Sundvold struggled in most other facets on the court. When he was selected by Miami in the 1988 expansion draft, Sundvold retooled his game to concentrate on long range shooting, with unexpectedly successful results. After shooting just 33.9% from three-point range in his first five seasons, Sundvold hit 52.2% of his three-point shots in ’88-’89 to lead the NBA. In fact, that mark broke Craig Hodges’ single-season record, and Sundvold became the first player to shoot better than 50% from three-point range over a single season and is still only of only eight players to do so. Though Sundvold never came close to matching that total again, he did last three more seasons with the Heat, and participated in two Three-Point Shootout competitions during All-Star weekend before retiring in 1992 due to a neck injury.

7) Ernie Calverley, assists per game, ’46-’47 and ’47-’48

Most of the NBA’s all-time greatest point guards, from Bob Cousy to Oscar Robertson to Magic Johnson to Chris Paul, have led the league in assists per game multiple times. But the first player to do it was Calverley, a man who was always more interested in coaching basketball than playing it, and actually retired after just three seasons to do just that. In his first two seasons, which were the first two seasons in NBA history, Calverly led the league in assists at rates that today wouldn’t even be mentioned in a game summary. He finished ’46-’47 with 3.4 assists per game, and ’47-’48 with 2.5 assists per game, both times setting the league’s high mark. After Bob Davies led the NBA in ’48-’49 with 5.4 assists per game, no other assists champion would ever dip below five per game again, and the last 14 in a row all averaged more than 10. The main reason the numbers were so paltry back then was because shooting was so terrible. This was especially true for Calverly, who led the league despite playing for arguably its worst team, the Providence Steam Rollers, who shot just 27.4% from the field collectively in ’47-’48. Though his time atop the NBA leaderboard was due to his passing, Calverly is best remembered for his own shot, a 62-foot game-tying heave at the buzzer allowing his Rhode Island Rams to force overtime and eventually win an NIT quarterfinal game against Bowling Green in 1946.

“Like most offensive stats, assist totals tend to ebb and flow throughout the different offensively styled eras of the NBA but they have never even come close to bottoming out to where they were when the league first formed.”

6) Fred Hoiberg, three-point field goal percentage, ’04-’05
5) Jason Kapono, three-point field goal percentage, ’06-’07 and ’07-’08

It’s no coincidence that three-point field goal percentage is the most repeated statistical category on this list. Ever since the three-pointer was introduced in the NBA for the ’79-’80 season, it’s remained something of a statistical second rate citizen. Leading the league in points, assists, rebounds, or overall shooting percentage is usually the sign of an all-around great player, while three-point shooters have been traditionally pigeonholed as specialists. Though that conception has certainly changed in the era of analytics and Stephen Curry, it’s notable that the league leader is still typically not a star but a role player like Kyle Korver or J.J. Redick. Hoiberg and Kapono both fit the definition of mediocre players with that one special skill. It was a bit of an unfamiliar position for Hoiberg, who had been a star quarterback and Mr. Basketball in Iowa in high school. But when he was drafted in the second round by the Pacers in 1995, Hoiberg had to concentrate on being a shooting specialist to have a chance at making the roster. It was later on with the Timberwolves that Hoiberg, despite averaging just 5.8 points in 16.7 minutes per game on the season, led the league at 48.3% shooting from three-point range. Hoiberg was so overlooked in general that he became the only player to ever lead the league in that category but never get invited to participate in the All-Star Three-Point Shootout. Just weeks after his league-leading season ended, Hoiberg was cut by Minnesota and his NBA career was over. As for Kapono, he reached the NBA from UCLA in 2003 with a reputation already intact as a player who could hit from long range and not do much else. He played for six times in a nine-year career, leading the league with 51.4% three-point shooting in ’06-’07 for the Heat, (the sixth highest single season total in NBA history) and with 48.3% in ’07-’08 for the Raptors. Unlike Hoiberg, Kapono became a regular in the Three-Point Shootout, competing three straight years and winning it in both of the seasons that he led the league in three-point shooting.

4) Manute Bol, total blocks and blocks per game, ’85-’86 and ’88-’89

A 7’7″ Sudanese refugee who had the longest wingspan in NBA history but could barely bench press 50 pounds, Bol became an instant sensation when he was drafted by Washington in 1985. Still exceedingly lanky and awkward by the time his rookie season started, Bol couldn’t do much on the court, but he sure could block shots. He totaled 397 blocked shots in his rookie year, the second most in a single season in league history, trailing only Mark Eaton’s otherworldly 456 blocks in ’84-’85. Tallying five blocks per game, Bol simultaneously led the league in that category and set the second-highest all-time mark behind Eaton. Bol versus Eaton would become something of a blocked shot rivalry over the next few seasons. Eaton led the league in both blocks and blocks per game in ’83-’84 and ’84-’85, finished second behind Bol in ’85-’86, but then took back both titles in ’86-’87 and ’87-’88, with Bol finishing in the top five each time. After a trade to the Warriors, Bol took back the blocking titles in ’88-’89, just edging out Eaton in both categories. Bol’s 4.3 blocks per game in ’88-’89 was especially impressive when you consider he was logging just 22.1 minutes per game, giving him the highest block percentage in a single season in NBA history, at 10.8%. Having struggled with rheumatism his entire life, Bol’s career was quickly slowed by the rigors of NBA physicality taking a toll on his gangly frame, and he played only sparingly in his final few seasons before retiring in 1995.

3) Tim Legler, three-point field goal percentage, ’95-’96

Defending champion and All-Star Glen Rice came into the Three-Point Shootout in 1996 in San Antonio as a heavy favorite, but instead a little-known journeyman guard walked away with the title. It was a long journey to All-Star weekend for Legler, who was barely recruited out of high school, undrafted in 1988 out of La Salle, and spent two years playing pro ball in Europe and the CBA before finally reaching the NBA in 1990. Over his first seven years in the league Legler signed with and was waived by the Suns, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Bullets, Jazz, Mavericks, and Warriors, before finally catching on long term in Washington in ’95-’96. He couldn’t do much besides shoot from long range, but for that one season he was basically unstoppable at that one skill. After winning the Three-Point Shootout in February (where he became the first player to score 20+ points in all three rounds), Legler held off Steve Kerr down the stretch to lead the NBA in three-point field goal percentage at 52.2%. That total is still the third highest of all time in a single season, trailing only Kerr’s 52.4% in ’94-’95 and Kyle Korver’s 53.6% in ’09-’10. Though Legler lasted four more seasons with Washington, he played in only 76 total games during that time due to knee issues.

2) Howie Dallmar, total assists, ’47-’48

Like most offensive stats, assist totals tend to ebb and flow throughout the different offensively styled eras of the NBA but they have never even come close to bottoming out to where they were when the league first formed. The first player ever to lead the league in total assists was Ernie Calverley in ’46-’47, with 202. One season later Dallmar, a guard for the Philadelphia Warriors, won the assists title with just 120. To put that in perspective, Bob Cousy would total 547 assists just six years later, John Stockton regularly compiled over 1,100 assists in a season, and James Harden recently led the league with 907. To be fair, this was hardly Dallmar’s fault, as the BAA cut the number of regular season games from 60 to 48 in ’47-’48 due to several franchises folding. It was by far the shortest season in BAA/NBA history (they extended it back to 60 in ’48-’49) and the offensive totals reflected that. Dallmar finished with a paltry 2.5 assists per game, which somehow placed him second in the league after Calverley. He also led the BAA in defensive win shares that season, and in the postseason was tops in total assists and personal fouls, as the Warriors lost in the Finals to the Baltimore Bullets. Dallmar played just one more season as a pro before retiring to take over the head coaching position at the University of Pennsylvania, and later at his alma mater, Stanford.

1) Jim Les, three-point field goal percentage, ’90-’91

Similar to Tim Legler, it was a long and circuitous road for Les to the top of the NBA leaderboard. He was a star point guard at Bradley, but standing just 5″11′ and not particularly athletic, Les fell to the third round of the 1986 Draft. Over the next four years Les was cut by the Hawks, 76ers (twice), Jazz, Clippers, and Hornets, and spent some time in both the WBL and CBA. He finally caught on with the Kings, who first gave Les a 10-day contract in December of 1990 and later signed him for the remainder of the season. He appeared in just 55 games that season, averaging 24.8 minutes per game, but shot lights out from long range and led the league at 46.1% from the field on three pointers. Les was invited to the Three-Point Shootout that February and finished in second place behind event legend Craig Hodges. After playing bits and pieces of five more NBA seasons with the Kings and Hawks, Les was done for good in 1995, securing his place as the most unlikely league leader in NBA history.