Here is the list of turnovers in the last 5 years for the regular season. year, games, total, per game 2005 82 1121 13.67 2006 82 1115 13.60 2007 82 1071 13.06 2008 82 1093 13.33 2009 19 286 15.05 There is a big jump on the turnovers this year. A large part of it is from Brooks and Ariza, who contributed 115 together, or 6.05 per game. Is it our guards attacking the rim more often, a natural process of improvement for more ball movement of the team, or development of young players? The bottom line is we need to limit the turnover to win more games.
This is what happens on young teams....they often make mistakes that come back to haunt them. It almost happened again last night.
i think it is only natural to have an increase in turnovers because of the more up-tempo style we are playing. in years past, we have played a half-court game which involved bringing the ball down and dumping it inside to yao. now, brooks and the other wing players have to create more, which leads to more turnovers.
before we draw any conclusions, can we find the TO per possession stats first? With the increased possession we are playing this year, I imagine a large part of the increased TO is a direct result of it.
Steve Nash's Phoenix Suns, or even Mavs, dispels that notion. I guess u just need to have good ball-care takers.
Agreed, more possessions, faster pace = more turnovers. Also, I like Ariza but he looks really uncomfortable driving in traffic, thats how he gets most of his turnovers. If he can learn to dribble in the lane better or hop step or something I think the number goes down. That and if Brooks stops falling, seems like he has floor magnets in his head.
More ball movement but more importantly more possessions, playing at a faster pace gives more opportunities for assists and turnovers. I would be willing to bet assists are up too. DD
Assists are way up. At least I cant remember the last game we didnt have 20 assists. Most games we are mid to upper 20s.
2008-2009: Assists per game = 20.3 Turnovers per game = 14.1 2009-2010: Assits per game = 22.3 Turnovers per game = 15.5 More possessions, more opportunities for turnovers and assists.
The funny thing is our Assist:Turnover ratio is almost exactly the game. The increased number of turnovers and assists is purely based on a higher number of possessions. We're taking care of the ball just as much as last season (which was bad to begin with).
*almost exactly the same, that is. 2008-2009: http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2009.html 2009-2010: http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2010.html 2008-2009 A:TO Ratio = 1.435 2009-2010 A:TO Ratio = 1.442 Pretty close.
Last season there was more one on one due to Yao and Artest. This year, there are more putbacks based on our high offensive rebound numbers. Guess this is where the appearance of more assists comes from. Not as much one on one, so the offense appears better from an assist/bucket ratio.
Scary stat from BDL: That's an awful percentage. Seems like Brooks falls down alot, but my guess is he is more susceptable to getting bumped considering his speed and size. Ariza also loses the ball a ton it seems.
The Rockets are getting more possessions per game. Turnovers per possession was a bigger problem last year, actually. Two Rockets in recent years impacted our team turnovers more than anyone else -- Yao and Tracy (see here). Yao had a very negative impact on our turnover-rate (bottom percentile, league-wide), while McGrady had a very positive impact (98th percentile, league wide). That's why last year, with no McGrady but with Yao, we were bottom 10 in limiting our turnovers per possession (ranked 21st league wide). In preceding years where McGrady played more and Yao did not play as much, we were in the top half in limiting our turnovers. This year, with neither of them playing and with turnover-prone players like Brooks and Ariza leading the team in possession usage, we are right now ranked 17th in limiting turnovers.
I think the turnover rate is essentially a wash between this year and last year. This year rank: 21th least turnover per possession. Last year rank: 17th. This year Rockets turnover per possession (TO%): .138 Last year: .136. The Rockets actually are turning the ball over at a slightly higher rate than they were last year, even accounting for number of possession. However, they are ranked better now because the league as a whole got worst at limiting TOs (leage average now is .138, last year's average was .133).
I think its more useful to look at team stats relative to the league, rather than the raw numbers, especially early in the season. Teams tend to be more turnover-prone early on.
