brooks is a 3 point threat. when the defense closes out on him it creates opportunities in the paint. lowry is a threat on the drive. when the defense collapses on him, he finds the open man on the perimeter. i wouldn't rank either one as being more important than the other. also, it's important to factor in what type of offensive players each of them plays with. brooks plays a lot of minutes with yao and scola, meaning he gets assists in the paint. lowry plays with guys like lee, bud, and miller... more 3 point assists.
It is valuable from the standpoint that it illustrates that with Lowry on the floor, our other guys get more good 3 looks than with Brooks on the floor. Brooks shoots more 3s, therefore some people think he has more value. But his shooting value from 3 is muted some by the fact that Lowry gets more good 3 point shots for his mates. I especially like the plays where Lowry is moving to the wing and he kinda flips the ball out to Martin while simultaneously acting as a screener for Martin's shot. That is a very effective play. And it's so simple. It is one of the little things that Brooks doesn't do in small spaces. Lowry creates that shot by giving the little scoop pass or hand off and standing there so his mate can get a great look. Brooks continues to dribble around and try to get his shot off. He just doesn't do these types of things well. And Lowry excels at them. They are little things that are actually HUGE to a team.
What's "huh?" about it? Orlando's offense is tailored to 3-point shooters, and they run a lot of pick and rolls with their PG for 3-point looks. Howard's presence in the paint sucks in the defense a lot which leaves shooters open on the wings. Nelson and Duhon may not have elite court-vision, but they've done their job in distributing the ball to shooters. Duhon was a good passer in D'Antoni's 3-point friendly system too, which I suppose is one of the reasons they got him. I wasn't trying to show that this proves Lowry is an all-star. But he does play a big role in our 3-point attack, even without being a great shooter. I think that's fair to say, and its been especially evident in the last 5 games or so.
Totally agree. I said "huh" because you were referencing Duhon from his Knick days and he is a Magic currently.
A stat's usefulness isn't intrinsic to it's numbers, it's in how a person interprets them. For example, with only this info and access to no other stats, you could infer that Orlando is a team that puts a premium on 3 point shooting, and you would be right. Also, it is very useful for comparing guys that play the same position in the same system (such as Lowry and Brooks) to see the different passing qualities they bring to the table.
When Brooks play he do with Scola and Yao. The 3 point assist come from the inside out or a hockey assist. Brooks is one of the 3 point shooters so he gets the 3 pointer while other player get the assist. This is good reason why Kyle should come form the bench as long as Yao start. Yao and Scola in there will make Kyle less effective by taking away the middle. He will be great from the bench playing along Miller, Chase and Lee, and playing along KM when Yao is not there.
Its much easier to pass back out on the perimeter than it is to pass into the interior. Not saying one is more effective than the other to the bottom line, just that its easier to do the kick-outs than passing into traffic. Still need to be able to identify the good shooters, and be able to create opportunities to get them in their best spots on the floor.
That is a tremendous leap of logic. My logic says that Brooks makes the team less effective when Yao and Scola are in there by taking shots away from them.
The 'Huh?' is the fact that a backup point guard ranks so high in this advanced stat. As you pointed out, it just shows it can be greatly skewed by the offense that they're in and thus I can't put too much stock into it as a legitimate indicator of a skill. I think sometimes the game is broken down too much, to where some new stat shows x player as one of the best in the league, but in reality it's based on other circumstances. I.E, the Orlando point guards. If Aaron Brooks was on Orlando in lieu of Jameer Nelson, you'd be telling me how great he is at getting his teammates open 3pt looks. But since he's on the Rockets, he's more down in the middle of the pack. I'd prefer comparing our point guards using the measurements that Morey sometimes tweets about -- the good passes vs. bad passes stats. Those aren't dependent on offensive schemes or shots going in, which is out of the passer's control.
I like good/bad pass but I would say it is also dependent on offensive schemes to an extent. And the point you're making is still a little unclear to me. You're saying that because Brooks is on the Rockets rather than Orlando, he's more in the middle of the pack. But this thread is about Lowry, who is also on the Rockets, and he's up amongst the league leaders. So, what does Orlando and their potent 3-point shooting attack have to do with it?
The point is that the 3-point assist stat is heavily influenced by the offensive schemes that the team runs. Lowry being amongst the 'league leaders' is meaningless since any half-ass PG could play for Orlando and be amongst the league leaders as well. Further, it doesn't take into account missed three-pointers that were good shots. So in theory, a PG could be elite at setting up the three pointer but have poor shooters around him and be near last in the league in 3pt assist. Does that mean he's not good at setting up the three? Of course not! I have a hard time looking at this stat and making concrete conclusions from it because of those two issues, which I have attempted to lay out to you in previous post as well.
OK. So you're saying our offensive scheme is oriented towards the 3-point shot, and that could be why Lowry's amongst the league leaders. While we do put more value than most teams on the 3-point shot, our 3-point attack is not as prolific or potent as Orlando's. We also don't have the same spread offense with a suck-in-the-defense presence in the middle that Orlando has. While 3-point assists in Orlando are more "system-based", on our team I believe they require more individual skill and vision on the passer's part. Which goes back to your point that if Brooks was on the Magic he could be amongst the leaders as well but on the Rockets he's middle-of-the-pack.
