This is exactly why JVG had to go.....and that involving everyone is a much better way of doing things. I am extremely happy with the way things are going. And Battier looks good coming around off of those screens this year...... DD
Shane's field goal attempts per minute are down, as are his free throw attempts per minute. He is taking slightly more 3-point shots per minute, though. Oh, and assists are down as well. So ... is he more involved on offense? Could have fooled me.
Translation: The Rockets are now playing the team game, thats the way Basketball is supposed to be played.
But he gets more touches, this year he is more of a passer, and that may not lead to more assists, as his pass may be the pass that sets up the next pass for an assist. Durvasa, for someone as stats oriented as you, sometimes it seems you are missing the forest looking at the trees. TEAM assists are way up lately, but individual assists may be down.....what does that tell you? DD
Is he talking about this involvement as a season-long thing or a more recent thing? The Rockets have looked to be playing better cohesive offense of late. Maybe guys are getting more involved lately. Also, there could have been more touches for him when he is just a conduit-- didn't neccesarily lead to a shot or assist, just passing the ball on.
So, in this article, the Rockets seem to be focusing on their assists as an indicator of improved offense. I remember doing the same thing about a month ago, and people didn't like that too much. Anyways, with McGrady on the floor 61% of the Rockets field goals are assisted. When he's not on the floor, it's 56%. That's all I'll say about that!
When was the last time you can recall an offensive possesion where all 5 guys touched it and it led to a layup? Now only one assist was given, but EVERYONE felt involved in that plays success. That is a MAJOR difference this year. DD
I guess it means that assists are more evenly distributed? This is something I've looked at in the past, and it might be interesting to do it again -- comparing how evenly the the assists are distributed on a game by game basis, compared to last year. When I get a little extra time, I might do this.
Wouldn't that be indicated in APG? If they are getting more APG than last year it would seem to indicate a greater empasis on team play. DD
I agree, there is a little more of that this year. I don't think the difference is as dramatic as you're putting it, but hopefully we keep improving in that regard. Ultimately, what matters is what all that extra player involvement leads to. For instance, more people were involved when T-Mac was injured out of necessity, but that didn't necessarily lead to higher quality shots. The real test for our offense is when we start playing the really good defensive teams again in March.
LOL, I second this. Durvasa, I do like your stats. But, sometimes you ONLY pick stats in your favor. .
I remember that lay-up. When I saw it, it reminded me of how we moved the ball in 93-94. My row at the game was wowed: "Did you see that? The ball didn't even touch the floor!" It was beautiful. I was critical of Adelman to start the season and there are some things he can still do better, however I really like how his player's coach approach is molding the players into leaders on the court. The journey is far from over. We still have our own version of March Madness to face. But it sure is cool to watch the players be much more involved without the coach during time-outs. They no longer wait to be told. This will pay dividends in the playoffs.
Not necessarily. APG is determined by the following factors: percentage of FGM assisted, FG%, and FGA/g. And FGA/g is determined by factors that aren't necessarily tied in to "team play", like possessions per game and offensive rebounding. I'd argue that Ast% (percentage of made field goals assisted) is a better indicator. Here's a comparison of team rankings for each stat. You decide which better represents the teams that play well together as a team: Code: [SIZE=2] [B]Team Ast/g Team AST/FGM[/B] 1 Phoenix Suns 27.3 1 New Jersey Nets 70.0% 2 Utah Jazz 26.2 2 Utah Jazz 66.0% 3 Denver Nuggets 23.7 3 Phoenix Suns 65.9% 4 New Jersey Nets 23.7 4 Detroit Pistons 62.4% 5 Los Angeles Lakers 23.6 5 Toronto Raptors 61.8% 6 Indiana Pacers 23.3 6 Indiana Pacers 61.5% 7 Toronto Raptors 23.2 7 Los Angeles Clippers 61.4% 8 Golden State Warriors 23.0 8 Denver Nuggets 61.4% 9 Detroit Pistons 22.8 9 Atlanta Hawks 61.1% 10 Boston Celtics 21.7 10 Boston Celtics 61.0% 11 Houston Rockets 21.7 11 Charlotte Bobcats 60.7% 12 New Orleans Hornets 21.6 12 Los Angeles Lakers 60.6% 13 Charlotte Bobcats 21.6 13 Portland Trail Blazers 60.1% 14 Portland Trail Blazers 21.5 14 San Antonio Spurs 60.0% 15 San Antonio Spurs 21.5 15 Chicago Bulls 59.5% 16 Seattle Supersonics 21.5 16 Houston Rockets 59.5% 17 Atlanta Hawks 21.3 17 Milwaukee Bucks 58.5% 18 Los Angeles Clippers 21.3 18 Seattle Supersonics 57.3% 19 Chicago Bulls 21.2 19 Golden State Warriors 57.1% 20 Milwaukee Bucks 21.1 20 Miami Heat 56.6% 21 Orlando Magic 20.2 21 New Orleans Hornets 56.2% 22 Dallas Mavericks 20.2 22 Dallas Mavericks 55.3% 23 Memphis Grizzlies 20.1 23 Orlando Magic 55.2% 24 Philadelphia 76ers 20.0 24 Philadelphia 76ers 55.2% 25 Miami Heat 19.8 25 Memphis Grizzlies 54.2% 26 Cleveland Cavaliers 19.3 26 Cleveland Cavaliers 53.6% 27 Washington Wizards 19.2 27 Washington Wizards 53.0% 28 Minnesota Timberwolves 18.9 28 New York Knickerbockers 52.3% 29 Sacramento Kings 18.7 29 Minnesota Timberwolves 51.9% 30 New York Knickerbockers 18.3 30 Sacramento Kings 51.8%[/SIZE] In the article, they talk about more people getting assists, instead of the assists coming from just one person. That could be captured, I think, by looking at average variance in assists/min for every player playing at least, say, 15 minutes in a game.
No doubt, everyone gets to play the same teams, I am just happy that Tmac came back and Luis moved into the starting lineup during this stretch of games against some weaker opponents. Though beating Portland away and Golden State and San Antonio at home is a good indicator that things are looking up. DD
The percentages seem low... I mean... given that the Suns has 27.3 APG, and that's 32.4% of their FGM... my math says that means they average 83 FGM per game?
You're right, I screwed up ... updating. Hmmm ... ok, I'll admit that after fixing those numbers, I'm less convinced on Ast%. When New Jersey leads the league at a startling 70%, despite being a bottom 10 offensive team in terms of efficiency ... you have to wonder about the usefulness of that number. On the other hand, I think Ast/g is a deceptively good indicator. As I said earlier, that is essentially a product of the following factors: Ast%, FG%, and FGA. Well, if you look at how each of those correlate to Offensive Efficiency, you get 0.18, 0.795, and 0.05 for r, respectively. And the correlation coefficient for Ast/g is 0.47. In other words, the dominating factor there is FG% ... not the proportion of field goals assisted or field goal attempts. What does all this mean? Capturing "team play" statistically is tough, and Ast% is probably not a great indicator for it (unless we want to accept that New Jersey plays good team basketball on offense, despite being one of the worst offensive teams).
I think you missed the part of the article where it said the guy passing might not be the one getting the assist, but he trusts that passing it off will result in a basket in the end. That could explain why Shane's assists aren't up but it doesn't matter as long as the team is scoring, and I also think the guys on this board is more excited about this team playing like this than they ever were with Assistant coach's philosophy.
But they also stressed the importance of all the assists they are getting. Couple the two together, and what they are really excited about is the distribution of assists. They are getting a lot of assists, and it's not just coming from one or two people. Lots of people are involved passing the ball and creating shots. I think that's what Adelman is after. That leads to a question. Is it possible for teams to play Adelman's style well, and still not be a very good offensive team?
Great article and hopefully they will keep it up. If they do, there's a great chance we might pull off something huge this year as a team.
