Should we think of or calculate assists differently?

You have obviously forgotten that Trevor Ariza is one of Paul's "shooters."

 

I'd say keep all the stats as is as long as Morey is our GM, so that he can be ahead of other GMs with real stats.

Morey used to say that McGrady was the second best passing wing behind LeBron. He referred to how they tracked a player's passing ability not by traditional assist numbers but by how many high quality shots he created for teammates. But that's probably too much to ask for the ordinary scorekeepers to record.

 

exactly. many guys are not high assists guys but they create "good" shots for their teammates, whether they go in or not.

a lot of big man are good playmakers but their assist numbers don't indicate it: dwight howard, tim duncan for instance.

but this is why I consider chris paul the best PG in the L. the guy averages around 10 assists per game and his team is near dead-last in points score (27th). without paul, they really can't get any decent shots up outside of possible a david west step back here and there. you have to watch him play to see how good he is.

 

It's going to be an arbitrary measure no matter how you rate it, because the assist is always a two man game and is very system-dependent. Even when it looks like the passer did all the work (eg, threading a bounce pass to an open cutter), it still take the receiver getting in position.

Advanced stats take the raw assist number but account for pace, which is a decent way of normalizing the system somewhat. IMO it would be better if they did some kind of touches/assists ratio to see how often players pass the ball when they have it (not the most trivial thing to measure).

Ultimately, any team sport with interchangable positions is going to have issues with individual stats. Really, the only way to properly rate two players would be to give them the same teammates and play the same teams and see whose team does better.

 

I've thought about this before too, but really I think all the stats can be looked at in the same way (maybe not to the same extent as the assist though).

For example, I always thought Dwight Howard's rebounding numbers were inflated by having Rashard Lewis as his PF. He's obviously still a great rebounder but imagine if Kevin Love were playing next to him. Basically I just think all stats need to be taken with a grain of salt, and that there a lot of overlooked factors that go into them.

But you're right, I think the assist has the most variables/uncertainty about it.

 

There was an article that pointed out that raw rebounding numbers are not as indicative of a player's worth as it is widely taken. When you get a rebound, you are taking the ball away from your teammates as well as from your opponent. And of course, you have more rebounding opportunities when there are more missed shots, which the rebounder has zero control.

This is why boxscore stats are so unreliable in determining a player's true worth.

 

T'wolves shoot the 2nd most shots in the league, but only 3 other teams shoot a lower FG%.

 

even that you see pgs up top and even lebron and others at the top of the key wait for a guy to curl of of 2 screens and just dish it to the right wing where they score, they just kind of waited and made and easy pass it was really the player running off the picks and the guys setting the pick who allowed this great shot to happen, but in this the assist guy gets credit in the box score