Morey's mentioned the term "true assist" in his tweets after games. He stated that Ariza had 13 true assists in the Philly game. What is a true assist? Is it just a normal assist recoreded by the Rox stats guy, trying to balance out the bias and error of the official score keeper? Or is it something deeper, maybe some forms of hockey assist is counted as well. It seems like this would be a fairly easy thing to check after R2K's highlight vid comes out.
my guess is, if Ariza sets a nice backdoor screen for one player and the player had an open layup, that would give Ariza 1 true assist? So it's more like hockey?
I think he refers to creating a good shot for someone even if they miss it. If you make a pass to a guy who blows an easy layup - really that should still be an assist. Also, if you make a pass to someone and they get fouled...it's not counted as an assist, but why shouldn't it be since it led to FT's? I would assume those two things would be considered "true" assists by Morey...or anyone who is a stat junkie.
Morey's true assist is referring to a "right pass" to an player that has a good probability of scoring, regardless if the catcher/player makes the basket or not.. For example, Ariza passed the ball to someone under the basket without anyone guarding, that person went for a dunk but it hit the rim and bounced out, this, would still consider a true assist for Ariza.
I guess he counted the 13 times Trevor passed the ball to someone who shot. Morey must have been paying close attention as Ariza only had 3 assists.
A 2nd example would be: Ariza passed the ball to Brooks outside the 3 point line who was totally open. For whatever reason, Brooks didn't shoot the three and passed the ball to another player. This, would still consider a true assist for Ariza.
If that's true, nash would average 20 true assists a game. lol. seriously, if you watch suns game, the number of times nash finds his teamates open looks is ridiculous
In the advanced stats community which Morey is a part of, "true shooting %" refers to scoring efficiency while taking into account 3s and free throws: TS% = (2PM+1.5*3PM+0.5*FTM))/(2PA + 3PA + 0.44*FTA)) = 0.5*PTS/(FGA+0.44*FTA) So I imagine "true assists" is analogous to this. So, instead of just counting one assist for each assisted made field goal, you give extra credit for an assist to a made 3-pointer, or an "assist" that leads to free throws. Suppose a player passes for 5 made 2's, 2 made 3's, and 4 free throw attempts. We'll say that on average players hit 75% of their free throws. So, while in the box score he'd get 7 assists, his "true assists" total might be: TA = (2*2P_AST + 3*3P_AST + 0.75*FTA_AST)/2 = 9.5 But that's just a guess. Edit: Actually, Morey said in his twitter that Ariza had 13 "true assists" yesterday. Assuming all 3 of his recorded assists were 3's, that would give him "4.5" true assists, by the definition above. Which means he would have had to pick up 8.5 more just from getting teammates to the line. Very unlikely, unless he was solely responsible for everyone else's free throws. So other posters must be correct -- he's referring to assists + "potential" assists, perhaps with adjustments for made 3s, "hockey assist" passes, and/or assists that lead to wide open, high efficiency shots.
Probably this. Maybe also a guy who misses an uncontested jump shot? Although there are some players who couldn't throw it in the ocean from 10 plus feet.
A true assist as I understand it, and others have pointed out is making a pass that sets up a good shot. Make or miss... DD
Would that would mean the Rockets missed 10 out of 13 "good shots" yesterday, since Ariza only officially collected 3 assists?
Yeah, that would be what it means. Alternatively a true assist could mean a pass that leads to the assist as well. I just asked DM via twitter, see what he says..... DD
Of course, Steve Nash had 18 assists last night...I wonder how many "true" assists he gets. It's a very interesting metric but only is worth while if compared against the entire league. Who knows, maybe 13 true assists really isn't that much.
You know, Mark Cuban has to be kicking himself in the butt every night over letting Nash leave. I mean wow....how bad was that move? LOL DD
