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Top “Ball Control” teams
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Assist/TO is so often used that people just take for granted that it’s meaningful as a team stat (I’ll get to it as an individual stat later on)
Here’s my point: is the opposite of a turnover an assist? If you think about it, no. The objective is to end your offensive possessions with points and a turnover is always a zero point possession. The opposite of a turnover is having a possession where you either got a shot up or went to the FT line. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter whether your possessions that were ended with points scored had an assist or not - the points count the same.
Which team is better offensively, (and these are realistic numbers) a team that scores at 1.1 points per possession with a 70% assist rate or a team that scores at 1.2 points per possession with a 30% assist rate? (Hint, more points > less points).
The lesson is that assists are not a determining factor in efficiency. Turnovers are.
For individual players, particularly players who are primary ball handlers, the stat can be mildly descriptive of good vs. bad, but it’s still weird to put those stats together (see above). To me “ball control” is 100% about turnovers.
Here’s my point: is the opposite of a turnover an assist? If you think about it, no. The objective is to end your offensive possessions with points and a turnover is always a zero point possession. The opposite of a turnover is having a possession where you either got a shot up or went to the FT line. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter whether your possessions that were ended with points scored had an assist or not - the points count the same.
Which team is better offensively, (and these are realistic numbers) a team that scores at 1.1 points per possession with a 70% assist rate or a team that scores at 1.2 points per possession with a 30% assist rate? (Hint, more points > less points).
The lesson is that assists are not a determining factor in efficiency. Turnovers are.
For individual players, particularly players who are primary ball handlers, the stat can be mildly descriptive of good vs. bad, but it’s still weird to put those stats together (see above). To me “ball control” is 100% about turnovers.