Re: "Cheap" or "legit" assists

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

How do these other ballhandlers compare to him in the rebounding department?
See, I think we are doing an injustice to him by making such comparisons.
If his assists totals were weak, some would complain about it.  His totals
are decent and now there is a hubbub about whether they are meaningful or
not?  Nah.

Cecil




----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>
To: "Celtic list" <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 12:05 PM
Subject: "Cheap" or "legit" assists


> I have to agree that this is a cheap shot criticism of Twon. You have to
> give him credit for these assists and not start playing a game trying to
> decide which assist is a 'true assist' and which is not. This criticism
just
> does not cut it and I can see why Walker supporters get upset - it is
> patently unfair.
>
> ON THE OTHER HAND, however, I believe that if we are going to praise
Walker
> for his versatility, passing skills and the number of assists he racks up
> then when we discuss his assists we should comparing him with players on
> other teams who are ALSO the primary ball handlers, not PFs who are not
> primary ball handlers. If you did this I imagine that Walker is probably
at
> best average with the possibility of being one of the worst starting
primary
> ball handler in the league (excluding LAL and Chi who use the triangle).
For
> a primary ball handler he probably has some of the lowest assist totals
plus
> a terrible assist/turnover ratio. This is the point that many Twon
defenders
> just don't seem to get - when compared to other primary ball handlers
> (rather than strictly PFs who on average handle the ball much less
> frequently than Twon actually does) he is not *that* special and in
> fact not that good given his turnovers.
>
> Taking a quick look through the league there are eight other teams whose
> leading ball handlers average less assists than Walker (Washington,
Chicago,
> Detroit, Toronto, San Antonio, LA Clippers, LA Lakers and Sacramento).
Based
> on that you could say Walker is roughly average. But two of these teams
> (Chi, LAL) employ the triangle offense whose effect is to eliminate the
> traditional role of primary ball handler. Toronto and San Antonio and to a
> lesser degree Sacramento employ a platoon at the primary ball handler
spot.
> That leaves Washington, Detroit and the Clippers as the only teams that
get
> less assist production from the primary ball handler. Add to this the high
> number of turnovers and Walker's production in that role looks even less
> impressive - surpassing every team but Detroit. The closest analog you
have
> to Walker is Stackhouse, with Odom and Jalen Rose fulfilling a similar
role
> part time (Indy employs Travis Best and Clippers employ McGinnis as
primary
> ball handlers also for significant minutes). Walker is better than
> Stackhouse (5.5 asst and 3.79 TOs compared to 5 asst and 3.97 TOs) but
this
> is virtually the only matchup in which he compares favorably with
opposition
> ball handlers in asst/TO (Walker 1.45 ASST/TO, Odom 1.42). Sure you can
say
> Walker does great for his size, but so does a dancing bear - but such
praise
> doesn't make either more proficient at the given task.
>
> Don't deny Twon his legitimate assists, but if he is going to be our
primary
> ball handler then hold him to the appropriate standard - otherwise you're
> making him seem better at the task than he is through a set of false
> comparisons.
>
> - Tom Murphy
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 12:57:37 -0800
> From: bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>
> Subject: re:
>
> >  From: Steve Knight <Steve.Knight@t-3.com>
> >
> >My question is this: In other words, is he getting cheap or legit
assists?
>
> "Cheap" or "legit" assists...hmmm... .
>
> While I think I know what you're saying, do you cancel a shot because
> a guy was cherry picking?  Take the basket away when you don't hear
> the guy say "bank"?
>
> The "assist" is a good statistic, but doesn't measure all the "good
> passes" that occur in a game, either.  To actually answer your
> question, he of course gets both, just like every other NBA player.
>
>
>