Posted by ekswimmer on 1/20/2014 6:36:00 PM (view original):
Gillispie, just for my sake, I wanted to get some clarification. My understanding is passing helps allow for better shot selection and a byproduct is going to be better shooting percentages. It always seemed that assists were tied to passing abilities (to a degree). So would it not stand to reason that teams that average larger assist numbers generally will also see a correlation in shooting percentage?
the effect you describe didnt used to exist, which is why assists were 100% window dressing. assists are dished out AFTER shots go in based on some meaningless logic to cook the stats in a semi-realistic manner. of course, one could argue the way those stats are cooked likely bears some resemblance to the way players allow team mates to get better looks. but we really have no way to know if that is true, its pure speculation. the reality is, of course, there is going to be some similarity, just because obviously passing has to have much to do with both. but to try to actually draw any conclusions from assist figures is very speculative and dangerous, and i strongly advise against it. for evidence, look at the situation here from the OP - does that 6 assist figure suggest that PF helped his team get open looks, in a manner effective for a player playing the PG position? of course not.
i guess what are are asking is slightly different - will slightly larger team assist figures result in slightly higher shooting percentage? probably, but its impossible to draw anything. its a chicken and egg problem. teams who score more are going to have more assists, generally speaking, because there are more opportunities to credit an assist (more made baskets). now if you are going to look at assist rates off made shots, is there possibly something there? possibly, but its still very dangerous because you have no way of knowing if the logic that determines the superficial assignment of assists lines up with the logic that increases the quality of team mates' looks with, for example, a stellar passing PG. because these two pieces of logic were created many years apart, by two different game admins/developers, i would bet the answer there is no.
as someone who always was trying to find places to look for clues in areas others had written off, i feel pretty strongly looking to assists to draw any conclusion is a fool's errand. i could be wrong, but i seriously doubt it.
1/21/2014 9:26 AM (edited)