Rec’ing on…New B-ball Stat

As you can probably guess from my Ranking Project series, I like being able to quantify things where applicable.  Every now and then, I run across something that isn’t being addressed that I think should be.  In basketball, I think that is in the underappreciation of point guards.  For example, post players tend to have disproportionately high field goal percentages because their shots are usually close in.  Defensive players get attention for their steals and blocks.  Point guards (or point forwards, as Taurasi likes to call herself) typically only have an advantage in assists…but they aren’t alone in contributing to that stat. I’d like to propose a remedy.

It all began when I read Clay Kallam’s "Who will crack the WNBA All-Decade Team?"  He writes: "The reason there aren’t any point guards on the list runs deeper than just the luck of the draw — it shines a light on a fundamental weakness of what is supposed to be the fundamentally sounder game."

My response to him was my supposition that assists for women players are lower because the women’s game doesn’t play above the rim…i.e. more assist opportunities get wasted in the women’s game than the mens because the percentage of shots made is lower.  But, as I said, this is simply speculation on my part.

Why not clear this up once and for all?  Add one more category to the stat sheet: assists attempted.  After all, assists are the only stat that depend on two players completing the play.  For point guards, especially, this cheats them out of seeing their true worth.  Lets mark as an attempt any pass that would be marked as an assist if the following shot had been made (whether or not there’s a foul).  The most effective passers become the ones that have high assists to assist-attempt ratios.  This is comparing apples to apples.  The assist-to-turnover ratio, now is actually comparing two different things, but is masquerading as comparing something actually useful.

Yeah, I know it creates more of a headache for the stats people, but I think that this is a very worthwhile addition.  If you think it is as well, I encourage you to follow my lead and write to the WNBA, FIBA, the NCAA, and whomever else in an effort to stop letting the passers down.