Post by donatello2424 on May 17, 2009 14:51:47 GMT -5
May 17, 2009- Point Guards: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Point guards are the leaders of the team. More than likely they are the first to touch it after an inbound and they drive it up court. Their decision making can many times decide if the trip down that side of the court is successful or not. I decided to take a look at the defining stats of a point guard and look to see which ones are the most efficient and which ones are not.
When most people look at a point guard’s stats they are looking for the number of assists and the number of turnovers a point guard gets. One can easily divide the per game averages of assist by the per game averages of turnovers to get their assist-to-turnover ratio. This number basically says how many assist the player will get compared to 1 turnover. Let’s take a look at the most efficient guys first.
1. Sam Cassell, Atlanta, 7 a-to
-10.5 assists to only 1.5 turnovers is remarkable. His ratio is the highest by a long shot (almost 2). He has all the makings of star written all over him.
2. Etienne Preira, Chicago, 5.2
-The star of the Chicago offseason has blown up in Chicago. He joins the 1.5 turn over club with Cassell and regularly dishes out 7.8 assists. His move to SG could mean he won’t be starting at the point anymore, but with those stats how could you not start him there.
3. John Stockton, Detroit, 4.71
-Stockon isn’t known for his scoring so it is great that he is a pure point guard. 9.9 apg is close to the magic 10 number that so few point guards reach.
4. Kenny Anderson, Cleveland and Travis Best, Portland, 4.6
-Two guys share the 4 spot with the same number. While Best dishes out more dimes, he does get more turnovers. Rumor says Anderson is on his way out of Cleveland, but Best is likely a mainstay in Portland for years to come.
Now that we have gotten the best out of the way, let’s look at the worse…in descending order.
5. Mark Price, Golden State, 2.41
-Golden State is winning, and Price is part of the reason. Yes he does turn it over a lot; however he also dishes out over 8 assists per game. As long as Price can get it to Corbin, Barkley, and Brad, they will be fine.
4. Sherman Douglas, Utah, 2.29
-Utah has 3 point guards all getting over 29 minutes a game, but only 1 starts at pg and that is Douglas. One would think that his A handles rating would mean he is efficient, but that isn’t the case. He is a moderately good passer, and turns it over almost 3.5 times a game. Could Penny or Kenny do a better job?
3. Gary Grant, Milwaukee, 2.15
-The last of the pure point guards goes here. The Bucks need to make their contract year, however if Grant is their point guard they may not make it. A+ handles, but horrible turnovers. He is a moderate to good passer, but leads the league in turnovers a game (he actually had over 4 a game before this past sim). Can the Bucks expect to make the playoffs if he is their point guard? It seems that arroyo thinks so.
2. Dan Majerle, Dallas, 2.06
-Now we get into either SG’s playing the point or guys with no experience. Dan is the former. He only has B- handles so one can’t expect too much from him. However 6.4 assists is good for him, however the 3.1 topg are not. They need a true pg, but one with their youth movement is not easy to find.
1. Mike Iuzzolino, Seattle, 1.37
–Who is right. The replacement in the starting lineup for Payton is a no name who is struggling. In his 2 games against the Grizzlies starting, he is averaging 9 assists to 9 turnovers. The good thing is that starting him makes the Sonics pick better.
