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Interesting article. I wouldn't be surprised to see his assist total inflated by 1 to 2 assists per game. That would mean he'd still be averaging around 10/11 though.
Rajon Rondo leads the NBA in stolen assists
By Kelly Dwyer
Rajon Rondo is leading the NBA in assists by a wide margin at 13.3 per game. He's also second in the NBA in steals, pilfering 2.4 per contest. And, as it turns out, he might also be leading the league in stolen assists per game.
All year, we've seen Rajon pulling up in transition to needlessly buffer his assist totals with an unnecessary pass to someone on the break, and we've also seen some dubious calls as Rondo works his magic on Boston's home court. But late Monday night Mark Deeks from ShamSports.com found the strangest example yet of Rondo (to an innocent extent, we should point out), and the Celtics' home scorers giving away assists that weren't due.
No, it wasn't a pass that led to an eventual move and score. And no, it wasn't a needless pass tossed solely to earn the assist. It was a pass thrown by someone else, leading to a Boston score, with Rondo somehow getting the assist credit.
Watch:
Every box score and play-by-play outlet recorded this, as directed by the Boston home scorers, as an assist for Rajon -- when it was clearly an assist for Ray Allen.
Actually, that's not even true in the slightest. Allen made a nice pass to Shaquille O'Neal, who then pump faked, dribbled, turned over his other shoulder, pump faked, and scored on the weak side. It shouldn't have even been an assist for Allen.
And yet, somehow, Rajon got the dime.
Now, this isn't a huge deal. But this does warrant scrutiny, because this is the only part of the NBA landscape (outside of the often infuriating block/charge call) that is left solely up to discretion. Not to discredit these fabulous playmakers, but we've seen John Stockton, Chris Paul and Deron Williams all take in assists due to very liberal takes on what cons utes an assist from their home scorers. And, as we develop more and more eras as the decades roll on, it would be nice to compare point guards who are separated by 20 years with a degree of certainty we can rely upon.
And though Rondo deserves that assists-per-game lead this season, the NBA needs to pay attention. Too many times we've heard "from Rajon Rondo!" barked by the Boston PA as the other team brings the ball up court, and wondered just what that scorer's table was thinking.
Now we know. They're thinking, "How can we get this guy as many assists as we can?" And I'm thinking, "Why do they make it so that I have to watch one of the league's most dominant and exciting players with a jaundiced eye?"
Step in, NBA. Help us out here. Assist us, if you will.
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Check the play-by-play in the link below to see it was recorded as a Rondo assist.
http://www.nba.com/games/20110117/OR...#nbaGIboxscore
Interesting article. I wouldn't be surprised to see his assist total inflated by 1 to 2 assists per game. That would mean he'd still be averaging around 10/11 though.
As mentioned in the article, there was some talk a few years ago that the New Orleans Hornets home scorers liberally credited Paul with assists and steals. And I would not be surprised at all if previous eras did the same for their stars. Would you be shocked to find out Oscar Robertson got a favorable scratch or two on his way to a triple double?
It happens. Human error is part of scorekeeping. If it becomes egregious, they should definitely look into it more. But if it's a once in a while thing, I don't have a huge problem with it.
if this were happening regularly, why is this the only time half the internet noticed?
simple error on the part of the boston scorers tbh. they've been conditioned into crediting rondo with assists, because he's an assist machine.
Tommy isn't doing the scoring is he?
probably because most of them aren't nearly as egregiously and blatantly wrong as this one
The League has been doing this forever. Stats are for losers.
If Tommy did the scoring, Rondo would avg 15/11/27 with 5 steals and 3 blocks per game.
you do realize time is running out on Maria Gonzalez don't you...
Why are you so obsessed with my wife?Don't you have some sour pussy to ?
Historically speaking, its kind of a myth that Stockton in particular benefitted unusually from Utah's scorekeepers; players usually average more assists at home than on the road. Especially high assist point guards. Whether that's due to playing better or favorable home scorekeepers is another question. Here's career averages for players in the top 15 all-time in assists broken down by home and road numbers:
Stockton: 11.4 (h) 10.6 (r) +.8
Kidd: 9.7 (h) 8.7 (r) +1
Magic (home/road splits only started being tracked from 1986 on): 12.1 (h) 11.5 (r) +.6
Isiah (1986 on): 9.1 (h) 7.9 (r) +1.2
Mo Cheeks (1986 on): 7.0 (h) 5.4 (r) +1.6
Mark Jackson: 8.3 (h) 7.6 (r) +.7
Tim Hardaway: 8.7 (h) 7.7 (r) +1
One anomaly is Steve Nash who is averaging half an assist more per game on the road during his career.
In terms of Stock, who you hear this about a lot, I'm guessing that he may have just got called out because of jealousy, or because people automatically assumed his numbers were inflated because they were so gaudy. His road assist numbers were still tremendous in several years of his peak years as well.
http://sonicscentral.com/apbrmetrics...623a3bda1ea5e1
This was a good thread on assist inflation, from back in the day..
Even though I'm stats-oriented, I enjoyed reading that thread and other articles/threads about assist inflation, I never really found interest in debating it, it's kind of a meaningless thing to argue about, there can't be much debate IMO..
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