Passing and decision-making

[Seventyniner]

I poked around the data on Basketball Reference because it seemed to me that the Spurs commit a lot of live ball turnovers. Sure enough, of the 14.7 turnovers per 100 possessions that the Spurs commit, 8.7 are steals by the opponent. This makes for a ratio of 59% which is the worst in the league.

https://www.basketball-reference.com.../NBA_2024.html

Surprisingly the Spurs are only 18th in most fast break points given up per game, and are the 4th best team in the league in opponents' fast break efficiency. These numbers taken together reinforce the idea that the Spurs make too many bad passes; if they were an average defensive team on the fast break their ranking in opponents' fast break points per game would be worse.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-fastbreak-points-per-game
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/sta...eak-efficiency

One more data point comes from NBA.com's Potential Assist stat, which is how many assists per game a team would have if every shot was made. The Spurs lead the league in this category; they and the second place Warriors are pretty far ahead of the rest of the league. Though NBA.com didn't let me see this data on a per 100 possession basis so the Spurs' number skews high due to their high pace, it still stands out.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/pass...=POTENTIAL_AST

This leads to the conclusion that the Spurs as a team are well below average in their decision-making when passing. Sure they have a record for most consecutive games with 20 or more assists, but it is clear that doesn't correlate with winning or even with a good offense. They only rank 7th in raw passes per game so these problems can't only be chalked up to quan y.

I'm sure this is a "no , Sherlock" moment for most of you, but I'm glad to see that the numbers support what the eye test shows.

[spurraider21]

i doubt its tracked but im virtually certain the spurs lead the nba in turnovers committed in the backcourt. was egregiously bad in the point sochan/branham times

[exstatic]

Thank you for posting something that isn’t racist, phobic,misogynistic or an urge to suicide.

[Tyronn Lue]

You'd think the Spurs are a young team with very little NBA experience. They haven't calibrated their "good passing lane" detectors using the NBA standards. Of course, a 7'4" dude with handles, who knows he has handles, who draws a triple team (because you, make a 3 if you can) is going to get stripped a lot. Even Tim got stripped a lot down low early on.

[Atl Spur]

Productive loss