General Basketball Question

[Striper69]

This has come up for me lately:

If Gabby gets a rebound and passes it to Mariah who dribbles down court and makes a basket does Gabby get an assist?

Exactly what constitutes an assist is what I'm wondering (I probably should know this but...).

 

[CocoHusky]

Short answer: It depends.
Long answer: An assist is awarded only if, in the judgement of the statistician, the last player's pass contributed directly to a made basket.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Short answer: It depends.
Long answer: An assist is awarded only if, in the judgement of the statistician, the last player's pass contributed directly to a made basket.

Thanks, Coco, I've always wondered that.

 

[HardHatGuy#2]

Coco is absolutely correct. In the manner that the question was worded, which sounds like Moriah received the ball around the opposing three-point line and has to dribble down the court with it, it's a 50/50 or less. If the pass is a long outlet, say to the same spot on the other side of the court a few dribbles to the basket, it would likely be a dime.

I wish basketball was more like Hockey in this respect, so that two assists could be given out for a basket. It won't happen, but with a team that passes like UConn, that could double the assists.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Below are the initial sections in the NCAA Statisticians Manual describing what is an assist. There are many examples following these sections that I didn't include, but the whole thing can be googled.

SECTION 5 — ASSISTS

A player is credited with an assist when the player makes, in the judgment of the statistician, the principal pass contributing directly to a fi eld goal (or an awarded score of two or three points). Only one assist is to be credited on any field goal and only when the pass was a major part of the play. The same player cannot be credited with an assist and a field goal made on the same possession.

Such a pass should be either (a) a pass that finds a player free after he or she has maneuvered without the ball for a positional advantage, or (b) a pass that gives the receiving player a positional advantage he or she otherwise would not have had.

Philosophy. An assist should be more than a routine pass that just happens to be followed by a field goal. It should be a conscious effort to find the open player or to help a player work free. There should not be a limit on the number of dribbles by the receiver. It is not even necessary that the assist be given on the last pass. There is no restraint on the distance or type of shot made, for these are not the crucial factors in determining whether an assist should be credited.

 

[Zorro]

That next to last sentence is a chin scratcher! Hypothetical example? Long pass to one of two breaking players who tips to the other one for the bucket mebbe?

 

[Kibitzer]

That next to last sentence is a chin scratcher! Hypothetical example? Long pass to one of two breaking players who tips to the other one for the bucket mebbe?

In your hypothetical example, the breaking player who tipped the long pass gets the assist (contributed directly to the score).

In ice hockey, even goalies pick up an occasional assist: (1) long pass from the crease to a breaking player, followed immediately by (2) pass to another (fast) breaking player who shoots. . . SCORES!

Nat will surely get an assist from one of her looog outlet passes to Mo, Kia, or Gabby when they catch it at high speed en route to the basket.

 

[Topdawg]

...and if a player throws a ball to the backboard, catches it mid air off the bounce, passes the ball to herself between her legs and dunks... Per the rules, 2 points and no assists. Maybe Gabby is going to make this play one of these days!!

 

[Waquoit]

This has come up for me lately:
If Gabby gets a rebound and passes it to Mariah who dribbles down court and makes a basket does Gabby get an assist?

Real world: Home - Yes, Away - No

 

[UcMiami]

Back to the original question - the determining factor is where Moriah is when she receives the pass - if she receives the pass in a position where she has a direct route to the basket with no defenders in position to seriously impede her progress to the basket, then it doesn't matter where on the court she receives it - it could be at the defensive foul line. If however she needs to dribble around and through the defense, the pass becomes secondary to her own skill in creating her shot.
In the real world, on a rebound most teams have already got players retreating to take up defensive positions so a short pass is unlikely to 'free' a player, but a longer pass like Butler's can still lead a teammate directly to the basket. The more typical short pass in the back court leading to an assist comes from a live ball steal, as the offensive players who made the turnover haven't had a chance to transition back into their defensive positions.

 

[Orangutan]

Assuming it's an ordinary outlet pass, it shouldn't be an assist, but as has been stated above some scorekeepers are quite generous, especially to home players.

See this article: Deadspin - Confessions of an NBA Scorekeeper They discuss a game where the scorekeeper gave Nick Van Exel 23 assists for the hell of it/as a protest and nobody noticed. They also give the stats on home/road splits for assists. Not surprisingly teams average significantly more assists at home. The article is a bit old (from '09) but I assume the stats are probably roughly the same now.