Questions on turnover stats

[cabbie191]

We often have discussions about turnovers and assists as measures of how a player or team is doing. I have a couple of questions regarding turnovers and how they fit into official game stats that I hope some of our experts might be able to answer.

First, when there is a shot clock violation, that's considered a turnover. Does it get assigned to whichever player had the ball last when the referee blows his/her whistle? Or is there such a thing as a "team" turnover that doesn't really get reflected in the stat sheet.

Second, is an offensive foul considered a turnover when it comes down to official stats?

New Years Eve, my wife and I went to the Penn State @ Michigan game. If their performance this game is indicative of their season, it's easy to see why PSU has a losing record : 5 assists, 23 turnovers

 

[ochoopsfan]

We often have discussions about turnovers and assists as measures of how a player or team is doing. I have a couple of questions regarding turnovers and how they fit into official game stats that I hope some of our experts might be able to answer.

First, when there is a shot clock violation, that's considered a turnover. Does it get assigned to whichever player had the ball last when the referee blows his/her whistle? Or is there such a thing as a "team" turnover that doesn't really get reflected in the stat sheet.

Second, is an offensive foul considered a turnover when it comes down to official stats?

New Years Eve, my wife and I went to the Penn State @ Michigan game. If their performance this game is indicative of their season, it's easy to see why PSU has a losing record : 5 assists, 23 turnovers

I believe the answer is yes and yes.

 

[stamfordhusky]

We often have discussions about turnovers and assists as measures of how a player or team is doing. I have a couple of questions regarding turnovers and how they fit into official game stats that I hope some of our experts might be able to answer.

First, when there is a shot clock violation, that's considered a turnover. Does it get assigned to whichever player had the ball last when the referee blows his/her whistle? Or is there such a thing as a "team" turnover that doesn't really get reflected in the stat sheet.

Second, is an offensive foul considered a turnover when it comes down to official stats?

New Years Eve, my wife and I went to the Penn State @ Michigan game. If their performance this game is indicative of their season, it's easy to see why PSU has a losing record : 5 assists, 23 turnovers

There is a team turnover that may apply to shot clock violations, 5 second count on inbounds, and 10 second count to advance the ball to the front court. However, it is up to the scorekeeper to determine if the violation is largely the fault of one player or if more than one deserve responsibility. If the former, then the turnover is assigned to the player at fault. If the latter, then it is a team turnover. Most of the time, these clock violations end up going in the book as a team turnover. However there are definitely some situations where an individual deserves the blame.

The relevant section from the statisticians' manual:

SITUATION: Team A (a) fails to get the ball into front court in the allotted 10 seconds; or (b) fails to get off a shot in the allotted time on the shot clock or (c) fails to release in the allotted five seconds during a throw-in.
RULING: In all three cases, there is a turnover. If the statistician thinks there is one player who is primarily responsible, charge that player with the turnover. If the statistician thinks that more than one player was responsible, charge Team A with the turnover.


And yes, an offensive foul is a turnover.