BASKETBALL NEEDS TO CHANGE THE ASSIST RULE
Alright, this is for all of you from the old school. The folks who have seen Hoosiers and Coach Carter 10 times. Made free throws after a play with a potential assist SHOULD COUNT towards assists. Now B – why does this matter? Hoops season isn’t here yet? Why do you care? It’s CC – I’m not afraid to say it. She inspires me. But really, I just want to understand this rule. It puzzles me.
When we look at this logically, using a brain, we can understand some things. Currently, assists must “directly” lead to a score. Understood. Let’s change the angle now. On plays with an assist, the basket would NOT have been made in the fashion it was without the pass. We are honoring the contribution to the score. The same is true in other sports as well. Hockey honors multiple passes because the Canadians understand the reason for the existence of this stat. Back to America – can we agree? Assists are simply scoring contributions.
Now – what changes fundamentally when someone is fouled? Nothing. It’s a trade off. Ball don’t lie. Knock them down. Free throws are free. You know? The defense illegally stops a basket, to no fault of the passer, and there is still an opportunity for points. Except per rule, we are no longer honoring the contribution? So here is the solution, 0.5 assists per free throw when there was a potential assist. 2 made free throws equals 1 assist – nothing extra for 3, just as with a normal made basket. Nothing extra for an and-1, just as with a normal made basket. Consistency is nice, I think.
We love to factor teammate contribution in ‘Whose Better’ arguments – this gives us a little better insight to how much value a passer brings to the game when judging results/stats. Compare the higher assist figures against the potential assists and now we see how dogshit certain teammates perform for their star players (LABron logic). I’m not asking for the normalization of advanced stats here – no regular fan wants that shit. I just want shit to make sense.
B