Fun with the new stats.nba.com part 2, evaluating Isaiah Thomas as a PG

['89 Kings Fan]

So the new stats.nba.com has all kinds of new statistics for the basketball enthusiast. With all of the debate over Isaiah, I thought I would head over and see how he compares to other Guards around the league. Maybe the grass isn't always greener as they say.

So to start I took the top 25 players in terms of time of possession around the league and all of them are guards.

#    Player    GP    MIN per game    Time of Possession (min)    Possession %
1    John Wall (WAS)    37    37.3    8.1    21.72%
2    Mike Conley (MEM)    36    34.8    7.4    21.26%
3    Chris Paul (LAC)    34    34.9    7.4    21.20%
4    Isaiah Thomas (SAC)    36    32.8    6.9    21.04%
5    Brandon Jennings (DET)    36    36.5    7.5    20.55%
6    Tony Parker (SAS)    36    31.4    6.4    20.38%
7    Jordan Crawford (BOS)    39    31    6.3    20.32%
8    Ricky Rubio (MIN)    38    31.8    6.4    20.13%
9    Kemba Walker (CHA)    40    36    7.2    20.00%
10    Brandon Knight (MIL)    30    30.4    5.9    19.41%
11    Ty Lawson (DEN)    36    35.7    6.8    19.05%
12    Damian Lillard (POR)    38    36.3    6.9    19.01%
13    Kirk Hinrich (CHI)    32    30.6    5.8    18.95%
14    Stephen Curry (GSW)    36    38    7.2    18.95%
15    Jrue Holiday (NOP)    34    33.8    6.4    18.93%
16    Kyle Lowry (TOR)    36    36.6    6.7    18.31%
17    Jeff Teague (ATL)    38    33.7    6.1    18.10%
18    Kyrie Irving (CLE)    36    35.2    6.2    17.61%
19    Jameer Nelson (ORL)    36    34.2    6    17.54%
20    Goran Dragic (PHX)    35    35.6    6.2    17.42%
21    George Hill (IND)    34    31.5    5    15.87%
22    Victor Oladipo (ORL)    39    31.5    4.9    15.56%
23    Jose Calderon (DAL)    39    32    4.7    14.69%
24    Monta Ellis (DAL)    40    37.1    4.6    12.40%
25    James Harden (HOU)    34    39    4.7    12.05%

As you can see when he is on the floor, Isaiah has the ball in his hands 4th most in the league. Are shooting guards have been epically bad this season so Isaiah may be posting assist numbers less than if we had average shooters around him. Luckily NBA now tracks passes and assist opportunities.

#    Player    Time of Possession (min)    Passes per game    Passes per minute
1    Jose Calderon (DAL)    4.7    64.8    13.7872340426
2    George Hill (IND)    5    55.4    11.08
3    Ricky Rubio (MIN)    6.4    70.3    10.984375
4    Kemba Walker (CHA)    7.2    77.1    10.7083333333
5    Kyle Lowry (TOR)    6.7    71    10.5970149254
6    Kirk Hinrich (CHI)    5.8    60.6    10.4482758621
7    Monta Ellis (DAL)    4.6    47.9    10.4130434783
8    Chris Paul (LAC)    7.4    73.3    9.9054054054
9    Jeff Teague (ATL)    6.1    59    9.6721311475
10    Jrue Holiday (NOP)    6.4    60.6    9.46875
11    Jameer Nelson (ORL)    6    56.8    9.4666666667
12    Brandon Knight (MIL)    5.9    55.7    9.4406779661
13    Damian Lillard (POR)    6.9    64.6    9.3623188406
14    Tony Parker (SAS)    6.4    58.6    9.15625
15    Mike Conley (MEM)    7.4    67.3    9.0945945946
16    John Wall (WAS)    8.1    73.2    9.037037037
17    Jordan Crawford (BOS)    6.3    56.7    9
18    Victor Oladipo (ORL)    4.9    44    8.9795918367
19    Kyrie Irving (CLE)    6.2    55.2    8.9032258065
20    James Harden (HOU)    4.7    41.6    8.8510638298
21    Goran Dragic (PHX)    6.2    53.7    8.6612903226
22    Ty Lawson (DEN)    6.8    58.1    8.5441176471
23    Brandon Jennings (DET)    7.5    63.6    8.48
24    Isaiah Thomas (SAC)    6.9    57.1    8.2753623188
25    Stephen Curry (GSW)    7.2    59.1    8.2083333333

#    Player    Time of Possession (min)    Assist opportunities per game    Assist opportunities per Minute
1    Chris Paul (LAC)    7.4    20.9    2.8243243243
2    Ty Lawson (DEN)    6.8    18.4    2.7058823529
3    Jeff Teague (ATL)    6.1    16    2.6229508197
4    Ricky Rubio (MIN)    6.4    16.1    2.515625
5    Monta Ellis (DAL)    4.6    11.5    2.5
6    Jameer Nelson (ORL)    6    14.6    2.4333333333
7    Stephen Curry (GSW)    7.2    16.8    2.3333333333
8    James Harden (HOU)    4.7    10.7    2.2765957447
9    Jrue Holiday (NOP)    6.4    14.3    2.234375
10    Kyle Lowry (TOR)    6.7    14.7    2.1940298507
11    Brandon Jennings (DET)    7.5    16.4    2.1866666667
12    John Wall (WAS)    8.1    17.4    2.1481481481
13    Goran Dragic (PHX)    6.2    12.9    2.0806451613
14    Tony Parker (SAS)    6.4    13.1    2.046875
15    Jose Calderon (DAL)    4.7    9.5    2.0212765957
16    Kyrie Irving (CLE)    6.2    12.1    1.9516129032
17    Isaiah Thomas (SAC)    6.9    13.3    1.9275362319
18    Jordan Crawford (BOS)    6.3    11.6    1.8412698413
19    Kirk Hinrich (CHI)    5.8    10.6    1.8275862069
20    Victor Oladipo (ORL)    4.9    8.5    1.7346938776
21    Mike Conley (MEM)    7.4    12.8    1.7297297297
22    Damian Lillard (POR)    6.9    11.3    1.6376811594
23    Brandon Knight (MIL)    5.9    9.6    1.6271186441
24    Kemba Walker (CHA)    7.2    10.5    1.4583333333
25    George Hill (IND)    5    7.1    1.42

#    Player    Points created by assist per game    Points Created by AST Per 48 Min
1    Chris Paul (LAC)    25.3    34.8
2    Ricky Rubio (MIN)    19.1    28.9
3    Ty Lawson (DEN)    20.8    27.9
4    John Wall (WAS)    20.6    26.5
5    Stephen Curry (GSW)    20.7    26.2
6    Jeff Teague (ATL)    18.2    25.9
7    Jrue Holiday (NOP)    18.2    25.8
8    Brandon Jennings (DET)    18.9    24.9
9    Tony Parker (SAS)    14.9    22.7
10    Kyle Lowry (TOR)    17.3    22.6
11    Jameer Nelson (ORL)    15.1    21.1
12    Jordan Crawford (BOS)    13.5    20.8
13    Goran Dragic (PHX)    15.3    20.7
14    Isaiah Thomas (SAC)    14.1    20.6
15    Mike Conley (MEM)    14.6    20.2
16    Kyrie Irving (CLE)    13.6    18.6
17    Monta Ellis (DAL)    14.2    18.3
18    Damian Lillard (POR)    13.7    18
19    Kirk Hinrich (CHI)    10.8    17
20    Jose Calderon (DAL)    11.3    16.9
21    Brandon Knight (MIL)    10.2    16.1
22    James Harden (HOU)    12.3    15.1
23    Kemba Walker (CHA)    11.3    15
24    Victor Oladipo (ORL)    8.2    12.5
25    George Hill (IND)    7.3    11.1

The first thing that jumps out to me is Chris Paul is really, really good. The second, is that Isaiah seems to be middle of the road as far as creating assist opportunities for his team mates but he holds the ball quite a bit. One of my concerns with having a 5' 9" pg is making an entry pass to the post, and obviously that's an issue. I am sure everyone has also noticed our end of quarters plays seem to involve no passing as well which would help account for the low passes per minute of possession.

Discuss.

 

[spudfan]

These stats mean nothing and the grass is greener for sure. Yes the 2s are bad but does it matter he wouldn't pass out there anyways and also let's be honest this goes for all guards some of the assists they get are not assists. You pass a ball to guy standing at the 3 point line and he goes all the way to rim and scores on his own that's not an assist that's a pass to a guy who made a good move to rim to score. Watch the game stats are stats not always the truth

Did you even look at the stats? You are disagreeing with yourself...

 

[kingssac12]

Did you even look at the stats? You are disagreeing with yourself...

Your right my bad read incorrectly

 

[Bricklayer]

Translating all of those would seem to indicate:

dominates ball, rarely passes, but when he does pass, its often for an assist



There is a reason our SGs are so completely out of the offense. But its chicken and egg a bit. last year he was clearly suppressing Tyreke. This year he's the only ballhandler in the entire backcourt. Which may or may not be the way he likes it, but even if he were completely unselfish there isn't much option but to dominate the ball when Ben and Marcus are your options.

 

[bajaden]

Very few of his passes are to McLemore or Thornton, and most go to either Gay or Cousins, and that's probably by design. We've seen very little of the dribble around and create a shot Thornton. I doubt he's forgotten how to create a shot for himself, so I have to believe he's following a game plan of some sort. I can understand not passing to McLemore due to his inconsistency, especially when there are more consistent options on the floor. Basketball isn't a game of fairness, its a game of results.

My knock on IT is two fold. First, he does little as an individual to create situations that open up chances for a teammate to score. He's fairly efficient at getting the ball where its supposed to go off of set plays, and as a result gets a fair amount of assists that way, but for the most part, when IT gets into the lane, he has one thing on his mind, and that's to score. You seldom see IT draw the defense to him in the post and then pass to an open teammate under the basket. Secondly, I sometimes question IT's court vision. He misses too many entry pass opportunities, or teammates that have beat their man down the floor after a miss at the other end. How many times have you seen IT make a full court pass? He also misses cutters on backdoors or down the lane, which are split second opportunities, but opportunities that good PG's make a living off of. I really don't know if its a lack of court vision, not being able to see some of these opportunities because of his height, or he simply doesn't care to pass the ball in those situations because he has another plan in mind.

I'd like to see how IT stacks up defensively against all the other top PG's.