Nup,

I think there are enough stats in the game as it is.

Does a football player get a stat for a sheperd??? Nup. Lets just consider a good screen part of a successful offence and team game and leave it at that.

Mind you, I do like a nice half court screen by a big fella that puts the opposite PG on his arse.

I think they could be a little more liberal with assists. Obviously it impacts historically, but it's pretty interesting looking at NBA boxscores to see Nash getting 18 assists or whatever it was the other day.

What's the literal definition of an assist? A pass to a player that scores without dribbling, having obviously benefited from the pass? Does a single dribble discount the assist?

Isaac - the definition is that you must have passed it to a player with the intention for him (or her) to score. The amount of dribbles is irrelevant.

If Reesy got a defensive board, threw an outlet to Willie who was at the half way line, who dribble down for a dunk, that's be an assist to Reesy, because he passed to Willie with the intention for him to score. Make sense?

It is NOT as assist if it is deemed that the scorer created the score himself. IE - if Willie then had to weave through all 5 defenders and had pulled 4 crossover moves before he scored in the situation above, it would not be an assist.

RE: Screens. I don't think they should count as an assist. If it were like Ice Hockey, where they award 2 assists on some scores, then I would say a screener could be rewarded. However, in basketball, I think leaving it at 1 possible assist per basket scored is the best way to go :-).

Perhaps we could get clarification on what I've stated above from "Shutup!" who appears to be a stats person.....

i meant screens as a seperate stat - it is a skill - and well executed can be significant to the game

ie gun dad had 40 points, 3 assist, 1 block and 2 screens

Would it be too ambiguous to judge what was a successful screen to give a stat to?

Would causing the opposition player to have to change direction be enough (hard to call?), or would they have to be picking splinters for a stat to be awarded??

Well, considering the amount of ways defenders can play a screen (switch, under, through, show & recover etc) it would be a nightmare for the stats personnel to read what the defenders doing and judge whether the screen was actually effective. There doesn't need to be contact for a screen to be effective, and getting open off a screen is just as much the responsibility of the person who is running off it as it is the actual screener.

Also - what happens with off-ball screens? Do the stats people need to have an eye on all 10 players on the court at all times? I'd say they generally would have to be watching the ball most times?

I understand that screening is an important part of the game, but I think it falls in the 'intangibles' category. I think it's just too difficult to be rewarding screens as a stat.

Interesting to read the NCAA definition of an assist, cut and pasted from here. It seems to allow for the passer to the passer to be credited with an assist (though not both the passer and the passer to the passer).

Hoop, do you have a pointer to a similar definition for an assist (or even better, a full manual) which applies in Australia?


A player is credited with an assist when the player makes, in the judgment of the statistician, the principal pass contributing directly to a field 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. 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.

I don't have any written definition, though I'm 99% sure in Australia the "passer to the passer" cannot be awarded with an assist. NCAA doesn't (to my knowledge) come under FIBA sanction, and thus, often have rules and regulations that differ to the 'norm'.

Again, perhaps ShutUp! may be able to help out..?

I dont have an official "rule" to quote (we should be getting some Stats handbooks soon!

However, in my training, I have been told to credit an assist to someone who passes the ball, and that action directly allows the player receiving the pass to score.

ie, an outlet pass to a player who may dribble once before scoring would be considered an assist, where as 2-3 dribbles may not.

Assists are a slightly objective thing as well, and sometimes even just 1 dribble, the stats caller may decide that the pass was not of "assist" quality.

I will also add a disclaimer of I have only been trained at local club level, and had some supervision from state stats staff, and my interpretation may get some clarification from some of the more experienced stats staff that haunt this forum :)

Hoops Addict - Everytime i pass the ball i have the intention of the receiver scoring :-) So am I always dishing assists?


"the definition is that you must have passed it to a player with the intention for him (or her) to score. The amount of dribbles is irrelevant"

Every time you pass the ball, you intend for the receiver to shoot it? I think not...

You haven't seen DJ play social ball.

(Neither have I, but you never know!)

:-) Well my intentions are that the player I pass the ball to scores, maybe not his intentions.

My intentions are that we score on every possession, doesn't mean it always happens though :-)

Hypothetically - Say I was playing ball with Farley and I passed to him at the top of the key, he has two defenders on him, but I've passed him the ball knowing that he can do a quick crossover and take the jumper, my intentions are that he will score once i pass him the ball. So do I get the assist for it :-)

BTW in social ball I am very much a passer and defender average about 5 shot attempts a game :-)