Assists
Assists are not overrated, but a stat people need to pay more attention to is assist to turnover ratio, the real way to evaluate a players passing effectiveness in a game. Having 10 assists means nothing to me if you also commited 10 turnovers.....
I think steals are somewhat overrated... Juts becuse you get steals doesnt mean you are good defenders.. some people just take too many risks and get luckya few times. I think a true measurement is FG % your players has... turnovers forced as well... You can force bad passes and so on. Steals don;t get me wrong are good to get if doen the the team concept.
He's not that good on defense. He gambles too much for my liking and it's not like he locks people up on the perimeter. Also he's not very big and bigger guards can push him around.
He's not awful, but I wouldn't say he's a good defensive player.
CP3 is a great defender effort wise, he's just damn small and gets worked by the bigger breed of PG's. Steals are the end of a possesion. I dont know how thats overrated. Its better than a block or even a missed FG because rebounds come into the occation then. And most often steal lead directly into transition points. From a team concept how can you say steal are overrated. How player get them has nothing to do with how they effect a game.
The assist is subjective. For example, Rondo is that much better a passer than everyone in the league. The system he runs, with the players he has leads to assists. But high assist totals also means your team is executing well regardless if its off broken plays or not. Again, cumulative assist are a way better team indicator.
Honestly, if you think shooting percentages are overrated... idk what to tell you. You dont get assists if your teammates arent shooting well. If your team shoots 40%, and mine shots 50% I usually win, because thats the rate of scoring! And points win games! Being a good shooter is overrated? Again, this is all subjective. How Derrick Rose gets his assists is different than Nash is different than Rondo is different than Williams, ect ect. The teammates they have, the system they run. How everyone gets their numbers is different, and putting a set value on anything is impossible.
Steals aren't necesarily overrated as a whole. I just think steals and blocks are overrated when determing how good of a defender someone is.
For example... Bruce Bowen. He didn't get many steals or blocks, but we know he was an amazing defender. Karl Malone didn't block a lot of shots, but he was an amazing defender as well. Steals and blocks don't always tell the entire story.
I think blocks are a tad over rated, but when talking about the elite shot blockers (2-4 bpg guys) they aren't an overrated stat. If the average NBA player shoots 50% then they a player blocking 3 shots a game like D-Howard or Josh Smith is taking away roughly 3 points from the other team. Not to mention players of that caliber alter a hand full more each game because guys don't want to get their shot thrown into the 3rd row. So I think shot blocking for centers and players that do it at an elite level isn't overrated.
That being said, if a guy like D-Wade or Lebron or a young MJ blocks 1.2 shots a game as a shooting guard or small forward it's a bit overrated. It's impressive none the less, because not a lot of guards and even small forwards do it that well, but that kind of shot blocking doesn't really have much of an impact other than a temporary shift in momentum because most of their shot blocks come from fast breaks and running out to get a hand in the face of a 3 point shooter, they don't really change the game like a dominant shot blocker does.
Yesterday, my friend and me got in a heated arguement about players and assists. His exact words: "Assists are the most overrated stat in the game!" Thats what started a heated arguement between us and I'm just curious if you guys think assists are an overrated stat in the game. His arguement was nowadays, players take two steps and make so many moves and then players get credited for assists instead of having a basket in stride off a pass (which I guess, holds some truth in certain situations)
Personally, I think assists are NOT an overrated stat. I think its a great barometer that seperates good players from great players. Just one example that comes to mind was Steve Nash and the season he had when he won his first MVP. He made a horrible team into an amazing team and his play making made everyone look good. Right there was enough for me to say that having a player who can get assists is a huge advantage. Just curious on what your thoughts are. ALSO, does anyone think there are any stats that are OVERRATED (I couldn't really think of it expect maybe shooting percentages but I can make an arguement both ways on that haha)