The Atlanta Hawks are averaging the fewest passes per game in NBA history

[macdaddy]

10 minutes ago, AHF said:

They didn't look like an NBA champion squad on paper for sure but I would have loved to have seen them play out the playoffs healthy.  In the regular season, they were like a finely tuned machine that was extremely effective but also extremely fragile.  You start removing or damaging components and it falls apart.  Losing Thabo and Korver was huge.  Cleveland probably still stops us but would have been exciting to see LeBron face off against the team at its strongest.

Not to go all conspiracy on this but that Hawks team in the finals is one of the league's worst nightmares. 

[djjob23]

2014-15 Hawks were just fun to watch with how well they moved the ball. However, it's important to remember that that team didn't have an alpha that you could trust to take that last shot, which is why they had to move the ball to be effective.

We have 2 (count em 2) alpha playmakers with elite mid range games that setup quality passes for others that often end up as assists. So far this year, both Trae and Murray are both in the Top 10 in assist points created (22.2 & 19.8), and are 1 & 2 in assist-to-pass percentage for players playing 10+ min (22.3% & 18.1%).

Yes, moving the ball can help generate better offensive efficiency, but when you have 2 alpha players that initiate the offense and are able to generate either a quality shot attempt or assist, the number of passes become less important. I'm sure they're still working on chemistry and adjustments will be made, but once Trae's shot starts to fall again, we might be looking at one of the most efficient playmaking backcourts the NBA has ever seen. Reminds me a lot of the 2017-18 Harden/Paul Rockets. 

[Atlantaholic]

6 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

The low amount of passes also explains why we've led the league the last couple of years. 

In least amount of turnovers* lol

[AtLaS]

If you can get a quality shot off of 1 pass as opposed to 5 I don't think that's a bad thing.  It does mean that you are more reliant on your primary ballhandlers, but more passes can also lead to more turnovers.  I do think players get into a better rhythm when they get more touches and the ball moves around more.

I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.  I'd be curious how most NBA champions stack up in terms of # of passes per game, if they are generally at the top (pass the most) of the league or bottom (pass the least).  Or if it's a mixed bag.  My guess would be that championship teams like Spurs/Warriors are at the higher end, while teams like Kobe/Shaq Lakers, Bulls, or LeBron teams would be at the lower end.  Just my speculation though.  

[MarylandHawk]

7 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

I'll just repost this here.

I agree here. Although I will say the few times I have seen Trae off the ball and running through screens, when he gets the ball he naturally wants to stop and analyse and then try to make a play.  Defeats the purpose of running the play for him. He has got to be ready to shoot when he catches the ball or he has to keep running the play and immediately pass to the next player with no hesitation. 

[MarylandHawk]

5 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Not to go all conspiracy on this but that Hawks team in the finals is one of the league's worst nightmares. 

Actually it would be a boon to the leagues success. If you are not an Atlanta Hawks fan, Trae is a player other fan bases love to hate. They will tune in. Plus Trae has a lot of casual fans he is bringing to the game. The Hawks, by being a south eastern, team will bring a whole new set of eyes to the finals thereby adding new nba casual fans into the fold. It is one of the things that makes the NFL so popular, any given team can make a run to the super bowl. 

[RedDawg#8]

We have the fewest passes in NBA history.

But, we are 3rd in the league in turnovers per game, and 14th in Assists per game. 

Of all the teams above us in assists per game, we have the fewest turnovers per game by almost 1 full turnover per game before the team after us.

We are 2nd in Assist to turnover ratio, 2nd in turnover percentage, and 6th in Pace.

We do not pass a lot, but we make the most of our ball movement with both scoring and reducing turnovers.

[marco102]

6 hours ago, djjob23 said:

2014-15 Hawks were just fun to watch with how well they moved the ball. However, it's important to remember that that team didn't have an alpha that you could trust to take that last shot, which is why they had to move the ball to be effective.

We have 2 (count em 2) alpha playmakers with elite mid range games that setup quality passes for others that often end up as assists. So far this year, both Trae and Murray are both in the Top 10 in assist points created (22.2 & 19.8), and are 1 & 2 in assist-to-pass percentage for players playing 10+ min (22.3% & 18.1%).

Yes, moving the ball can help generate better offensive efficiency, but when you have 2 alpha players that initiate the offense and are able to generate either a quality shot attempt or assist, the number of passes become less important. I'm sure they're still working on chemistry and adjustments will be made, but once Trae's shot starts to fall again, we might be looking at one of the most efficient playmaking backcourts the NBA has ever seen. Reminds me a lot of the 2017-18 Harden/Paul Rockets. 

Quality. Quality post.  I'm a fan of yours now and couldn't have said it better myself. 

[enrique]

To put this in context, Atlanta also has 5 of the top-50 assist combos in the league. Other than Phoenix (with 4), most teams have only 1 or 2. Currently Trae is on a historic assist per pass over 25%. Of the top-3 players in the NBA, Trae is #1 (was #2 last year and the year before behind Chris Paul) and DJM is #3. So although we aren't passing the ball as much as other teams, our passes are accomplishing more. And if you consider the truly awful 3pt % of our team, we could be doing so much better. Would we all like to see more ball movement? Yes...but not movement for movement sake. Movement for scoring sake.

[gsuteke]

Atlanta isn’t passing the ball as much because they aren’t looking for open shots on the perimeter.   They aren’t looking for open shots on the perimeter because the shooters on the team are the ones bringing the ball up the court.   The problem isn’t passing here it’s a lack of quality shooting on the perimeter.   To me this will be exposed on down the road if nothing is done about it.

 

on another note Trae and Murray are getting a lot of single pass possession assists through penetration 

[Diesel]

Like I said before, I don't want to see Clint's Jokic Imitation.  I don't want to watch Hunter continuously babble balls out of Bounds. 

Some players are just endpoints.

 

[Diesel]

3 hours ago, gsuteke said:

Atlanta isn’t passing the ball as much because they aren’t looking for open shots on the perimeter.   They aren’t looking for open shots on the perimeter because the shooters on the team are the ones bringing the ball up the court.   The problem isn’t passing here it’s a lack of quality shooting on the perimeter.   To me this will be exposed on down the road if nothing is done about it.

 

on another note Trae and Murray are getting a lot of single pass possession assists through penetration 

Nothing to see here.

This season, Hunter has worked on finishing.  I'd rather see him get and go and try to watch him pass.

 

[enrique]

4 hours ago, gsuteke said:

Atlanta isn’t passing the ball as much because they aren’t looking for open shots on the perimeter.   They aren’t looking for open shots on the perimeter because the shooters on the team are the ones bringing the ball up the court.   The problem isn’t passing here it’s a lack of quality shooting on the perimeter.   To me this will be exposed on down the road if nothing is done about it.

 

on another note Trae and Murray are getting a lot of single pass possession assists through penetration 

I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. If we don't get our perimeter shooting moving above 35% we will find little to no space for any kind of penetration. That will not go well:(

[enrique]

Okay, took one more glance at passes per game (team) to see what it looked like over the past three years. Interestingly it isn't all bad at all. You can view the data at NBA.com. Click on "Stats" and "Teams." Then click from "General" to "Tracking" in the drop down. Next click the last drop down "Drives" and select "Passing." You can then sort by passes per game. Pretty simple stuff. 

The conclusions on this kind of statistical gnat straining is:

1) There is little correlation between passes per game and success.

2) The past few seasons have seen the best offenses have lower pass totals.

3) Basketball is not a monolithic system. It is a variety of systems that are designed to maximize the strengths of a roster while minimizing any deficiencies. For this reason, these kind of statistical observations should not be used to make a point. Rather they should be used to gain a better perspective on the overall offense or defense a team may be employing. 

 

I promise I am done with looking up stats on this arena. Hope the Hawks come out with a weekend sweep of our beloved Sixers

[terrell]

On 11/10/2022 at 10:49 PM, Atlantaholic said:

I think that's also just a matter of well who is a good passer outside of these two? We literally don't have another decent passer in the entire rotation. OO, Cap, Collins, J-Hol, Hunter ALL average less than 2 assists per game in their careers. None are particualrily good passers. I know a lot of us are looking forward for Bogi to give us some shooting but he is a very underrated passer averaging around 4-5 per 36 mins. Having him on the floor is going to allow us to see some better ball movement. 

This. Hunter is the ultimate ball stopper on the wing. He's never looking to pass the rock.. But I can understand it, when you dont know if you'll ever touch the ball again... lol

Edited November 12, 2022 by terrell

[Atlantaholic]

On 11/12/2022 at 5:36 PM, terrell said:

This. Hunter is the ultimate ball stopper on the wing. He's never looking to pass the rock.. But I can understand it, when you dont know if you'll ever touch the ball again... lol

It's just not his game, he doesn't have good vision and just dribbling the ball without getting it stolen requires him to give full attention to the defender in front of him. He's not a natural playmaker, neither is J-Hol. Have no idea of Griffin is better because he barely plays, but EVERY wing in the rotation outside of Murray is a very subpar passer. 

[Wretch]

Our stats (and Huerter's in SAC) are all pointing to the same thing and we've known it for awhile now.  This offense works when our alphas are hot and/or we get a lift from someone stepping up.  It doesn't work when the ball stays on one side of the court, while everybody watches, and one guy takes one shot.  We have two guys who are outstanding at creating offense, and a decent amount of talent around them...but they're all just taking turns shooting the ball.

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On 11/11/2022 at 9:39 AM, NBASupes said:

I missed that squad so much as a regular season team. Hated them as a playoff team 

Why did you hate them as a playoff team?

[JayBirdHawk]

Can someone post the current stats? Please and Thanks.

[Wretch]

On 11/14/2022 at 1:12 PM, Wretch said:

Our stats (and Huerter's in SAC) are all pointing to the same thing and we've known it for awhile now.  This offense works when our alphas are hot and/or we get a lift from someone stepping up.  It doesn't work when the ball stays on one side of the court, while everybody watches, and one guy takes one shot.  We have two guys who are outstanding at creating offense, and a decent amount of talent around them...but they're all just taking turns shooting the ball.