League's best ballhandlers

[NetsGM]

I did this a few sim-years ago in the old league, and I'll do it again.

I place prime importance on ballhandling, it's my most important criteria for a pg.  So I typically ranked all the starting pg's in the league in three category.

- Minutes per turnover (how many game minutes go by, on average, between turnovers)
- Assists per Turnover (how many assists a player has per turnover)
- Steals per Turnover (how many steals a player has for every turnover)

I then compare all the starters to get who's the best ballhandler.  Note, not overall pg, this doesn't factor in personal offensive production or defense.  Just ballhandling.

http://ssba.phillyarena.net/files/pg_rankings.htm

Top 5 in Each category:
Mins Per Turn:
Nets   Antonio Daniels (26.85)
Heat   Damon Jones (24.57)
Trailblazers   Nick Van Exel (18.78)
Wolves   Rafer Alston (17.45)
Grizzlies   Jason Williams (16.38)

Assists Per Turnover:
Heat   Damon Jones (6.43)
Nets   Antonio Daniels (5.23)
Sonics   Gary Payton (3.48)
Grizzlies   Jason Williams (3.33)
Pistons   Steve Nash (3.26)

Steals Per Turnover:
Nets   Antonio Daniels   (1.15)
Pacers   Jamaal Tinsley   (0.79)
Trailblazers   Nick Van Exel   (0.78)
Warriors   Speedy Claxton   (0.72)
Heat   Damon Jones   (0.71)

Overall Rank (cumulative on rank, 1-29, in all 3 categories):
Nets   Antonio Daniels   (1.33)
Heat   Damon Jones   (2.67)
Grizzlies   Jason Williams   (5.00)
Trailblazers   Nick Van Exel   (5.33)
Sonics   Gary Payton   (5.33)
Wolves   Rafer Alston   (6.33)

League Averages (for starters)
APG: 6.42
SPG: 1.49
TPG: 2.68
Minutes/TO: 12.85
Assists/TO: 2.57
Steals/TO: 0.58

Having 2 20 ppg scorers, it's no secret I targeted Antonio Daniels.

[NetsGM]

Also note, the link I provided doesn't work correctly in Firefox.  It was generated as a save-as in excel, and.....well....Microsoft's html output sucks.

[CavsGM]

Bobby Jackson is not going to be my starter at PG next season, thankfully.

[GoldenStateGM]

Well, according to that chart, I have traded down...  
Ah well...  I think I still prefer Hinrich.

Interestingly, out of the top 5, only Payton was ever more then the third option on his team...

[RaptorsGM]

Ehh, you came claim that Daniels is as good as you want to.

Boozer was worth it

[GoldenStateGM]

Per 40 mpg for the stats...

Name      A/40   A/40 rank
Damon Jones   10.5   1.0
Baron Davis   10.2   2.0
Steve Nash   10.1   3.0
Jason Kidd   PG   10.1   4.0
Jason Terry   9.9   5.0

Name             S/40 rank   S/40
Baron Davis   1   2.4
Jason Kidd                   2   2.3
Jamaal Tinsley   3   2.5
Andre Miller   4   2.2
Allen Iverson   5   2.4

Name                  T/40   T 40 rank
Antonio Daniels   1.5   1.0
Damon Jones   1.6   2.0
Nick Van Exel   2.1   3.0
Rafer Alston   2.3   4.0
Jason Williams   2.4   5.0

[NetsGM]

Obviously Boozer > Daniels.

I will contend that Dalembert + Daniels > Boozer.

Like I said, I tried to get role players who are the best they are at their roles to surround pettit and okafor.  I think a claim could be made that Dalembert is among the best defensive players in the game, and that Daniels is among the best ballhandlers in the game.

It's all about team needs and what you value.

[HeatGM]

hahaha....i dunno man...damon jones is an all-star you know...ahahaha....he made it in the starting five of the allstar for the east   plus daniels scores only 8.5ppg while jones 12.5ppg....i only lose to daniels on steals....i think its pretty even.....hard to say  

[HornetsGM]

This "study" just shows that statistics can be used to prove anything.  

[Anonymous]

This "study" just shows that statistics can be used to prove anything.  

Yeah, 9 out of every 10 people know that!

[NetsGM]

...

I wasn't proving anything.

And these 3 statistics I didn't just pull out of thin air and make them up.  Minutes per TO, Assists per turnover and steals per turnover are all very common statistics.

[SpursGM-old]

For several players on the list this maybe a true reflection but for others it isn't.  For example, on the Raps, Banks didn't play regularly with his other starters.  For my team Parker didn't even play in every game.  Also I had him listed anywhere from starting to the 3rd pg on my DC mixing and matching players around him.

But I like the idea and see how this worksheet by the Nets fits nicely with some that I have been developing over my first year in the league.

[RaptorsGM]

That is an excellent point that the Spurs makes - bench players, such as Banks, does not always play with Vince, Finley and Mihm, and is instead often playing with my other bench players, making it harder to get assists and such.

But it's a good, well laid out study.