ESPN insider request

[Finger Roll]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...ck-assists-nba


Anyone out there able to help out on this...thank you and merry christmas if so

[dubnation]

The Cavaliers and the Bulls have the league's most-improved offensive efficiencies, and both leaps have been fueled by considerable offseason injections of firepower. However, the team that has upped its efficiency most significantly is the East-leading Toronto Raptors. Toronto has the NBA's third-highest increase in points per possession over last season, but its ordinal improvement from ninth to second carries with it greater ramifications. In a nutshell, the Raptors' offense has gone from very good to championship-caliber.

On one hand, the improvement isn't a huge surprise. Toronto was a young team last season and brought back its entire starting lineup. Growth from within could be expected, right? However, what's unusual about the offensive upgrade in Toronto is that the Raptors have done it by swimming against the supposed league trend toward ball movement. Last season, the Raptors ranked 16th in the league by assisting on 58.1 percent of their passes. This season, that rate has tumbled by 4.5 percent, and only two teams -- Orlando and the L.A. Lakers -- have a lower rate of assists. Yet only Dallas has been better overall on offense.

As Kevin Arnovitz told us a couple of weeks back, the Raptors seem to have collectively bought into the idea of focusing on the areas in which they excel, and otherwise staying out of one another's way. According to NBA.com's SportVu data, just three teams average fewer passes per game than Toronto. Yet unselfishness can take on forms other than passing; when you recognize your teammates' strengths, you can avoid cluttering up their sweet spots, or you can set a good screen to free them up.

The Raptors do these things as well as anybody, and that's reflected in their play type metrics compiled by Synergy Sports Technologies. Toronto ranks in the top 10 in assist rate on a number of different play types, but its overall percentage number is held down by the fact the Raptors run a lot of assist-unfriendly plays. An example: Toronto leads the league in assist rate on pick-and-rolls finished by the roll man, however, it ranks just 22nd in the frequency of those plays. The Raptors rank dead last in catch-and-shoot jumpers, but first in shots off the dribble and fourth on isolation plays.

According to SportVu, this play selection has resulted in the third-fewest assist opportunities per game. However, the Raptors have turned those chances into assists 53.9 percent of the time, ranking fourth. When they pass, they do it well.

Teams can fashion high-efficiency offenses in this way, as the Oklahoma City Thunder have proved for several years. For Toronto, this style of play is a reflection of the strengths of its best player, point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry dominates the ball -- he ranks 11th in time of possession per game -- but he's one of the league's most efficient point guards. Despite a sag in 3-point shooting this season, Lowry still has an above-average true shooting percentage of .551, and his turnover rate is the third-lowest in the league among starting point guards. Lowry ranks sixth in the league in unassisted field goals.

The reliance on Lowry has helped Toronto withstand the absence of DeMar DeRozan. Lowry's percentages have dipped as he's taken on more bail-out possessions, yet the Raptors' overall offense has rolled on, with more possessions going to Terrence Ross and Lou Williams, among others. DeRozan has now missed nine games with a torn left adductor longus tendon and is still listed as out indefinitely. Before he was hurt, the Raptors scored 107.6 points per 100 possessions. Since then the number is 106.9, and Toronto has gone 6-3.

Toronto is a great example of there being more than one way to skin a defense. But the real question is how does this approach translate to the playoffs?

Well, since the ABA-NBA merger, 121 teams have made the playoffs despite ranking 20th or lower in assist rate. About half those teams (65) went down in the first round, but of course that also means the other half advanced. Fourteen of those teams made the conference finals, 10 made the Finals and four won championships: the 1983 76ers, 2003 Spurs, 2010 Lakers and 2012 Heat.

In other words, what the Raptors are doing places no glass ceiling over their heads, and it'll be up to their future opponents to complicate Toronto's magical simplicity.

Kyle Lowry

edit: Lou's been a great addition too

[Finger Roll]

You da best. ty