Hands On Points: Who Creates the Most for their Offense?

Hands On Points: Who Creates the Most for their Offense?

A few years ago I saw a stat that intrigued me. The stat was referred to as “hands on points,” and seemed like a solid measure of a player’s ability to create for the offense. It was founded on a pretty simple premise: take the number of points a player scores plus the points scored off of his assists and divide that figure by the total number of team points scored.

For instance, 29 games into the season LeBron James has scored 831 points. Additionally, he has assisted 225 baskets for a total of 528 points so far. That means that he has accounted for 1,359 points of Cleveland’s total 2,889 points, whether by means of scoring or assisting baskets. This comes out to a hands on points percentage of 47.0%, which will be one of the larger numbers you’ll see. In other words, LeBron James accounts for roughly half of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ points scored.

Now, the only problem is that while I know how many points the Cavs have accumulated from LeBron’s assists, I do not have this information for other teams around the league, short of revisiting every single box score to see if the assist went for a two or three point field goal. So I decided to implement a similar, yet easier measure of a star player’s affect on his team’s points. It’s called hands on field goals and simply measures a player’s field goals plus assists over the team’s total field goals.

For example, LeBron James has 287 field goals and 225 assists to date. Take this number over the team’s total amount of field goals (1,070) and you’ll see that LeBron James accounts for 47.9% of Cleveland’s field goals, whether by directly scoring or assisting them. Since the percentages are so close, it’s easy to see how this measure could substitute for the true hands on points stat.

Therefore, here is a look at all 30 NBA teams and their leaders in terms of hands on field goals.*

Team	Leader in HoFG%	Percentage
Atlanta	Joe Johnson	33.4%
Boston	Rajon Rondo	39.9%
Charlotte	Raymond Felton	30.4%
Chicago	Derrick Rose	36.6%
Cleveland	LeBron James	47.9%
Dallas	Jason Kidd	31.5%
Denver	Carmelo Anthony	36.3%
Detroit	Rodney Stuckey	32.9%
Golden State	Monta Ellis	36.6%
Houston	Aaron Brooks	30.0%
Indiana	T.J. Ford	21.1%
LA Clippers	Baron Davis	35.7%
LA Lakers	Kobe Bryant	38.4%
Memphis	Zach Randolph	24.9%
Miami	Dwyane Wade	41.7%
Milwaukee	Brandon Jennings	35.9%
Minnesota	Jonny Flynn	25.1%
New Jersey	Brook Lopez	26.8%
New Orleans	Chris Paul	34.7%
New York	David Lee	26.9%
Oklahoma City	Russell Westbrook	34.5%
Orlando	Vince Carter	22.8%
Philadelphia	Andre Iguodala	33.2%
Phoenix	Steve Nash	44.5%
Portland	Brandon Roy	37.4%
Sacramento	Tyreke Evans	30.3%
San Antonio	Tim Duncan	27.3%
Toronto	Chris Bosh	26.6%
Utah	Deron Williams	41.8%
Washington	Gilbert Arenas	39.5%

Conclusions.

• As I mentioned earlier with LeBron’s hands on points ratio, you’d be hard pressed to find another player with such a large role in the team’s offense. One of only four players in the 40% area, James leads all other players in hands on field goal percentage. Now, keep in mind, this does not mean that he “has to do everything” or “lacks a supporting cast.” In fact, the number suggests he has a solid supporting cast capable of finishing off his assists. But, while he has fewer made field goals than some players on the list, his overwhelming amount of assists and high HoFG percentage suggests exactly what you’ll find when you flip on a Cavs game–LeBron dominates the ball and is the catalyst to Cleveland’s offense.
• It’s nice to see several rookies such as Brandon Jennings (35.9%), Jonny Flynn (25.1%), and Tyreke Evans (30.3%) leading their teams in this category, with high percentages to boot. Before a bad team gets good, they need a young rookie to come in and not only be comfortable scoring in the offense, but comfortable creating for others. The high percentages for Jennings and Evans show that they are becoming big-time creators for teams desperately seeking help. Considering neither player was a top 3 pick, I’d say Milwaukee and Sacramento may have hit the lottery, despite losing the draft lottery.
• It’s also great to see Steve Nash back to being a big time creator in that Phoenix offense. People talk about him having a potential MVP season, and numbers like this highlight why. Last season Nash accounted for only 33.9% of Phoenix’s field goals (37.5% when looking at the 74 games he played in). This year he’s second best to James, accounting for 44.5% of the Suns’ field goals. Reverting back to the run-and-gun system he thrived in under Mike D’Antoni thanks to former disciple Alvin Gentry might have helped the matter a bit.
• Lastly, does it scare the living heck out of anyone else that someone like Zach Randolph is leading a young team with multiple creators in a stat like hands on field goals? With more assists than Rudy Gay and only 25 fewer than O.J. Mayo, I’m not sure whether to look at Randolph’s production and be happy or sad.

*All statistics within the table are accurate as of 5:30 PM on December, 23rd 2009. Please note that while hands on field goal percentages are very similar to hands on points measures, the former factors out free throws made and makes no distinctions between two and three point field goals. Lastly, all numbers reflect a player’s hands on field goals over the team’s total amount of field goals, regardless if said player did not play in all of his team’s games (eg. Devin Harris not leading NJ in HoFG%).

Hands On Points: Who Creates the Most for their Offense?

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