The NBA Hockey Assist

I've just recently finished a game of NHL 10 and it reminded me of something Basketball players do not receive credit for. In Hockey an assist can involve up to three men unlike Basketball which limits assist to a two man job. Below are a couple of videos that show the difference between a Hockey three man assist and Basketball's two man assist. Statistically, assist in Hockey are way more beneficial to players then Basketball assist are.

Here is a perfect example of a Hockey assist. As you can see here, #2 receives the puck after his teammate wins the face-off. He brings the puck up the ice and passes to #14. #14 pushes up the ice and passes backward to a teammate who gets an easy score. In Basketball, #14 would have been credited with the assist while #2 wouldn't have but in Hockey the rules are different. #2 and #14 will be credited with an assist; since #14 gave the direct pass to the scoring player he gets the primary assist while #2 gets the secondary assist for passing to the primary assister (Not a real word). It's pretty simple isn't it? Both #2 and #14 also get 1 point added to their stats as a result.

Here is a perfect example of a Basketball assist, while also demonstrating a Hockey assist as well. As you can see here, the ball was inbounded to Ben Gordon (Blurry so I'm not 100% sure that's actually him.) who draws a double team on the outside. He then passes in to Joakim Noah who spots a wide open Thabo Sefalosha that goes up for a nice baseline dunk. Noah gets the assist, Thabo gets the points and Gordon is nonexistent statistically on this play, although without him the play would have never happened. Watch the play, once Gordon touches the ball his man (Chauncey Billups) and Noah's man (Antonio McDyess) double him. After Gordon passes to Noah, Thabo's man (Unrecognizable) slides over to cover Noah, leaving Thabo wide open. Noah see's this, gets the ball to Thabo who hammers one on McDyess. Without Gordon demanding the double team this play would not exist. He is the unsung hero here and deserves a secondary assist.

I think we all can agree that Ben Gordon made that play happen and deserves credit for it. It's not just Gordon that has these type of hockey assist either, players at all positions participate in these three man assist. Big men like Dwight Howard for instance. Dwight has perimeter shooters all around him, if he gets the ball in the paint automatic double teaming commences, sometimes even triple. The Magic uses his presence and their three point shooting cohesively. Once Dwight draws the double team he either takes it to the hole or dishes it outside to one of his three point threat teammates. If that player is open he'll take the shot but a lot of times you'll see that the player Dwight passes the ball to can take a good shot but not a completely wide open shot, so instead, that player swings it to the next man who is wide open and nails a long ball. Dwight gets no credit for the play although he created it. Dwight could possibly have the best "SAPG" (Secondary Assist Per Game) average between all Centers. This would lead to the media referring to him as one of the best passing bigs in the league although no one praises his passing abilities now.

Another Hockey assist master is Chris Paul. He gets his Hockey assist in a different manner but it's even more effective then Dwight's method. While Paul lacks the size that Dwight has, he has speed and quickness which gets him these Hockey assist. When he drives to the hoop the entire opposing team will all come rushing to the paint in effort to stop him, once that happens he passes to an open teammate, if he doesn't have a shot someone else will. This method is more effective because the shots being taken have a higher percentage of success. This is what would make him so great with our offense. We have shooters everywhere, mid range, perimeter and inside threats. If Secondary Assist were actually brought to the NBA players like Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Raymond Felton, Steve Nash and other pass first Point Guards will seem elite, although they have been racking up these Assist up for years without notice.

So why not add Secondary Assist to the NBA? It only makes players look even better. It doesn't change the rules any, it allows the players to play like they always have and look even better than before with a shiny new stat to have. I see two flags on the argument. 1) Hockey credits the players assist as a point to their stats also. Someone can literally play a game without ever shooting but have 3 goals at the end of the game. That part I would leave out if this were ever implemented in the NBA. Don't credit the players with points for getting assist. 2) This makes it easier for players to get double doubles, triple doubles and etc. It doesn't make it far more easier but getting Secondary Assist are about the same difficulty as getting standard assist so some players may get more double doubles. I wouldn't want it to take away from those achievements. The last thing this league needs is double doubles and triple doubles to become a normal occurrence. Double doubles can slide but if Secondary Assist makes triple doubles go from rare to expected, I'm not for it. I think the NBA should consider adding this stat. There isn't much to lose so why not? That's a very good question, why not?