I'm an occasional lurker and I had a question regarding the Touches formula created by Bob Chaikin. I figured this would be the best place to ask this question.
I was wondering why the .17 number was used in the assists portion of the formula.
%Pass = 100 * (AST / 0.17) / Touches. The percentage of a player's touches that ended with him passing to a teammate in an attacking position on the floor.
%Shoot = 100 * FGA / Touches. The percentage of a player's touches that ended with him taking a shot and not being fouled in the act.
%Fouled= 100 * (FTA / (Tm FTA / Opp PF)) / Touches. The percentage of a player's touches that ended with him drawing a foul.
%TO = 100 * Turnovers / Touches. The percentage of a player's touches that ended with him turning the ball over.
I think that means about one in 6 'touches' (that does not result in a shot or turnover) is an assist. This is presumably equally true for high-assist guys and low-assist guys.
Incidental touches, such as the point guard handing off to the big man up high and getting it right back, don't seem to count.
Bob will be the final authority on this.
mike is right... moreso 1 in 6 passes is an assist. on a game-by-game basis the formula is useless, but over a season it's accurate enough to model real life. however the sportsvu data will at some point trump this...