On ESPN: Raptors rolling despite assist rate

[rapfan10]

I don't have an ESPN insider account but can someone post the highlights of the article. I wanna see what they have to say.

(I think someone can post the highlights of the article if I'm not mistaken)

[Dino4life]

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

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

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

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.

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.

Bunch of stats, that say we don't assist in the traditional, but we do the other things to maximize the strength of our hero ball all-stars, getting them the ball where they want, set the proper picks......

[OldSkoolCool]

Also I believe assists aren't counted on fouled shot attempts (correct me if I am wrong)

That easily cuts out 3-4 assists per game for this team, which changes things