Top 10 playmakers in NBA for 2012-13 season
Rajon Rondo
All season long there has been a consistently impressive stream of assists pouring in from New Orleans, through a relatively unknown name, Greivis Vasquez. He is one of the only three players in the NBA to have averaged more than 9 assists per game this season and the only player to have accumulated over 700 assists this season. If the assists award was rewarded by the total number of assists, the 704 assists of Vasquez trumps everyone else’s. But assists per game trumps all seemingly, so here’s a look at the top 10 playmakers in the NBA this season according to that statistic.
1. Rajon Rondo – 11.1 apg
In order to qualify for the assists record, a player must have played at least 70 games or got 400 or more assists. Rondo only played 38 games this season before going down with a season ending injury. Rondo got 420 assists this season with a 2.8 assists to turnover ratio.
2. Chris Paul – 9.7 apg
Chris Paul played 70 games this season, and he got 678 assists in that time. A lot of his assists were lobs to Griffin and Jordan. One of the reason he gets his teammates so open is because he is so prolific on offence. He averaged 16.9 points per game this season with a 4.3 assists to turnovers ratio.
3. Greivis Vasquez – 9.0 apg
When Chris Paul left the Hornets, the city of New Orleans would have been hard pressed to expect to have another player so soon who would give them 9 assists per game. Vasquez has been excellent for them, totalling 704 assists with a 2.9 assists to turnover ratio.
4. Jrue Holiday- 8.0 apg
A difference of one full assist separates the players in the 3rd and 4th spot. Maybe if Andrew Bynum was healthy this season, things would have been different. Holiday notched up 625 assists this year with a 2.1 assists to turnovers ratio.
5. Deron Williams – 7.7 apg
Playing in Brooklyn, Deron Williams has Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson to feed the ball to and having two such talents on the floor takes the attention away from him and allows him to run freely. This season, Williams accumulated 604 assists with a 2.8 assists to turnover ratio.
6. Tony Parker – 7.6 apg
Tony Parker played like an MVP this season. He’s always surprised by being among the league leaders in points in the paint at his size, and because of his prolific scoring, sometimes his playmaking goes unnoticed. Parker got 499 assists in 66 games and had a 2.9 assists to turnover ratio.
7. Jameer Nelson – 7.4 apg
Things are pretty depressing in Orlando after the departure of Dwight Howard. Nelson has tried to hold down the fort, accumulating 413 dimes in 56 games with a 2.7 assists to turnover ratio.
8. Goran Dragic – 7.4 apg
Steve Nash has taught him well. Being a left hander, Dragic throws defenders off a little and being extremely talented, he notches up great numbers. He got 569 dimes in 77 games with a 2.7 assists to turnover ratio.
9. Russell Westbrook- 7.4 apg
Westbrook actually finished above Ricky Rubio in the assists per game race. Also above LeBron James, Ty Lawson, Steph Curry and Jeremy Lin. He got 607 assists this season while playing all 82 games and had a 2.2 assists to turnover ratio.
10. Ricky Rubio – 7.3 apg
The floppy haired Spaniard is one of the most impressive talents in the league when it comes to playmaking. He is the only player in the top 10 in this category to not average over 30 minutes. He got 418 assists with a 2.4 assists to turnovers ratio.