How accurate is NBA scorekeeping?

[indeedproceed]

From Truehoop:

Chris Paul had 14 assists last night. That's huge. Unless you actually look at those assists, which David Friedman did on 20 Second Timeout. He examined each and every one, and says five of them were the product of generous scorekeeping. He describes every single assist, including this one, with 4:33 left in the first quarter: "West received the ball from Paul at the right free throw line extended at the 4:40 mark. West pump faked Oberto off of his feet, took four dribbles, made a spin move into the paint, came to a jump stop, did an up and under move and then shot a jump hook. Seven seconds, four dribbles and multiple fakes happened between Paul's pass and West's shot! If Paul deserves an assist, then I think that West's point guard at Xavier should get one, too -- he had about as much to do with West making this shot as Paul did."

Makes you wonder how many assists are generated like that. Would a guy like Lebron or Kobe or Paul get more assists like they get foul calls? The NBA and ESPN would love the title "Lebron James has near triple double in game 6 win". Thats just hero type stuff.

Im not saying the NBA or ESPN would alter or change stat lines on nights for specific titles, but you'd have to think the gaudier the numbers of one of the leagues Uber stars, the happier the NBA is. What else can you be generous with? Assists, steals, maybe turnovers?

[Redz]

Interesting.  The description of the West play is just crazy.  I always gathered there was a little leniency, but that's just silly.  My understanding of an assist is that it has to lead directly to a basket.  You can have a bunch of dribbles from a guy after he's caught the pass, so long as he's headed directly to the hoop (like on a fastbreak).

Another one I've always wondered about are the tipped rebounds.  So often you see a guy end up with the on a rebound isn't the guy who really made the play.  Posey and Big Baby seem to do a TON of this sort of thing - make a hustle play that keep the ball alive for a teammate, but not get the credit for the board.

[Who]

Assists are the big one, the only one that can be significantly effected really.

Rebounding can be on those tip rebounds. Guy like Big Z could get 3-4 offensive rebounds tipping it back up of the rim on one possession.

Actually steals too .... do you give it to the deflection (Player A) or when possession is caught (Player B). Regularly see that one go either way depending on the players at hand.