Turnovers & Assists per game
Tatum = 4.2 assists 3.4 turnovers
Jaylen = 3.2 assists 2.5 turnovers
These two are the main culprits.
Jrue = 5.1 assists 2.2 turnovers
D White = 5.3 assists 1.9 turnovers
Porzingis = 1.9 assists 1.3 turnovers
Horford = 2.8 assists 1.0 turnovers
Way to go Horford. That is probably the best AST:TOV ratio on the team. Unless Prichard has got him beat. Oh he does.
Pritchard = 2.9 assists 0.6 turnovers
Hauser = 0.9 assists 0.6 turnovers
So it is not the role players. They are not turning the ball over. It is the two Jays.
I am not sure how important the assist/turnover ratio is. Maybe for PGs back when there were more of the traditional PGs, but I don't think it is as relevant for wings and bigs. I look at turnovers as more of an absolute value. If as a team, you have more TOVs than the other team, that is more possessions for the other team. I don't see a straight correlation for how many assists a team gets. Or just because you get more assists, does that mean that the turnovers are not as impactful?
Assists are a quirky stat. In general, if team assists are high, it is an indication of good ball movement. But not necessarily. It could be an indication that a player like Harden or Rondo is just pounding the ball and hunting for assists. Team assists are more telling than individual assists (at least to me) but even team assists can be a distorted indicator.
We are saying the same thing though; that there is no reason that this team should be committing the level of turnover that they are. It is hurting the team, especially on the road. Maybe they should be getting more assists too, I don't know, but if I was the coach, I would be focused primarily on taking care of the ball, reducing turnovers, not trying to increase assists. Reduce the turnovers and I think the assists will come and the asst/TOV ratio will improve.