New Statistic: The Point Guard Rating

The recent successes of LSU's point guard, Anthony Hickey, got me thinking, what makes a great point guard? It is all about assists, turnovers, scoring? Is it about defense? What really makes a great complete point guard? To me it is a little bit of everything. The point guard should be the most dynamic player on the court. He should have vision, presence, and ability.

Missouri's point guard, Phil Pressey, has been heralded as having some of the best vision in the country. LSU's Anthony Hickey leads the entire NCAA in steals, using his defense to spark his teams play. Arkansas' BJ Young scores almost 17 points a game from the point position. Each SEC point guard brings something to the table that sparks their team's success.

As many of you know, I am a statistics junkie. While I appreciate that statistics do not explain everything, I think they give proof to what your eyes see. That's why I have decided to put together what I am calling a Point Guard Rating. The Point Guard Rating takes into account all the things that make the point guard position one of the most important on the court.



The PG Rate takes the ratio of assists and steals to turnovers. This takes into account what a point guard is all about, distributing the ball. It also takes into account that you are guarding someone who is suppose to do the same thing. Being able to steal the ball from other point guards is as important to a point guard as anything. The second part of the formula was created due to the new school nature of the position. Point guards are now asked to be scoring threats for their team.

The second part of the formula takes points per shot and subtracts the average points per shot in the NCAA. This takes into account the sexy stat of points but making sure it's not due to hogging the shots.

I was pleasantly surprised when I calculated out the PG Rating for each of the 14 point guards in the SEC (only took 1 PG per team). As you can tell, Anthony Hickey leads the conference in this TheHousethatJohnnyBuilt.com statistic.

The PG Rate takes the ratio of assists and steals to turnovers. This takes into account what a point guard is all about, distributing the ball. It also takes into account that you are guarding someone who is suppose to do the same thing. Being able to steal the ball from other point guards is as important to a point guard as anything. The second part of the formula was created due to the new school nature of the position. Point guards are now asked to be scoring threats for their team.

The second part of the formula takes points per shot and subtracts the average points per shot in the NCAA. This takes into account the sexy stat of points but making sure it's not due to hogging the shots.



Ole Miss' Jarvis Summers is right behind Hickey who really benefits from only 1.1 turnovers per game. His points per shot is also very impressive. I was surprised to see Missouri's Phil Pressey so low, but it is understandable when you see he leads the PG's in turnovers at 3.8 per game. His points per shot is also the 3rd to lowest at only 1.03 PPS. His 7.2 assists per game are impressive, but at the expense of many Missouri possessions with all those turnovers.

Anthony Hickey is 3rd in assists per game, 1st in steals per game and 3rd in turnovers per game. It is a winning combination and LSU hopes it can continue as they make their way into the heart of the SEC schedule.