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For any one player on the team, racking up assists in BB... is hard. The passing stat is expensive for guards salary-wise compared to how effective it is in winning games for a team, and outside defence is considered by some to be the best skill in the game. Hence, you don't see too many point guards with high assist totals in BB.

I'll prove you wrong.

Dobrin's best season though was in Season 13. Taking less shots helped him become a more efficient player, and his assist totals were nearing Kasper levels. 45% FG, 34.8% 3PT, 70.5% FT, 19.4 PPG and 8.8 Assists per game, with only 1.1 Turnover per game to boot. Phoenix 5 had a solid 12-10 season, but once again, the strength of the Big 8 cost them a playoff spot. However, with Radford fast becoming a star player in his own right, the future was looking bright for Phoenix 5...

But in Season 14 Dobrin seemed like a shadow of his former self. It wasn't so much him though as it was the overall quality of the league rapidly improving. His passes just weren't turning into assists anymore, and his shooting game was starting to slip. His figures dropped to 42.2% FG, 30% 3PT, 15 PPG and 5.3 assists per game. Phoenix 5 only managed 5-17 this season despite Radford's best efforts (who led the league in rebounds and was top 10 in points).

Season 15 confirmed the fact that Dobrin was no longer the star he once was. His shooting game had just disappeared and whilst he could still pass, it just wasn't the 8+ assists he was used to getting. 36.5% FG, 23.7% 3PT, 12.6 PPG and 5.9 assists. He, like Kasper, would be sold before the playoffs that season. And despite Radford once again leading the league in rebounds and finishing top 10 in points, Phoenix would be relegated with a 4-18 record.

To give you an idea of just how hard it has been for players in the league to achieve even 7 assists a game since then... Lausevic's 7.5 assists per game last season was the highest anyone's gotten over a season since Dobrin in Season 13. It's gotten to the point where 7 APG is considered elite in the ABBL, whereas in the real NBA, 7 APG is pretty darn good, but doesn't exactly stand up to the best passers in the league (9 players in the NBA averaged higher this season).

With that said... maybe we'll see a rise in APG this season. Hahi Bin Awang has been great at passing the ball recently, averaging 7.8 through 5 games as well as having high numbers throughout last season, and Taylor Waterhouse so far has averaged 9 a game for DFBS so it'll be interesting to see if someone in the ABBL buys him or not and if so, if Waterhouse can continue to rack up the assists this season...

Last edited by Jay (OTT) at 6/2/2012 8:06:54 AM

Kasper was a gun assist man, had some pretty handy players to pass to, Nash was a gun back in the day (and is still fairly handy) and there was another big bloke on Doncaster whose name escapes me who was pretty good. Reckon Kasper had that nice combination of crap shooting and greating passing which allowed him to rack up a bunch of assists.

Dobrin put up huge numbers, but I reckon he was the guy who was symbolic of the reason why Phoenix never really challenged in the ABBL. Great scorer and passer, but his defense seemed to be pretty poor - Grigg and Gafa always enjoyed playing against him. Felt like he just wasn't the right guy to support Radford.