Random Stat: Turnover Type Leaders

Q: Do you have the statistics for palming/carry violations called on players this season by any chance? -- John P.

A: Indeed we do, although not by chance! Let's take an in-season look at several of the more common turnover types...

Offensive Fouls Player Team Off. Fouls  Curry NYK 68  Stoudemire PHO 55  Randolph POR 47  Arenas WAS 42  Howard ORL 41  Anthony DEN 41  Gordon CHI 39  Mourning MIA 38  Chandler NOK 36  Ellis GSW 36

Mr. Curry has a sizeable lead this season, not a shock given he was last year's "winner" in this category. While the top ten is primarily the lovable lugs in the post types who muscle their smaller defenders out of the way with a little too much vigor on occasion, there are a sprinkling of the fearless drivers as well, aka Arenas, Gordon, Ellis.

Bad Passes Player Team Bad Passes  Nash PHO 177  Kidd NJN 120  Iguodala PHI 118  Williams UTA 114  Felton CHA 113  Tinsley IND 108  Ford TOR 103  Alston HOU 100  Wade MIA 99  James CLE 98

Two-time defending MVP Steve Nash is not afraid of trying the risky pass. Certainly a number of them go awry, but you don't hear Phoenix complaining, now do you? He still produces roughly four assists for every bad pass, and unlike some players who get "cheap assists" many of Nash's are the real deal feeds. Players with poor Assist to Bad Pass ratios include Tyrus Thomas (.96), Dampier (1.29), Curry (1.34), Dalembert (1.38), Frye (1.40), Nocioni (1.46), and Petro (1.48)

Lost Ball Turnovers Player Team Lost Balls  Howard ORL 86  Bryant LAL 68  Duncan SAS 67  Mason NOK 65  Ellis GSW 60  Arenas WAS 59  Brand LAC 59  Curry NYK 56  Wade MIA 54  Randolph POR 54

These turnovers can be particularly painful since, like bad passes, they are often steals which head back the other way for easy fastbreak points to double the transgression. Dwight Howard has a very bright future, but cutting down on these types of turnovers should be one objective. And who is that also cracking the top ten? Why it's Mr. Curry again!

Traveling Player Team Travels  O'Neal IND 38  Howard ORL 37  Butler WAS 30  Garnett MIN 29  Duncan SAS 28  Smith ATL 28  Brand LAC 27  Jefferson BOS 26  Pachulia ATL 25  Gordon CHI 24  Morrison CHA 24

Watch those extra steps people! The big men are once more the prime culprits, with Jermaine O'Neal and Dwight Howard going down to the wire on this year's leaderboard race. 'Stache Morrison has had a rough rookie season, and showing up in the top ten for this is not particularly good either.

Palming/Carrying Player Team Palming  Crawford NYK 9  Felton CHA 9  Roy POR 8  Wade MIA 8  Ellis GSW 7  Iguodala PHI 7  Bryant LAL 7  Gordon CHI 6  Stoudamire MEM 6  Terry DAL 6

Back to the original question, and palming/carrying calls are fairly rare in the NBA. Often they occur when a player is about to pick the ball up to make the pass, sees perhaps the pass doesn't look so safe after all and trys to nonchalantly continue dribbling. Then you have the occasional overly officious official who blows the whistle when the dribbler was not in fact gaining any advantage at all.

Double Dribbles Player Team Dbl. Drib  Gordon CHI 12  Williams UTA 7  Head HOU 7  Pargo NOK 7  Alston HOU 7  Crawford NYK 6  Parker SAS 6  Livingston LAC 6  Telfair BOS 6  Paul NOK 6

For some reason Ben Gordon has almost twice as many double dribble violations as any other player in the league. Making a mockery of the also rans! What may be more remarkable is that outside of perhaps Tony Parker, the rest of the players are usually young or lightly regarded, for which we can probably think of many possible explanations -- the young guys over-dribble, dribble into a situation and don't quite know how to extricate themselves gracefully, lose focus...or ref bias.

3-Seconds Player Team 3 Secs  Curry NYK 34  Blount MIN 28  Howard ORL 25  Dampier DAL 22  Mourning MIA 18  Evans DEN 17  Yao HOU 17  Ilgauskas CLE 16  Diop DAL 15  Duncan SAS 15  Dalembert PHI 15

There are still other categories of turnover, but we'll finish with another big man favorite: the three seconds in the paint cop. For his outstanding ability to turn the ball over so frequently in so many ways, we are pleased to award Eddy Curry once again with the King of Turnovers crown. Now if he could just work on his traveling skills...

NBA 2006-07 Random Stat Archive
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NBA 2005-06 Random Stat Archive
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