Monday Tip-Off: How I Came To Love Assists

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with the story how I came to love assists, and why I still enjoy dropping dimes on the virtual hardwood.

Even though they’re frequently a point of contention, statistics are an important aspect of basketball. Fans love citing them, and many of the sport’s biggest stars have been enthusiastic about accumulating them. Traditionally, it’s been about putting up points. Scoring is what gets attention, and ultimately, racking up more points than the other team is how you win games. Players have also sought other statistical feats, such as triple-doubles. With stats being such an inextricable part of hoops, it’s only natural that our enthusiasm for numbers carries over to video games as well.

It’s fun to achieve eye-popping numbers on the virtual hardwood, but over the years, it’s also become a necessity. After all, big games are what earn us the most VC and XP in MyCAREER and its connected modes. As such, they’re an unavoidable part of the grind in career and online team play. It’s a logical approach, though unfortunately it does contribute to toxicity by encouraging a Player One mindset. However, there is a stat that’s usually (but not always) racked up with less selfishness: assists. Having played MyCAREER and its connected modes in several different games now, I’ve grown extremely fond of accumulating assists in both online and offline play.

Where did it all begin? That would be my NBA 2K13 MyCAREER, an experience that I’ve mentioned several times over the years. It was my first real foray into the single player career experience, and it’s what hooked me on the mode after years of being a franchise gamer. The back story here is that although I’d created a shooting guard, after Ty Lawson went down with injury, I found my player slotted in at the point. This afforded me the opportunity to handle the ball much more than I had been while at the two, and to start getting more assists. It’s not that I never picked up dimes playing as a shooting guard, but now I was in a position to really boost those numbers.

The moment I truly came to love assists – or become obsessed with them, as the case may be – happened in a game where I was tallying more of them than usual. A new dynamic goal popped up as I hit the 20 assist mark, challenging me to beat the Denver Nuggets’ single game record held by Fat Lever. Although I fell short of breaking the record on that first attempt, it inspired me to make assists my chosen statistical goal. From there on out I was committed to setting up my teammates, and setting records with my assist numbers. I did eventually set a new mark of 24 assists in both a regular season and Playoff game, thereby claiming both of those Nuggets team records.

It changed the way that I approached MyCAREER. For several games afterwards, my first choice for a build was a point guard. While I wasn’t strictly a pass-first player in the same vein as John Stockton, I was still looking for my CPU teammates’ shots as much as my own. Needless to say, this led to frustration whenever teammates missed easy shots, or passed up shots to get the assist themselves! This demonstrates how assists can actually be a selfish statistic. If you’re looking to rack up a bunch of them, it can lead to being as ball dominant as a black hole scorer, and focusing on making the assist pass rather than the right pass. It can also lead to a plethora of turnovers!

To further clarify my pejorative use of the term “assist pass” – because it’s admittedly a contentious topic within basketball discussion and analysis – obviously any pass that leads directly to a bucket and thus an assist is technically an assist pass. I’m referring to a very specific and self-serving approach to passing the ball, though. As I noted, it usually manifests itself as hogging the ball and running down the shot clock so that when you do make the pass, the recipient is more likely to shoot and thus give you an assist if they knock it down. Instead of good movement, it’s insisting on setting up every basket and limiting your passing to when you believe an assist can be tallied.

Incidentally, we’ve seen this obsession with assists and accompanying triple-doubles result in similar selfishness in real life. Wilt Chamberlain is the only centre to ever lead the league in assists, which is an incredible feat and worth noting given his many scoring records. However, stories have been told about how he obsessed over them to the point of hounding scorekeepers, and refusing to pass to teammates whose misses “wasted” assist opportunities. Michael Jordan became similarly enamoured during his run of triple-doubles in the 1989 season. LeBron James has also been criticised for padding his numbers with assist passes rather than keeping the basketball moving.

Apart from having actual scorekeepers to grumble to when assists haven’t counted for one reason or another, these scenarios can be reflected in video games as well. Even generally unselfish stats such as assists and rebounds can lead to selfish play that isn’t conducive to winning, if you focus too much on getting your numbers. Obviously it’s no problem in single player gameplay, where the mode is tailored to be all about your avatar’s journey to superstardom, and CPU teammates don’t complain. There are team chemistry levels of course, but they can’t account for less altruistic motives behind your assist numbers. By all means chase stats in the NBA side of MyCAREER!

A love of assists can be quite dangerous in online team play. Once again, in the worst case scenario, it can lead to the ball sticking as someone hogs it until they have an opportunity to make the assist pass. In Rec games, I’ve played with randoms who’ve passed up wide open shots under the rim because they’re vying for a triple-double. If nothing else, you can end up with several possessions where there’s only one pass. Even when it’s working, it means that only a couple of people are getting to touch the ball most of the time. It’s even less fun when the ballhandler is forcing the issue, and the lack of ball movement makes it easier for opponents to get stops, and then points.

When I was playing 2K Pro-Am with the rest of the guys in NLSC THRILLHO, this is something I always tried to be aware of. To that point though, I took great pride and enjoyment in setting the guys up to score. I didn’t mind sacrificing points and scoring opportunities; that’s what MyCAREER was for. At the same time, the rest of the team were making a sacrifice in relinquishing ballhandling duties year after year, allowing me to run the offense and be Mr. Assist. I’ve always felt selfish when I take too many shots in online games as well, so frankly it was far more enjoyable throwing lobs and hitting everyone with a pass at just the right time, and helping them to get buckets.

That was my role – along with chipping in points here and there – and I had a lot of fun with it. It’s not for everyone, as evidenced by a message from an opposing point guard trash talking me for only having two points on one attempt. It might have been a decent burn, if we weren’t winning the game and I didn’t have 14 assists at the time! Still, it was a reminder that not everyone loves assists as I do, not to mention to turn off messages from people I don’t know. Setting everyone up was how I consistently contributed to the team, as I averaged a little over 10 assists per game in 500 2K Pro-Am games back in NBA 2K17. Looking back, 5000 assists in a year is crazy!

Of course, developing such an enthusiasm for garnering assists leads to you becoming very aware of issues and inconsistencies with stats tracking in NBA 2K games. You can get an assist when a teammate dribbles almost coast to coast after your pass, but then won’t get one if they make a stepback move. If they slightly bobble a pass or a defender gets a finger on the ball, the assist is often negated. I’ve had alley-oops not count as assists because…well, who knows, really. On one hand, you’re happy that the basket counted at least, as every point goes towards winning the game. On the other hand, it’s rough being robbed of the stat, not to mention VC and Badge progress.

Dropping dimes remained a goal in the NBA side of MyCAREER as well. In NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K20, I broke John Stockton’s assist records, including a season in which I averaged over 20 per game. I re-wrote the record book for assists in a single regular season and Playoff game, and once reached 40 in an outing. It became a challenge to see how quickly I could get to double digit assists in a game, and how many points I could pair with a big night distributing the ball. It made maxing out my Playmaking Badges a much easier task, and once I added double digit rebounds to the mix, averaging a triple-double for an entire season was a goal I finally reached.

This isn’t intended to be a boast. Once you’ve mastered the art of stat padding and controlling the game when player locked, the opportunity is there to lay waste to just about every record imaginable. It can be an extremely fun and satisfying experience though, and lessen the repetitiveness of the grind by setting additional goals. It’s also challenging if your team doesn’t have any elite scorers, as was the case when I played for the Bulls in NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K20. Upon reflection, I’ll readily admit that it’s weird that I took so much joy in getting assists. In online team play, I knew that my friends appreciated my style. CPU teammates don’t really care one way or another.

Nevertheless, I’ve taken pride in my assist numbers since that dynamic goal in my NBA 2K13 MyCAREER, and it changed the way I played as a point guard. Even as I played through NBA 2K14’s MyCAREER story eight years later, I was up to my old tricks, getting my assist average to double digits by the end of the year and setting a new NBA record for dimes in a single game. I get a kick out filling the stat sheet in general as most gamers do, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get an added rush when I tally another assist. You can keep your 100-point games in The Rec; I’d much rather have two points and 20 assists if it means everyone has fun, and we get the win.