Turnover Ratio vs Turnover %

[SideshowBob]

Hollinger uses Turnover ratio to measure how often a player turns the ball over.

The formula is: TO/((.44 x FTA) + (FGA + Assists + TO))

Basketball Reference uses Turnover % to measure this, however they do not include assists

The formula is: TO/((.44 x FTA) +(TO + FGA))

High assist numbers generally correlate with higher turnover rates, and to not even include assists in the formula seems to cut high volume passers short. Take Steve Nash this year for example. He has a whopping TOV% of 22.1% this year. Seems like he's a complete turnover machine, giving up the ball on over a fifth of his possessions. However, when we factor in his 507 assists, that drops down to 13.3%, as indicated by Turnover Ratio. We now see that he's only turning the ball over on almost a TENTH of his possessions, a 40% drop from what TOV% was measuring.

Or how about Rondo, the league's assist leader. TOV% tells us that he turns the ball over a horrendus 28.1% of the time, the highest mark in the league this year amongst players who qualify for the mpg leaderboard. Turnover Ratio, says he turns it over 14.8% of the time. Good for 36th in the league.

Why even use TOV%?

[mysticbb]

It makes sense for teams, because assists are included in the calculation of the overall opportunities to turn the ball over by FGA.

I think b-r.com changed it at one point also for players. I agree, turnover rate is a better tool for players than tov%.

[ProBskbllTalk]

Good finding, if you look at it reasonable, we all can say that Steve Nash doe not turn the ball over every 5th possession and it is realistically closer to the 13% of the time.