Center Saturdays: Domantas Sabonis’ passing

Domantas Sabonis has improved in a variety of ways this season. One of the under-appreciated aspects of his improvement has been his passing.

Domantas Sabonis‘ improvement as a scorer, rebounder, defender, screener, and teammate has been huge for the Indiana Pacers this season. Sabonis has been able to be on of the most effective backup Centers in the league, and with Myles Turner out with an injury, he has been able to slide into the starting role with very few hiccups. His improvement and the seamless fit with any player on the team can be attributed to one of the under-appreciated aspects of his improvement, his newfound ability as a passer.

During his rookie season in Oklahoma City, Sabonis had an assist percentage of 7.2 percent. This means that he assisted on 7.2 out of every 100 Thunder made baskets when he was on the floor. For reference, that number is right between the assist percentage of non-creators Bojan Bogdanovic and Damien Wilkins this year.

This year, Sabonis has been wizzing the ball around with a fresh creation ability. He has an assist percentage of 12.6 percent, which is fifth on the Pacers and actually better than point guard Joe Young’s figure.

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Leaguewide, this is an incredibly good ability. His greater than 12.5 assist percentage is very hard to find among big men. In fact, only nine centers in the entire league have that high of an assist percentage. Their names? Andre Drummond, Al Horford, Nikola Jokic, DeMarcus Cousins, Joel Embiid, Kelly Olynyk, Marc Gasol, and Nikola Vucevic. That is a group of excellent offensive centers and some cerebral ones at that.

Sabonis is in that group this season (he’s not in the basketball reference query because they list him as a forward for some reason). He knows where and when to put the ball in his teammate’s hands, and he spreads it out more effectively than most Centers.

The reasoning for this is that Sabonis has a newfound skill of knowing exactly what he wants to do with the ball the second he gets it, whether that be to pass, shoot, or dribble. Here, when he catches it at the top of the key, he realizes he has an open runway to the rim, so he attacks the space. He draws the help, and with the defense clamping down, he immediately makes a perfect pass over to Lance Stephenson in the corner for an easy three:

That decision making from Sabonis is what leads to the basket. The Chicago Bulls trapped the pick and roll and the Pacers were running into trouble, but Sabonis’ quick thinking made the basket possible.

A lot of his impressive decision making comes in pick and roll situations, like that one where he both dribbled and passed. However, he frequently makes great passes thanks to his chemistry with his teammates. On this one, he dribbles and leans toward the wing like he is setting up for a dribble handoff with Victor Oladipo. However, he quickly realizes that a back cut is happening and puts the pass on a silver platter for Oladipo to score:

You don’t frequently find that court vision, and anticipation, on big men. But Sabonis appears to have it.

Next: Post-Game Grades: Pacers shamefully lose to short-handed Lakers

Thanks to his newfound descriptor as a cerebral player, Domantas Sabonis can be considered a great passer. His decision making, once he catches the ball, is one of his best skills. Let’s hope he keeps it up the rest of the season.