Does anyone know if the sim differentiates between a player's assisted & unassisted FGs? I doubt it uses actual play-by-play data, especially since it has only become available in more recent years, but does the sim attempt to make some kind of estimate? Are players who are estimated to be good at making unassisted FGs more valuable than ones who rely on assists, or is the sim "dumb' in this regard?

I'm trying not to "double count" points from assists when estimating a player's value. If I credit every FGM, whether assisted or otherwise, at full value; and then I also give the assist some value, I'm "double counting" the value of the assisted field goal. Instead, I can give a portion of credit to the assist, and then back the total amount given to assists from all FGM, if the sim doesn't somehow distinguish between assisted and unassisted FGM.

Furthermore, does high AST% lead to more FTA? Or are FTA strictly an issue of a player's FT rate and his defender(s)' foul rate and defensive rating? (How often do you hear a TV analyst say they think a player should get an assist for passing to a guy who gets fouled and makes his free throws? And I know Hollinger's PER originally tried to credit these "phantom" assists). If FTA are not based at all on team AST%, then FTM are worth more, point-for-point, then FGM, in terms of the credit going to the shooter.

Bottom line: I'm trying to come up with net offensive values for players from the 79-80 season, and in designing my formula, I need to know (or at least have a decent guess) how the sim considers assisted vs. unassisted FGM, and whether AST% has an impact on FTA.

THANK YOU!