Basketball Statistics Blog

Eurobasket 2009: Quarter Finals ~ Turkey - Greece ~ Highlights

You must be logged in to read or post a comment. Register

tags:  basketball  ~  coaches digest   ~  basketball games  ~  Eurobasket 2009
visit:  eBA Portal  ~  eBA Forums  ~  eBA Encyclopedia  ~  eBA Clinics

Basketball Statistician's Digest:
The Pitfalls of Statistical Analysis: Basketball vs. Baseball

From Raptors HQ
Download source here: ' The Pitfalls of Statistical Analysis: Basketball vs. Baseball '

"... Statistics can lie. Which statistics we chose to measure and which ones we choose to ignore will often paint us a picture that can be detrimental to our analysis. It is always preferable to have a larger sample size and more measurements, but it is sometimes unavailable or too time-consuming and cost-prohibitive to do so. ..."

"... Statistics will be used to lie. What we choose to show to people from available statistics becomes important as people have an inherit trust in numbers. How we present the numbers also affects how people perceive a situation. ..."

"... In baseball, we have a sport that is clearly defined between offensive and defensive categories. What one player does when he is out in the field or at bat seldom affects the other. A baseball player's role is well defined.

When you are hitting the ball, you can measure certain kinds of statistics that only pertain towards hitting the ball and when you're running the bases, there's another set of statistics that only measure your effectiveness at running the bases.

In fact, it can be argued that baseball is a team sport that relies on the individual performances of players rather than players all working together at the same time, all the time. ..."

"... In contrast, basketball is a sport that is always reliant on the other players on the court who are with you at the same time.

On offense, having a clear lane to the hoop for an easy basket relies on your 3 point threats drawing their defenders out to the perimeter, a perfect pick set by your big man, and a partial clear out under the basket so your wing can have room to score.

Each player has a part to play at the same time in the possession, but in the stats registered in NBA.com, we only ever concentrate on the points scored or the assist made. ..."

"... Assists: They're defined as a pass that directly leads to a basket, but they're often left to the scorekeeper's subjective discretion.

Unlike assists in hockey, assists in basketball are hard to cover because they happen quickly and with around 100 combined shots taken in an NBA game, there is little time to go back and correct errors .

Add to the fact that there have been reports of inflated stats and it all equals to some questionable numbers. Too often though, it's a series of passes that leads to a basket while only the final pass that's scored. ..."

"... Finally, Fouls Incurred would be another good measure of a player's prowess to enter the paint and draw fouls. Yes, foul shots already do some of the work, but to have an accurate breakdown that measures how many fouls a player has drawn from their opponent would give a more accurate picture.

For example, if one looks at free throws attempted, it doesn't tell which resulted in two foul shots and which resulted in mere penalties. Foul shots also do not measure fouls drawn in a non-shooting situation. The inclusion of this statistic may encourage more players to attack and be more aggressive...."

Read more articles in Raptors HQ.

To read Today's 'Press Clippings' in Spanish, click this week above on the 'Español' tab or afterwards click here: ' La eficacia del lanzamiento a canasta en la NBA: Análisis multifactorial ' por S.J. Ibáñez, J. García1, S. Feu, I. Parejo y M. Cañadas

tags:  basketball  ~  statistician's digest   ~  basketball analysis  ~  David Friedman
visit:  eBA Portal  ~  eBA Forums  ~  eBA Encyclopedia  ~  eBA Clinics