Basketball Statistics Blog

Sunday's Reflections on Basketball Statistics:
About the Statistics Analysis & Basketball Court Positions

From the point of view of the statistical analysis: how do we define a player's position ? Is it primarily a player's role in the offense ? A player's height ? A player's defensive range in terms of quickness, strength, and height ?
Is it possible to have two centers or point guards on the court, or does one of them become a '2' or '4' ? How significant is the difference between a 2 and a 3?
Which is the importance and the influence of the position in the basketball statistical analysis ?

From the moment that player's position is often left out of most basketball analysis systems, is there in the eBA Basketball Statistics Analysis System the factor position as a parameter of a study ? How necessary are the traditional positions? Have the eBA Basketball Statistics Analysis System studies or theories presented that reinforce the convention of having a point guard, a second guard, a small forward, a power forward, and a center ?

Image: Sim-Hoops.com

It is absolutely necessary that we begin thinking in terms of roles rather than positions. Our eBA Basketball Statistics Analysis System describe and classify these roles and works in this terms.

As soon as possible we must trash traditional positional designations — at least with regards to our statistics analysis — and start working on something more important: player roles.

Basketball game developed so much from that time when positions were an early attempt to describe roles.
To refer nowadays to those traditional designations is a pass back. Not open to doubt that every team needs what traditionally is a point guard, a far-seeing, sure-handed player to initiate an offense once the ball has been brought upcourt.

But today, more and more teams plays with players who can't manage other point guard duties but are still used to initiate offense. Therefore, what the teams need is a player who will set up the offense and get the ball to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there.
You can call him a PG, but in terms of statistics analysis you can't forget to recognize the primary existence of roles.

This theme is developed in my first exposition "Statistics & Statisticians" at the Basketball Statistics Registration Course in eBA Clinics.

This topic is resumed in the eBA Basketball Statistics Analysis System
at the eBA Encyclopedia > The Articles

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