Basketball Statistics Blog

Friday Press Clippings: Statistics and the Human Element

From Basketball Statistics.com
by Jon Nichols
Download source here: 'Statistics and the Human Element '

"... How far can we go? Can we truly measure everything that goes on in a basketball game? More importantly, can we use those measurements to evaluate individual players and project how they will do on other teams?

As crazy as that may sound, I would bet there are a few people out there that think it’s possible. Play-by-play and game tracking data open up many possibilities. Throw in shot charts and you can come up with a whole bunch of different numbers. ..."

"... My hypothesis is this: numbers do the best job of conveying how a player has performed in the past and how he will do in the immediate future, since this will most likely be dictated by his past performance. If a guy has been shooting 45% on three-pointers this season, there’s a good chance he’ll make some long range shots against you if you leave him open. ..."

"... In addition, scouting isn’t as subjective and random as you may think. Jack Mula, formerly of the New England Patriots, discussed how the team always used “systemic scouting” to establish their dominance. With this system, the coaches made it clear what they needed from each position, and it was the scouts’ job to find players that met this criteria. ..."

"... To sum it up, it’s all about balance. Teams that are relying solely on subjectivity and scouting are probably making a big mistake, and the same thing goes for teams that only use numbers (although I doubt any of those teams exist). The premise of Composite Score is that when multiple people have different ideas about the same thing, they’re all probably right about some of the issues, so you need to combine all of their knowledge. The same thing goes for the interaction between scouting and statistics. ..."

Read more articles in Basketball Statistics.com.

To read Today's 'Press Clippings' in Spanish, click this week above on the 'Español' tab or afterwards click here: ' Evaluación del jugador en los partidos de baloncesto ' by Manuel António Janeira and Eurico Brandão .

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