Basketball Statistics Blog

Friday Press Clippings:
A Statistical Holy Grail: The Search for the Winner Within

From The New York Times
By Dan T. Rosenbaum
Download source here: ' A Statistical Holy Grail: The Search for the Winner Within ' by Dan T. Rosenbaum

"... That traditional statistics and the increasingly popular plus-minus differential can measure players so differently highlights the difficulty in designing a rating system for the N.B.A. ..."

"... Unlike baseball, with its repeated encounters between pitchers and batters, basketball is not a series of one-on-one contests. In baseball, the game's essence is captured remarkably well by box scores. ..."

"... In basketball, statistics in box scores focus almost entirely on the player with the ball. This omits critical aspects of the game, like teamwork and defense. ..."

"... These blind spots have made many fans and old-school basketball disciples skeptical of statistical analysis. Dean Oliver, author of "Basketball on Paper" and a statistical consultant for the Seattle SuperSonics, has likened attempts to produce an overall player rating to the quest for the Holy Grail. ..."

"... Because plus-minus statistics depend on team performance, they capture almost every contribution a player can make.

The good pick, the solid help defense, the threat of a 3-point shooter - all these contributions are captured by net plus-minus statistics.

In theory, they are an ideal measure of a player's effectiveness. ..."

"... Plus-minus statistics are especially difficult to interpret when the analysis is applied to a small number of games, a point not well understood by many proponents of the statistics. Stable results take more than half a season; stable box-score statistics require only about 10 games. ..."

"... People in the game often claim to know instinctively how to measure intangibles, but salaries suggest otherwise. Teams pay for little more than the glory statistics (points, rebounds and, to a lesser extent, assists). ..."

"... Although steals, blocks, shooting percentage and an ability to avoid turnovers are crucial to a team's performance, players proficient in these aspects are rarely rewarded with bigger paychecks. ..."

Read more articles in The New York Times.

To read today's 'Press Clippings' in Spanish, click this week above on the 'Español' tab or afterwards click here: ' Indicadores de rendimiento defensivo en baloncesto en los ganadores y perdedores ' by Enrique Ortega Toro and others.

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