Basketball Statistics Blog

Basketball Statistics Analysis Referred Concepts:
Per-minute Statistics ~ Player Contribution Measure

Time played is a parameter not used with frequency in player's valuation although it is included in the box stats.

To relate player's valuation with his minutes played will give us his "efficiency", degree of cooperation into the team and with his teammates, interesting factor for the coach, the player
and the game analyst.

The team's 'efficiency' per minute is obtained by dividing the valuation points, taken from the statistics, by the possible play minutes ( 40 or 48 ) and the mean of player's efficiency per minute by dividing newly by 200 or 240 ( total minutes played by 5 players on the court ).

The result compared with the player's individual ( valuation / minutes played ) and multiplied by his minutes in play will give us his efficiency or degree of cooperation over or under the team's mean.

Photograph: Lipstick Alley

From the moment that you can have only five players on the floor at one time, which invariably leads to some players seeing more action than others, how can you measure the contribution of players who play less and thus have fewer points, rebounds, and so on, than the starters?

The eBA Basketball Statistics Analysis System uses the per-minute stat to measure a player's value in terms of any other raw data stat for players with a low range of minutes played.
Say that one player scores eight points in a game, however, plays only eight minutes.

His per-minute scoring average is one point per minute, which extrapolated to a 40-minute game, would be 40 points per game.
But, actually, nobody in the NBA, WNBA or Euroleague, for that matter - averages 40 points per game. Suddenly, those eight points looks more impressive.

Although coaches find the per-minute stat helpful in evaluating players, but it has its limitations. Longer time periods belongs surely to the best players, and shorter time periods may yield misleading stats.

"... Imagine a player that scores a three-pointer in his first minute of play and then sat out the rest of the game. Does anyone truly believe that he would've scored 144 points (3 x 48) in that game had he played the 48 minutes ? ..."

Read More at eBA CLINICS ONLINE, search "time played" in this blog and consult the eBA Basketball Statistics Analysis System.

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

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