Basketball Statistics Blog

Friday Press Clippings:
Hoop Data Dreams by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt

From The New York Times
By Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt
Download source here: ' Hoop Data Dreams ' by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt

"... This probably makes good sense for a sport like baseball, which is full of discrete events that are easily measured. It is also understandable, however, that there is less of an edge to be gained from statistical analysis now that everyone is doing it.

Basketball, meanwhile, might seem too hectic and woolly for such rigorous dissection. It is far more collaborative than baseball and happens much faster, with players shifting from offense one moment to defense the next ..."

"... What’s the most efficient shot to take besides a layup? Easy, says Zarren: a three-pointer from the corner. What’s one of the most misused, misinterpreted statistics? “Turnovers are way more expensive than people think,” Zarren says.

That’s because most teams focus on the points a defense scores from the turnover but don’t correctly value the offense’s opportunity cost — that is, the points it might have scored had the turnover not occurred. ..."

"... Still, there remains a significant universe of basketball statistics that are simply not captured: each pass thrown and caught, each player’s position on the floor at a given time, any number of angles and proximities and nuances.

Zarren lusts after such data and is quietly pushing for a technological solution that would produce it. One possibility: embed the floor of each N.B.A. arena with electronic sensors and have the players wear microchips in their sneakers. ... "

"... A lot of things happen on a basketball court — picks, passes, defensive shifts — that aren’t routinely quantified. This is not to suggest that basketball teams don’t think statistically.

But only recently have a few teams begun to hire a new breed of stathead to scrutinize every conceivable variable. ..."

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: ' Aplicaciones del Análisis y Evaluación de la Técnica en Baloncesto ' by Ángel Patiño Resa y Mercedes López-Barrajón Sevilla .

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tags:  basketball  ~  statistician's digest   ~  basketball analysis  ~  SJ. Dubner & SD. Levitt
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