Category: NBA

Defensive Matchup Difficulty: Which NBA Players Face Off Against the Best?

Defense is a difficult element of basketball to quantify. Traditional box score statistics like steals, blocks, and defensive rebounds are helpful, but they don't help fans understand which players are effective on-ball stoppers. After all, most steals and blocks are gotten while playing off-ball defense. Opponent shot tracking has helped to determine which players are … Continue reading Defensive Matchup Difficulty: Which NBA Players Face Off Against the Best? →

Shot Selection: A Surprising Playoff Advantage (or Disadvantage)

Basketball is all about scoring more than your opponent, and the best way to do this is by getting better shots than your opponent. An crucial part to offensive efficiency is shot selection. Taking the right shots will improve the chance of making more baskets and winning games. The best shots can vary by team, … Continue reading Shot Selection: A Surprising Playoff Advantage (or Disadvantage) →

Predicting NBA First-Time All-Stars in 2022-23

For some NBA players, it takes time to reach full potential. There are unexpected breakout players every season. For example, take Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins never turned into the player that many scouts expected him to be when he was drafted in 2014 by the Minnesota Timberwolves, culminating in a trade to the Golden State Warriors. … Continue reading Predicting NBA First-Time All-Stars in 2022-23 →

Foul up 3 or Defend?: Analyzing late game strategy

Decisions at the end of basketball games often decide the outcome. There are many difficult choices to be made with shot selection, pace, defensive style, and more. However, basketball teams and coaches may not be maximizing their win probability based on their choices. In this article, I will look at the win probabilities of 3 … Continue reading Foul up 3 or Defend?: Analyzing late game strategy →

True Shooting Ability: Separating Shooting Talent from Shot Circumstances

Outside shooting is more important now than ever in the NBA. The frequency of three point attempts has been increasing since the beginning of the 2010's. The simplest measure of 3-point ability is basic 3-point percentage, but this metric does not tell the whole story. It lacks too much context. A player can make 30 … Continue reading True Shooting Ability: Separating Shooting Talent from Shot Circumstances →

Generating NBA Archetypes Using K-Means Clustering

The NBA commonly uses five positions to group players: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center. However, today's NBA is becoming increasingly position-less. Instead, teams care more about the specific skills and tendencies of players when making lineups. This has led to the need to create new grouping for players. One way … Continue reading Generating NBA Archetypes Using K-Means Clustering →