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Tag Archives: Numerica
Imbalanced Shooters
During last night’s game, early in the second quarter, this tweet from Evan Zamir caught my attention. Kawhi Leonard shot 43% on corner 3's this season, but only 33% on all other 3PTA. — Evan Zamir (@thecity2) June 10, 2013 If you don’t know Evan, he’s the man behind NBAwowy.com and has some the most detailed NBA stats available at his fingertips. That difference in Kawhi Leonard’s shooting percentages is significant and really surprising … Continue reading
Projecting the Draft Through Numbers
Editor’s Note: This project is a collaboration between Jacob Frankel (@jacob_frankel) and Hickory-High’s own Cole Patty (@Cole_Patty). They also received a data-grab assist from Jameson Draper (@JamDraper). Introduction The NBA Draft is one of the most important components in building a team, but how prospects are judged can be subjective, ambiguous, and quite often erroneous. Un-quantifiable terms like “motor”, “upside”, and “athleticism” reign supreme. Very rarely do you hear advanced statistics used as a … Continue reading
Translated Lottery Odds
The NBA Lottery will be held tonight and the odds have been set since the end of the regular season. However, expressing those odds as percentages and fractions of percentages doesn’t always give a tangible sense of the real likelihood of each team winning. I took the liberty of converting each team’s odds into a unit that may be understood more intuitively. I hope it’s helpful. _____ Orlando Magic – 25.0% chance of winning … Continue reading
Playoff Shot Selection
All season long I’ve been tracking shot selection for players and teams using the metric Expected Points Per Shot (XPPS). If you’re unfamiliar with XPPS, here are the basics: Shots from different locations are provide different value. For example, a layup has higher chance of being made than a long two-pointer, and a three-pointer earns an extra point. We refer to these different values as the expected value of a shot. XPPS looks at … Continue reading
Playoff Video Playbook: The Stephen Curry Rules
(All stats accurate as of Game 3) Stephen Curry has been on an absolute tear since the All-Star break, keeping his career-long ankle troubles from holding back the barrage of threes and slick dimes that have wreaked havoc around the league with no end in sight. His name no longer unknown, (we can’t be friends if it took you this long to realize who he was) Curry is now perched on the “superstar” pedestal, being only … Continue reading
The Year of Nate Robinson
Watching Nate Robinson develop over the years has been comparable to a parent watching their child grow up for me – once an annoying ruffian with little maturity, like a young boy making a mess of his toys, now a savvy and intelligent leader of sorts, like a teenager getting his first job and beginning to take on responsibilities. I’ve always been a fan of Nate Robinson, mostly because the egregious brand of basketball … Continue reading
Player Development and the Condemnation of Defense
This piece is a collaboration between Cole Patty and myself (David Vertsberger), working together to tackle the topic of player development. CP: So this is a twitter conversation turned into a basketball writing piece, but basically we are covering all the different angles of player development. The start of our disagreement is Wilson Chandler. He’s a nice player, but I’m not sure he will ever be a considered a great player already being in his … Continue reading
The Free Throw Hokey Pokey
This piece is not about the camerawork at a basketball game, but for this introduction, it’ll be about the camerawork at a basketball game. You can often tell when the producer is slacking off. He or she hoards an army of cameras, sprawled across the arena, ready to provide their unique view of the game. During periods of inactivity, the producer must cut to the most action-y shot he or she can find: a … Continue reading
What Happens at 7:07 PM
Back in the day when I was still a capable guard and ballin’, my center and I would orchestrate a method before tip-off to snag the first possession. I would stand outside the circle, and as the referee tossed the ball into the air, my center would intentionally graze the ball, barely touching it. The opposing center would easily tip it back, but I would rush into our opponent’s side, jump, and grab the … Continue reading
Game of the Week: Brooklyn Nets at Portland Trail Blazers
I looked at the national TV schedule this week, and it is rough, unless you’re a Miami fan. I guess the NBA wants to concede the national conversation to amateurs who play with an overly long shot clock. Fine. It goes without saying that every Miami game is must-see as long as their streak is alive, but I wrote about them last week. So let’s focus on two mid-card teams, the Brooklyn Nets and … Continue reading
