0 comments by adammares on 7/20/2014
Throughout the big-3 era in Miami, the two-man combination of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade gave us some of the league’s most unforgettable highlights. From full-court alley-oops, to combining to score 70 points against the Indiana Pacers in a must-win Game 4 in the 2012 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. When those two worked in sync, we […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 7/18/2014
When people cite how players do against the top teams or top defense, they typically use a box score summary of their stats versus teams rated X or above. This is not an accurate method, however, as a player can go against several defenses barely over the threshold and another can go up against two […]
0 comments by chrisgonzalez
In today’s world of advanced metrics, SportVU player tracking data — and just the general opinions of many regarding the NBA — there are too many instances where players talents are evaluated, compared, and debated based on arbitrary claims and confusion (I’m looking at you, Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith). While I too am […]
0 comments by halbrown
Since Dean Oliver first published Basketball on Paper in 2004 (and probably before), basketball analysts have been pushing the belief that a team’s offense should be built around shooting three pointers and taking shots at the rim — the two most efficient shots in basketball by a wide margin. That philosophy has on a macro level been […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 7/15/2014
If there’s any test for whether or not a player is a superstar that bridges the gap between the analytics crowd and conventional analysis, it’s how well his former team does when he leaves either via free agency, a trade, or retirement. It’s in some ways a version of plus/minus, but it’s simple enough for […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 7/14/2014
Adding content to the bottomless pit of the web seems like a fruitless effort sometimes, but with some creativity and insight you can provide information previously not available. For example, every so often the media will discuss players with long consecutive strings of games played, but no one provides a comprehensive list of the current […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/27/2014
Thanks to the internet, there’s a plethora of information available about the NBA draft. We have more observers than ever — more prognosticators who say they can predict the future. Some NBA writers are defined by the draft itself, but which ones perform the best? Which mock drafts are the most accurate? Tabulating the predictions […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/26/2014
As we near the 2014 draft, potentially one of the most unpredictable ever, people are searching for answers, objective truths visible in the haze. A number of prospects have question marks about their ultimate NBA position. For instance, Jabari Parker’s future position has led to some discussion, and it’s unclear from glancing at his measurements […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/20/2014
With the Finals over, now is the time for reflection and historical queries. The NBA Finals date back to 1947 when the league was called the Basketball Association of America. Kawhi Leonard etched his name into history, but the Finals MVP has only existed since 1969. Fortunately, I built a Finals MVP model to predict […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/16/2014
There is some astonishment right now with the San Antonio Spurs winning a title without some MVP-level player. But there shouldn’t be. There is more information than ever. There is an astounding amount, in fact, and if you have access to deep databases there’s information on the position of every single player during every split […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/13/2014
In the nearly fifty years the Finals MVP has been awarded, it has been given to a player on the losing team only once. Oddly enough, as many fans know, this happened during the first year of the award; Jerry West won after a scorching series where he scored 38 a game and barely lost […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/8/2014
In a seven game series, even when you’re certain of how strong each team is, the odds aren’t easy to directly calculate. You have to account for every possibility and the homecourt alternating. However, when you do this, Miami’s chances are bleak. Going into the series, I estimated San Antonio’s strength at +8.7 (they’d beat […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/5/2014
In the media, LeBron’s rival was supposed to be Kobe Bryant. No one expected LeBron to face Tim Duncan and the Spurs for a third time in the Finals, but maybe we should be appreciative. Duncan is regularly labeled as the best power forward ever, but LeBron is on the path to clinching the title […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 6/4/2014
Ever since Michael Jordan retired, the media has been on the lookout for the next Jordan. Unfortunately, this meant young superstars were compared to Jordan’s standards, instead of their own merits. Given his high level of play, virtually everyone was being set up to fail, but even if you matched his absurdly high value you […]
0 comments by justinwillard on 5/31/2014
The Spurs made a surprising change to their starting lineup on Thursday, but it shouldn’t be much of a surprise: Popovich’s signature style is not one tangible thing, but is instead adaptability. He’s flexible and has vastly changed his defensive and offensive philosophies over the years based on his personnel and the trends and strengths […]
