![]() Our evaluation framework is grounded on accumulating every on-court event that could alter a team’s chances of scoring or preventing a score. We feel that access to granular player- and team-level winning-impact data will help us better understand what actually matters the most on the court, who is the best at those things, and how those skills develop. Our initial project concentrated on the last 2 NBA Draft classes, achieving enough success to expand our coverage to include the NBA in the coming months]]. Though at the moment we cannot release our data to the public due to our team business, we plan on sharing some of our internal research to hopefully further the discourse on how basketball is understood. So, can we create better basketball data?Īt SIS Hoops, we’ve spent the last year striving to fill those gaps. Studying all 10 players at once for 40-48 minutes of action is both challenging and exhausting for one game, let alone many. ![]() With only +/- stats available to the public and Player Tracking data’s significant limitations measuring decision-making and defense, it’s difficult for even the most informed evaluators to summarize which players are actually impacting winning on the court. There is still so much information missing. But those sites still rely on box scores, play-by-plays, and, at best, basic Tracking stats]]. There are now better places to get in-depth, well-presented statistics]]. So many talented people have furthered the public discourse through their written pieces, video, and podcasts. Thankfully, we have come a long way as a basketball community. While it’s fun to discuss shot charts and triple-doubles, we’re missing some massive pieces to the puzzle on why a particular team won the game, and which of those team’s players contributed the most to that win. The traditional box score measures only a subset of on-ball offensive plays – those leading to a shot, foul, or turnover – and omits all other on-ball plays, the actions of the players away from the ball, and almost the entirety of defense. Unfortunately, the statistics available to us merely summarize possession-changing events and forsake the beauty of the how and why of each possession. That’s a wordy way of saying “playing basketball is super hard.” Playing it at a high level requires an intimidating mix of skill, intelligence, athleticism, and winning desire. It’s a game that requires instantaneous, random decision-making on every offensive and defensive possession while executing within defined roles to optimize team performance. Can there be a better box score?īasketball is too complex a sport to be defined by its possession-ending events. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right way. It’s easy for the audience to understand, and often highlights the players with the most direct involvement in scoring. The main reason why is so familiar: the same overreliance on the box score as my childhood basketball career.Īnd that makes sense! If your job is to succinctly summarize a player’s impact on winning a particular game, you’re going to use what’s available to you. Despite the blessings of working in a dream job, I let how the game is discussed and presented – on broadcasts, podcasts, Twitter, video games, or even in internal meetings – drive me insane. ![]() Over 15 years later]], I was lucky enough to spend 5 seasons with the Phoenix Suns obsessing over how to best quantify basketball players and teams, and apply it in roster construction and in-game strategy. I knew I was never going to be a professional player, but I still thought there was a chance I was going to end up riding the bench for a Big Ten school.īefore high school even ended, my organized basketball career was over. I felt like I had really improved as a player, and our team won most of its games]]. On defense, I’d often be out of position gambling for steals (+3) and recklessly crashing the glass for defensive rebounds (+2) despite my -2 wingspan and 10-inch vertical leap.Īfter starting the season ranking in the middle of the pack each game, I regularly led our team in “Overall” by the Playoffs. I started passing up open jumpers (missed shots counted as -1) to chase assists (+2). Usually a shoot-first, defense-optional player, I became obsessed with this ridiculous stat. My 7th grade coaching staff shared box scores with the team the morning after games with players ordered by Overall : a linear combination of box score elements into an all-in-one stat]]. ![]() An introduction to SIS Hoops and our objective to modernize the box score.īy JAKE LOOS There’s a wrong way to ball. ![]()
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