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Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

nytimes.com

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Re: Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

#11

Post by davidfischer »

Goldsberry was great at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference[1]. The charts really highlight a player's strengths and weaknesses. A quick look at Ray Allen's chart (in Goldsberry's conference paper) shows how much better he is when he goes to his right. Kobe really needs to cut down on those 12-15' baseline jumpers that he seems to favor.

When I look at the graphics from the NYT article, the player whose chart really sticks out is James Harden. His efficiency this year is amazing and a lot of it has to do with shot selection. Most of his shots are 3-pointers or within 8' which are considered the two highest value shots on the court. Some team with a Moneyball style general manager (somewhat common in the NBA from my understanding) will pay him handsomely yet probably still not what his contribution merits.

[1] http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=6132

Edit: trivial edit for small error

Re: Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

#12

Post by grlthgn »

yock wrote: post #10

How are the statistics from which these visualizations are generated captured? Does the NBA have equipment on the court or in the arena to track players and the ball (something like how professional tennis is monitored)? Is it manual, with a person recording their own observations about player/ball placement? Post-game video analysis?

The NBA manually records where the shots are taken, and if it is made or not by the stat person.

Re: Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

#14

Post by DeanCollinsNYC »

corry wrote: post #9

Is there a publicly available data source for basketball stats like this? Curious where these datasets come from...

ESPN built an api for thier content but the TOS were crap so we decided against using any of it when building http://www.LiveBasketballChat.com

Re: Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

#17

Post by SoapSeller »

yock wrote: post #10

How are the statistics from which these visualizations are generated captured? Does the NBA have equipment on the court or in the arena to track players and the ball (something like how professional tennis is monitored)? Is it manual, with a person recording their own observations about player/ball placement? Post-game video analysis?

Not the NBA, but some teams use a system called SportVU[0] that do auto player&ball tracking.

I used to work on the system, so I can answer (some) questions about it.

[0] http://www.sportvu.com/basketball.asp

Re: Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

#18

Post by marknutter »

Not sure how many of you are basketball fans, but if you have even a cursory interest in the sport I suggest you check out this year's NBA finals. It is widely regarded as one of the most anticipated match-ups in many years. OKC's stars are all under the age of 24 which means they should dominate for years to come. We have literally watched these guys grow up before our eyes and they finally get their shot at the title this year.

LeBron James has been lambasted for leaving his hometown team to try to win a championship with the Heat which has evaded him so far. The Heat are the most hated team in the league. By contrast, the Thunder is led by the league's leading scorer Kevin Durant who's appears to be one of the most humble superstars in the league. It's the ultimate good guys vs. bad guys matchup. LeBron, likely fueled by all the criticisms about his ability to perform in the clutch and his will to win, appears to be on a mission to prove everybody wrong and finally win his first championship. To put it in perspective, facing elimination in game 5 versus the Celtics, LeBron put on one of the best playoff performances in history scoring nearly half his team's points (http://www.nba.com/games/20120607/MIABOS/gameinfo.html).

The series will be on ABC so you don't need cable to watch it. Catch at least one game.

Re: Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

#19

Post by james33 »

marknutter wrote: post #18

Not sure how many of you are basketball fans, but if you have even a cursory interest in the sport I suggest you check out this year's NBA finals. It is widely regarded as one of the most anticipated match-ups in many years. OKC's stars are all under the age of 24 which means they should dominate for years to come. We have literally watched these guys grow up before our eyes and they finally get their shot at the tit…

You can be sure we'll be watching. Our new office is just 3 blocks from the arena in OKC and we can't wait!

Re: Where the Heat and the Thunder Hit Their Shots

#20

Post by hammock »

SoapSeller wrote: post #17
yock wrote: post #10

How are the statistics from which these visualizations are generated captured? Does the NBA have equipment on the court or in the arena to track players and the ball (something like how professional tennis is monitored)? Is it manual, with a person recording their own observations about player/ball placement? Post-game video analysis?

Not the NBA, but some teams use a system called SportVU[0] that do auto player&ball tracking. I used to work on the system, so I can answer (some) questions about it. [0] http://www.sportvu.com/basketball.asp

How does it work?
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