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As best I can tell it does not include free throw attempts. If that is correct, the data and therefore the visualization is seriously incomplete and misleading.
A colored dot at the free throw line would tell me where he shoots his free throws from, but I already know that.
Shane Battier is one of the smartest players in the NBA, and you can see it in action by looking at his shot chart.
There's a massive (old) article on Battier - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html?... Apparently, he's such a good team player (picking good positions, herding opponents into weak positions, doing things which are bad for his stats but good for the team) that he can almost shut down Kobe. OK, Kobe still scores a lot when he's guarded by Battier, but only because Kobe always gets the ball. He'll…
"Battier’s game is a weird combination of obvious weaknesses and nearly invisible strengths."
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…
It's worth pointing out that Erik Spolestra and Scott Brooks are also two brilliant tacticians. Examples: 1. Kevin Garnett of the Celtics had been troubling the Miami Heat's inside game during the Eastern Conference Finals (partially due to the absence of Chris Bosh). Bosh is fully healthy for Game 7, and he has a great jumper for a big man, so Spolestra plants him in the corner during the crucial 4th quarter of Game…
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It's worth pointing out that Erik Spolestra and Scott Brooks are also two brilliant tacticians. Examples: 1. Kevin Garnett of the Celtics had been troubling the Miami Heat's inside game during the Eastern Conference Finals (partially due to the absence of Chris Bosh). Bosh is fully healthy for Game 7, and he has a great jumper for a big man, so Spolestra plants him in the corner during the crucial 4th quarter of Game…
Every day it blows my mind how much of a tactical/strategic game basketball is. You provide some great examples! It's often hard to see as an outsider. "Why is he shooting 3's? He shoots 25% from beyond the arc!" ...well, he may be trying to draw his defender out so that he can penetrate easier. "Why is he complaining to the ref about that obvious non foul?" ...well, maybe he is priming the ref for the next posession…
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A player's free throw ability does not need any real visualization. It comes down to number of attempts, and percentage made. Adding them would skew these visualizations and wouldn't tell you anything you couldn't easily figure out by looking at a player's stats.
Hhmm. I was assuming the purpose of such a visualization was to understand the offense, which can't be done without including free throws. Perhaps it serves some other purpose, like employing "front-end developers".
As others noted, free throws occur at the same place every time and would seriously skew the chart - especially for lowpost/longrange players like James Harden.
Maybe a step closer would be showing where a player was fouled that led to shots from the line.
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> The Heat are the most hated team in the league. I'd say Heat and Thunder are tied for most hated team.
I'm a die hard NBA fan and have never heard of anyone hating the Thunder. Why do people hate the Thunder? I can see the argument that some Seattle fans would resent that the team left, but I think their anger would be directed toward the owners involved or David Stern - not the team itself.
Also remember that of current Thunder players, only Nick Collison was on the team before Clay Bennett arrived. Kevin Durant played one year in Seattle but it was already common knowledge that the team was going to leave, so fans didn't really take to him much. All of the other rotation players were added after the move. So there aren't any beloved players left on the team to mitigate the anger coming out of Seattle.
It's similar to LeBron being thought of as a villain. It's not that he left Cleveland, it's how he left Cleveland. To a lot of fans in both cities, it felt like their guy/team lied about wanting to stay, left under dubious circumstances, and disrespected the fans and the city on the way out.
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Every day it blows my mind how much of a tactical/strategic game basketball is. You provide some great examples! It's often hard to see as an outsider. "Why is he shooting 3's? He shoots 25% from beyond the arc!" ...well, he may be trying to draw his defender out so that he can penetrate easier. "Why is he complaining to the ref about that obvious non foul?" ...well, maybe he is priming the ref for the next posession…
I'll second the request for good books/articles on the tactical/strategic portion of basketball (also gridiron and soccer)
http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/uweqv/nba_finals_play_a...
It's done by a redditor, Mens_Rea who has written up tons of stuff:
http://www.reddit.com/user/Mens_Rea/submitted/
It's worth finding a writeup of a non-Thunder/Heat team since they play fairly similar styles.
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Every day it blows my mind how much of a tactical/strategic game basketball is. You provide some great examples! It's often hard to see as an outsider. "Why is he shooting 3's? He shoots 25% from beyond the arc!" ...well, he may be trying to draw his defender out so that he can penetrate easier. "Why is he complaining to the ref about that obvious non foul?" ...well, maybe he is priming the ref for the next posession…
I'll second the request for good books/articles on the tactical/strategic portion of basketball (also gridiron and soccer)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A player's free throw ability does not need any real visualization. It comes down to number of attempts, and percentage made. Adding them would skew these visualizations and wouldn't tell you anything you couldn't easily figure out by looking at a player's stats.
Hhmm. I was assuming the purpose of such a visualization was to understand the offense, which can't be done without including free throws. Perhaps it serves some other purpose, like employing "front-end developers".
This is an accurate assertion -- teams like the Heat live and die by their free throw attempts -- but the article isn't looking at offense. It examines how well players shoot around the court (as the title states).
Realistically, heatmaps with free throws will just have orange-to-dark red circles at the free throw line. That's boring.