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Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

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Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#81

Post by eitally »

exDM69 wrote: post #37
ohitsdom wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the situation isn't really any better if you take a single step forwards. Not following your logic...

A step forward doesn't take you that much closer to make the shot significantly easier. Of course, you're a little closer but not that much. A step backwards moves your balance and you have momentum backwards so getting an immediate upright jump shot without losing power/accuracy is more difficult. Two different things at play here. At least this is my experience as a former competitive basketball player...

I think it's situational and individual. For a big man catching the ball at the top of the key, looking for an opportunity to drive is the logical thought, but if you're a point/shooting guard, you're much more likely (through a combination of training, psychology and physical attributes) to move laterally or take a step back. And beyond the individual level, there's the near-universal truth that a spread floor is better than cramping everyone in the lane.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#82

Post by ralusek »

speg wrote: post #66
jonas21 wrote: post #53

Looks like they used Leaflet, a Javascript mapping library, for the visualization, so you end up with funny stuff like this in the source: var courtBounds = [[33.1593, -118.0198], [34.2353, -118.5198]];

> countQuery.execute("SELECT COUNT(cartodb_id) AS feature_count FROM kobe_all_shots_geocoded_final_merge"... I sure hope they have permissions set up on that database..

Possibly a local DB like Lovefield?

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#83

Post by strommen »

exDM69 wrote: post #2

How curious that there's a band of no shots that's right on the three point line. But then there are plenty of shots a foot closer to the hoop. The explanation is probably psychological, you don't want to take shots that are as about as difficult as 3 point shots, but worth only two. But the situation isn't really any better if you take a single step forwards. Of course, the positioning of the defensive players matte…

Well the defensive player guarding Kobe better be positioned next to Kobe!

Really, all the positioning is dictated by the offense. Defense ends up just inside the 3-point line because the offensive player sets up just outside the 3-point line, not the other way around.

Kobe (and pretty much all basketball players) are continuously planning how they will get open and where they will shoot from. Part of that plan is the knowledge that an almost-but-not-quite-3-pointer is a really dumb shot. So they'll usually catch the ball at the 3-point line and either shoot or dribble substantially closer to the basket.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#84

Post by phamilton »

huac wrote: post #69
josephscott wrote: post #63

Of the 30,699 shots, he missed 16,966 and made 13,731. At the smallest level of performance it is nice to see that you can fail more often than you succeed and still be very successful over all.

shot percentage is a pretty arbitrary stat. a .350 batting average is also very good. a .900 hockey goalsave percentage is abysmal. to keep with the sports metaphor, you can always move your goalposts.

Apples to apples shot percentage is a great stat.

My biggest complaint with Kobe is that he scored a lot of points because he took a lot of shots. Last night for example, he took ~60% of shots from the field for his team which accounted for ~55% (ignoring FTs). In other words, the expected return on his shot was lower than the rest of his team. Now, FTs change that story a bit, but even in the best case scenario he breaks even with his team.

Kobe was a great leader on the court, which is what allowed him to get away with shooting more shots than the rest of his team combined on a regular basis. He also had this "The Lakers are built around Kobe" team structure that made that the expectation.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#85

Post by eropple »

chrisan wrote: post #17
egjerlow wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems the NBA have upped their data collection game recently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_tracking_(National_Bask...

Still that is only for recent games > It began use in the NBA at the start of the 2013–14 season, and it is now in use in all 30 arenas, following trials during the previous season in 15 arenas.[ Which I guess means before that they had some guy who just recorded shots on a board. Would be interesting to see how it was collected prior to this technology

It was collected by interns and other cheap help, and it still is by everybody except STATS (who owns SportVU).

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#86

Post by balls187 »

josephscott wrote: post #63

Of the 30,699 shots, he missed 16,966 and made 13,731. At the smallest level of performance it is nice to see that you can fail more often than you succeed and still be very successful over all.

If you factor in that he made those shots against many other highly paid and highly skilled players defending against him, those numbers are great.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#87

Post by balls187 »

phamilton wrote: post #84
huac wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

shot percentage is a pretty arbitrary stat. a .350 batting average is also very good. a .900 hockey goalsave percentage is abysmal. to keep with the sports metaphor, you can always move your goalposts.

Apples to apples shot percentage is a great stat. My biggest complaint with Kobe is that he scored a lot of points because he took a lot of shots. Last night for example, he took ~60% of shots from the field for his team which accounted for ~55% (ignoring FTs). In other words, the expected return on his shot was lower than the rest of his team. Now, FTs change that story a bit, but even in the best case scenario he b…

> My biggest complaint with Kobe is that he scored a lot of points because he took a lot of shots.

Isn't that the point of basketball?

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#88

Post by guelo »

huac wrote: post #69
josephscott wrote: post #63

Of the 30,699 shots, he missed 16,966 and made 13,731. At the smallest level of performance it is nice to see that you can fail more often than you succeed and still be very successful over all.

shot percentage is a pretty arbitrary stat. a .350 batting average is also very good. a .900 hockey goalsave percentage is abysmal. to keep with the sports metaphor, you can always move your goalposts.

VCs win with an average hit percentage of .100. A lucky lottery player would win with an average of .0000001.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#89

Post by huac »

balls187 wrote: post #87
phamilton wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apples to apples shot percentage is a great stat. My biggest complaint with Kobe is that he scored a lot of points because he took a lot of shots. Last night for example, he took ~60% of shots from the field for his team which accounted for ~55% (ignoring FTs). In other words, the expected return on his shot was lower than the rest of his team. Now, FTs change that story a bit, but even in the best case scenario he b…

> My biggest complaint with Kobe is that he scored a lot of points because he took a lot of shots. Isn't that the point of basketball?

not all shots are created equal - the "long 2" has a lower expected value than taking a few steps back for a 3-pointer, or finishing at the rim for an easier 2

we can't really hold kobe's last game against him imo - he's definitely been a ballhog but if it's his last game he should have the opportunity to shoot until his arms fall off

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#90

Post by [deleted] »

balls187 wrote: post #87
phamilton wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apples to apples shot percentage is a great stat. My biggest complaint with Kobe is that he scored a lot of points because he took a lot of shots. Last night for example, he took ~60% of shots from the field for his team which accounted for ~55% (ignoring FTs). In other words, the expected return on his shot was lower than the rest of his team. Now, FTs change that story a bit, but even in the best case scenario he b…

> My biggest complaint with Kobe is that he scored a lot of points because he took a lot of shots. Isn't that the point of basketball?

[deleted]
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