SI.com has an article up on new basketball stats which includes some interesting quotes from Gregg Popovich on how he views stats. This part of the article caught my eye:

The good news is that, just like media options, stats are changing. A sterling example: At NBA.com, box scores for the 2007-08 season now include plus/minus ratings for each player and a category labeled “BA” for blocks against. Even better news is that deflections and contested shots are being studied this season to see how trackable and reliable they would be, as two more stats worth adding.

It’s great that the league is making advancements in their statistical tracking. A lot of teams have been keeping track of stats like deflections for years, but that stays behind closed doors. When the league gets involved then the public can have access to the data and run with it, as has happened with MLB’s Enhanced Gameday and PITCHf/x data. And any additional defensive statistics would definitely be useful considering the current lack of stats on that side of the ball.