Comments on: Pretty Pictures from Google Spreadsheets http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/2008/01/18/pretty-pictures-from-google-spreadsheets/ Advanced Stats for Basketball Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:54:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: M http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/2008/01/18/pretty-pictures-from-google-spreadsheets/#comment-47 M Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:13:57 +0000 http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/2008/01/18/pretty-pictures-from-google-spreadsheets/#comment-47 Good stuff. Good stuff.

]]> By: Eli http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/2008/01/18/pretty-pictures-from-google-spreadsheets/#comment-46 Eli Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:01:04 +0000 http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/2008/01/18/pretty-pictures-from-google-spreadsheets/#comment-46 I did some quick correlations of FGA by distance to FG% by distance to see whether teams are "optimally" distributing their shots (i.e. the best three-point shooting teams take the most threes, etc.). Obviously it's a lot more complicated than that, since if you believe in a usage/efficiency trade-off then you might think that a team that rarely shoots threes might shoot a higher percentage because they only are taking the most wide-open attempts. And of course it would be better to look at more than just half a season of data to draw any conclusions. That said, here are the correlations at this point in the season: <blockquote><pre>Correlating % of shots taken from a distance to shooting percentage from that distance: Distance r -------- ----- Fouled -0.26 0-8 ft -0.08 8-16 ft 0.13 16-24 ft 0.21 24+ ft 0.48</pre></blockquote> So it does look like to some extent, better three-point shooting teams have taken more threes, and worse three-point shooting teams have taken less. But the correlations drop as you go closer to the basket, to the point where there's a negative correlation between how often a team draws shooting fouls and how well they shoot free throws. One possible explanation for that could be that big men tend to be worse foul shooters than guards, and the teams that get to the foul line more do so mainly because their big men draw more fouls than other teams' big men. And one explanation for why in general none of these correlations are that high is that as much as every offense is trying to score efficiently, the defense they're facing is trying to prevent them from doing so, often by forcing the offense to go away from its strengths and take low percentage shots. I did some quick correlations of FGA by distance to FG% by distance to see whether teams are “optimally” distributing their shots (i.e. the best three-point shooting teams take the most threes, etc.). Obviously it’s a lot more complicated than that, since if you believe in a usage/efficiency trade-off then you might think that a team that rarely shoots threes might shoot a higher percentage because they only are taking the most wide-open attempts. And of course it would be better to look at more than just half a season of data to draw any conclusions. That said, here are the correlations at this point in the season:

Correlating % of shots taken from a distance to shooting percentage from that distance:

Distance    r
--------  -----
  Fouled  -0.26
  0-8 ft  -0.08
 8-16 ft   0.13
16-24 ft   0.21
  24+ ft   0.48

So it does look like to some extent, better three-point shooting teams have taken more threes, and worse three-point shooting teams have taken less. But the correlations drop as you go closer to the basket, to the point where there’s a negative correlation between how often a team draws shooting fouls and how well they shoot free throws. One possible explanation for that could be that big men tend to be worse foul shooters than guards, and the teams that get to the foul line more do so mainly because their big men draw more fouls than other teams’ big men. And one explanation for why in general none of these correlations are that high is that as much as every offense is trying to score efficiently, the defense they’re facing is trying to prevent them from doing so, often by forcing the offense to go away from its strengths and take low percentage shots.

]]> By: M http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/2008/01/18/pretty-pictures-from-google-spreadsheets/#comment-45 M Sat, 19 Jan 2008 04:53:32 +0000 http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/2008/01/18/pretty-pictures-from-google-spreadsheets/#comment-45 Thanks for the spreadsheet. I was interested in seeing who uses the mid-range game the most / least so I combined 8-16 ft with 16-24. Golden St. uses it the least / Detroit the most. Boston below average, Dallas above. Spurs and Suns below but only by a little. Thanks for the spreadsheet. I was interested in seeing who uses the mid-range game the most / least so I combined 8-16 ft with 16-24. Golden St. uses it the least / Detroit the most. Boston below average, Dallas above. Spurs and Suns below but only by a little.

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