Nathan Scandella (personal)

Basketball Data Online Again

Well, 82games has started publishing all the requisite data for the 2008-9 NBA season. So, my basketball app is running once again at http://www.enscand.com/Basketball/. My data is based on the 82games numbers, but is automatically corrected to account for the fact that all players on a team don't get the opportunity to play with four equally good teammates during their time on the floor. For example, the guy who backs up the team's best player usually has rather bad raw +/- numbers because he rarely gets to play with the team's top baller. My algorithm accounts for that.

In addition, my algorithm seems to work better than that used by 82games, who infrequently publish the adjusted +/- data themselves. Their results seem to include some bizarre results, like Chuck Hayes being one of the league's top players, etc.

My results seem to align really well with my qualitative perception of which players really help their teams the most. The results are definitely in conflict with the rotations that a lot of coaches use, especially as it concerns their 4th - 9th best players. There are always a few guys on the list who most of the world thinks are stars, but I think are merely mediocre (and my results back that up). Guys like Antoine Walker and Carmelo Anthony come to mind.

Anyway, enjoy!

PS. A warning .. at this early stage of the season, the numbers are less reliable. Sometimes, results for a team cannot be reliably determined, and the numerical ratings for players will be enormous (positive or negative). If that's the case for your team, wait a few more games. The more data the algorithm has, the more robust it is.

Posted at 07:25PM Nov 16, 2008 by Nathan in Sports  |  Comments[0]