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Redefining NBA Basketball Positions

For the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference a few weeks ago, Stanford biomechanical engineering student and Ayasdi analyst Muthu Alagappan presented his work on redefining basketball positions.

After studying players like LeBron James and Blake Griffin, many analysts are now suggesting that there are new positions, which are simply hybrids of the one's we already had. For example, some players are now labeled "point-forwards" or "combo-guards." But what if we were wrong about our initial five positions. Maybe a "Center" is just a label for people over a certain height, and there are actually three different types of big men in the NBA.

An analysis, done with data exploration tool Ayasdi Iris, provided 13 possible positions, as shown above. Nodes and edges are colored by points per minute on a blue (low) to red (high) scale.

So for example, those typically classified as centers or power forwards are classified as scoring rebounders, paint protectors, and scoring paint protectors. Dirk Nowitzki might be considered a scoring rebounder, whereas Joakim Noah is a paint protector.

The point? Hopefully teams can use this information to make better decisions about who to trade and draft. Of course, I'm sure scouts know about these fuzzy positions already, so I think the next step is to look at what positions the best teams have and had, and more importantly, how a "one-of-a-kind" player can change everything.

To read the full article

Basketball Court Geography

Kirk Goldsberry, an assistant professor of geography at Michigan State, applies his skills to the basketball court.

In the quest to better understand the "average" NBA shooter I have begun making composite shooting charts for each position in the league. My eventual goal is to establish a spatially informed baseline and to map every shooter in the league against an average shooter. These charts are not good for that task, but they're interesting nonetheless. Here are composite shooting charts for each of the 5 conventional basketball positions. I combined the shooting data for every player in positional groups. There are some bizarre trends including some fascinating asymmetries.

Above shows points per field goal attempt for all NBA field goal attempts from 2006 to 2011. Red means more points and blue means fewer points, so as expected it's orange-red outside the three-point line and dark red in the high percentage key. It starts to get interesting as Goldsberry breaks things down by player and position. Read the full paper [pdf] to really get into it.

For the record, my personal basketball scoring map would be all red. Don't let my one-inch vertical leap or my low fantasy basketball ranking this season fool you. I can light it up.

[via Slate | Thanks, Kevin]
Read full article here

Linsanity Backlash

Read Article from HuffPost. This is a story of the underdog, racial stereotypes, and generally thinking that a smart asian kid from Palo Alto and Harvard does not have what it takes. As he has been putting up massive numbers in his first real shot at the NBA, we can peel back the layers of societal judgement. Rock on Lin and the Knicks.

Anderson Varejão em Curitiba

Two day event teaching Basketball to kids in Curitiba.

Viva Basquete no Brasil! Design by Nomad Ink.

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BasketHead! / Foto credit unknown.

Smells like Teen Basketball Spirit

Allen Iverson in Istanbul

article from PhillyMag
By Robert Huber

Feature: Allen Iverson: Fallen Star
With his NBA career over, his marriage in trouble, and rumors swirling about drinking and money problems, the greatest Sixer of his era finds himself playing minor-league basketball in Turkey and spending his nights at a T.G.I. Friday’s in Istanbul. Isn't it, weirdly, exactly how we always thought it would end for Allen Iverson?

I'm operating on extreme hope. I am in Instanbul All I know is that Allen Iverson  is here — in this city of 13 million, with one foot in Asia and one in Europe — to play basketball. His manager keeps saying no, that Allen won’t talk to me. So I ask the concierge in my hotel: If you’re Allen Iverson — the greatest thing to ever hit Turkish basketball — where do you go to meet women?

original article

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Welcome to Basketopia

Basketball means different things to different people. Some use it as a tool to stay fit, others study the league dynamics and numbers. For some, it's a hobby, a passion, a religion. There are those who use it as a way to pass a few hours and get some exercise, and those who must dunk in your face to feel good. But for so many fanatics, it is so much more than just a game.

Welcome to Basketopia. The hoops related musings of Tyler Littlejohn Johnson, basketball junky for the past 18 years. When not thinking about basketball you can find me as the creative director of nomadink.com