Kevin Durant Shot Selection test

Want to see how Kevin Durant's shot selection (At Rim, <10 Feet, 10-15 Feet, 16-23 Feet, and Threes) has changed as the season has progressed? 

I don't know if this is going to work but I'll give it a whirl.

This is Google Motion Chart. I want you to follow these steps to test it out.

Step 1: In the check box on the right hand side, check off all the options (<10,AtRim, Long, Mid, and Threes). Make sure that "Trails" is checked as well.

Step 2: On the horizontal axis below the graph (the left to right one) it should say "Shot Pct". Click "Shot Pct" and change it to "Time".

Step 3: Where it says "Game No" on the top right above the pretty colors, click that and change it to "Unique Colors".

Step 4: Click the play button on the bottom left.

(I don't know how to change the year or why it defaults to 1901).




Was that fun? Worth it? No?

I wish there was a was a way to customize the "Time" measurement to "Games". It would make a whole lot more sense to see Kevin Durant's At Rim shot percentage by game and not by early 20th century years. And obviously, I would rather the chart be ready for the push play button without going through all the preliminary steps.

So, Kevin Durant has cut down his long twos and crossed over the 3-point line as the season progressed while attacking the rim more.  That's cool. Or is that just the chart?

Dusting off the cobwebs: The Name-o-pedia

One of my many duties at ESPN was 'scrubbing' box scores. There's a team of about a dozen staffers who verify the accuracy of ESPN's box score compared to the 'official box' from the school or professional team. This means every number, statistic, player name, coach name, referee name, game time and attendance total of every game on any ESPN.com scoreboard page must match 100% with the official box.

And then it's checked three times over. This is scrubbing.

It was mind-numbingly tedious. I mean, we spent hundreds of hours of our lives counting beans. "Working in sports" can do wonders for a person's patience.  But we did it.

I must have seen over a hundred thousand names during my scrubbing days. Sure, if you scan for a name in a phone book, you might "see" a lot of names but this is different.  You are not verifying the precise spelling of every single name in the phone book and matching it with a name found on a separate piece of paper. That's what I mean.

But I like names. I like them so much I have four of them. I had the longest name of my graduating class at Wake Forest (which was only about 1200 students, but still impressive.) The names kept me going. Some were worth writing down. Some were even worth writing home about.

After a while, a select few of the scrubbers (Zack Mintz, Danny Mehigan, Pat McManus, and others) decided to keep track of the notable names.  We would take a second to write down the name, add it to the list after work and from there, it grew into something special.  It was a nightly ten second distraction but it kept our sanity intact, which at the workplace is very important.  It started out as an unsorted collection but eventually, the list needed form.  Some common threads between the names emerged and we divided the list into the categories below. (At first, we didn't attach the school to the name so don't be offended if there's no school attached). 

So without further ado, I present to you:

The Name-o-pedia (Dec 16 2008)

Birds
Raven Harris         American women’s basketball
Brittainey Raven         Texas women’s basketball
Kierra Mallard         Texas Tech women’s basketball
Tweet Williams         Northwestern State women’s basketball
Brian Cardinal         Minnesota Timberwolves
Tweety Carter         Baylor men’s basketball
Robin Porter         Mississippi State women’s basketball
Robin Garrett         UT-Pan American women’s basketball
Zack Peacock         Georgia Tech men’s basketball
Sebais Duck         Southern Wesleyan men’s basketball
Johnnie Bird         UCONN men’s basketball
Steve Crane        Lewis men’s basketball

Mammals
Dominic Seals        Texas Tech men’s basketball
Brian Seals            Fresno State men’s basketball
Kat Suderman        UC- Santa Barbara women’s basketball
Johnny Wolf        UNC Wilmington men’s basketball
Christian Wolf                     Florida Gulf Coast men’s basketball
Chief Kickingstallionsims    Alabama State men’s basketball
John Lamb                           Morehead State men’s basketball
Kayode Ayeni                St Francis (NY) men’s basketball
Booker Woodfox        Creighton men’s basketball
Molly Fox                   Wright State women’s basketball
Ryan Hare            Southern Illinois men’s basketball

Marine Life
Gator Parrish        Referee
Corey Salmon
Montarrio Haddock    Middle Tennessee State men’s basketball

Other Animals
Erik Buggs        Valparaiso men’s basketball

Food
Chop Tang        UW-Green Bay men’s basketball
Stanley Pringle        Penn State men’s basketball
Tiawanna Pringle        Louisiana Tech women’s basketball
Kyle Bacon        Referee
Thomas Kaiser        St. Leo’s men’s basketball
Morris Almond        Utah Jazz
Stephen Curry        Davidson men’s basketball
Seth Curry        Liberty men’s basketball
Sharaud Curry        Providence men’s basketball
Jordan Weiner        UC Santa Barbara men’s basketball
OJ Mayo        Memphis Grizzlies
Josh Mayo        Illinois-Chicago men’s basketball
Maze Stallworth        Morehead State men’s basketball
Raphael Chestnut        Duke men’s basketball
Cookie Johnson        New Orleans men’s basketball
Jordan Lemons        Grambling State men’s basketball
Reuben Clayton        UT-Martin men’s basketball
Pawel Kielbasa        Chicago State men’s basketball
Toby Veal        Colorado men’s basketball
Maureece Rice        George Washington men’s basketball
Von Wafer        Denver Nuggets
Jayne Appel        Stanford women’s basketball
Greg Danish        LaSalle men’s basketball

Feminine Men
Kim English        Missouri men’s basketball
Andrea Bargnani        Toronto Raptors
Abby Kabba        New Hampshire men’s basketball
Alexis Wangmene    Texas men’s basketball
Jodie Meeks        Kentucky men’s basketball
Shannon Behling        Mississippi Valley State men’s basketball
Courtney Stanley        Loyola Chicago men’s basketball
Lindsey Hunter        Detroit Pistons
Courtney Pigram        East Tennessee State men’s basketabll
Britt Barefoot        Southern Mississippi men’s football

Masculine Women
Brett Benzio        Tulane women’s basketball
Brett Timmons        Long Beach State women’s basketball
Kyle Dougherty        Villanova women’s basketball
Ty Felder        New Orleans women’s basketball
Shawn Goff        Southern Mississippi women’s basketball

'Countries'
Zaire Taylor        Missouri men’s basketball
India Warfield        Saint Louis women’s basketball
India Chaney        UNLV women’s basketball
Matt Holland        Air Force men’s basketball
China Threatt        DePaul women’s basketball
Israel Kirk        SE Missouri State men’s basketball
Kyle Spain        San Diego State men’s basketball
Italee Lucas        North Carolina women’s basketball
Asia Wilson        Florida International women’s basketball

International Cities
London Warren
London Giles        Nevada men’s basketball
Ashley Ellis-Milan
Milan Johnson
Heather Zurich
Paris Horne
Milan Hejduk
Milan Prodanovic
Bobby Rome
Vinny Lima
Aumornai Edinburgh
Sydney Colson
Sydney Carter
Troy Jackson

US Cities
Brooklyn Pope
Jon Montgomery
Trey Montgomery
Jaan Montgomery
Jamal Durham
Blaire Houston        NC Central women’s basketball
Jerrell Houston
Antonio Houston        Catawba men’s basketball
Ryan Houston
Dallas Lauderdale    Ohio State men’s basketball
Dallas Green        Robert Morris men'
Orlando Smith
Charlotte Otero
Savannah Hill
Savannah Stedman    Northwestern women’s basketball
Oliver Lafayette

US States
Evan Washington
Martiz Washington
Leonard Washington    USC men’s basketball
Georgia Jones        Oral Roberts women’s basketball

An’Juan Wilderness

Misc Notables
Yoyo Greenfield
Jordan Barncastle
Papa Guisse
Papa Dia
Phil Nelson        Portland State men’s basketball
Kevin Love
Ivory White
Mark Whitehead
Champ Oguchi
Wink Adams
Sharnika Breedlove
Mike Leggo        NHL official
Special Jennings
Louis Birdsong
Beloved Rogers
Toy Richbow
Suzanne Grossnickle
Chris Rhymes
Tyson Papenfuss
Radar Onguetou
Jonathan Belt
Shy Ely
Steve Gentile
Genesis Maciel
Laura Blaydes
Candace Champion
Ashley Sweat
Hank Thorns
Dionte Christmas        Temple men’s basketball
Julius Allgood        Texas-Pan American men’s basketball
Daniel Northern        Tennessee Tech men’s basketball
Derwin Kitchen        Florida State men’s basketball
Karima Christmas    Duke women’s basketball
Cherrish Wallace        Baylor women’s basketball
Tequila Martin        Tennesee State women’s basketball
Chastity Reed        UALR women’s basketball
Marc Couch        Referee
Gordo Castillo        New Mexico State men’s basketball
Anthony Breeze        Coastal Carolina men’s basketball
Jazz Williams        Southern men’s basketball

Hollywood and Rock Stars
Brittany Spears
Rhianna Faithfull
Swayze Black
Swayze Martin
Rob Thomas
Bret Michael
Jamie Vanderbeken
Chris Martin
Jordan Costner
Chris Brown
Ian Anderson
Curtis Jackson
Ron Howard
Steve Martin
LaToya Jackson
Kramer Soderberg    Valparaiso men’s basketball
Garfield Blair
Bobby Brown
Britney Murphy        St. John’s women’s basketball
Austen Powers        Seattle men’s basketball
Josh Jackson        South Carolina State men’s basketball
Tim Meadows        Prairie View A&M men’s basketball
Michael Scott        Virginia men’s basketball

Famous Athletes
Michael Irving
Calvin Johnson
Isaiah Thomas
Dee Brown
Marcus Allen        Jacksonville men’s basketball
Emeka Okafor Jr
Carlee Roethlisberger
Abi Olajuwon        East Carolina men’s basketball
Will Bynum
Michael Turner
Ryon Howard
Sam Mitchell
Reggie Jackson        Tennessee Wesleyan men’s basketball
Brandon Lloyd
Tim Brown        Southern men’s basketball
Luis Guzman        Temple men’s basketball
Jeff Kent        Referee
Josh Smith        Savannah State men’s basketball
Jerry Jones Jr        Bethune Cookman men’s basketball
Mike Singletary        Texas Tech men’s basketball
Jimmy Williams        South Carolina St men’s basketball
Shaquille Johnson    Marshall men’s basketball
Monica Wright

Occupations
David Nurse
Rashad Bishop
Bishop Wheatley
Justin Baker
Maurice Baker        Dakota Wizards
Anthony Farmer
Jim Mower
Demetrus Judge
Garrett Fiddler
Rigoberto Sargeant
Kiara Butler
Lamar Butler        Colorado 14ers
Jimmy Butler        Marquette men’s basketball
Shanika Butler        UALR women’s basketball
Shelly Bellman
John Barber        Utah Flash
Garrett Butcher        Butler men’s basketball
Trey Shoemaker        Catawba men’s basketball
Antonio Pope        SE Louisiana men’s basketball
Pharoah Kirk        Tuskegee men’s basketball
King Cannon        Central Arkansas men’s basketball

The Brittany List
Brittnye McSparron    Drake University women’s basketball
Brittney Davis        Oregon State women’s basketball
Brittany Hallberg        UNLV women’s basketball
Brittainey Raven        Texas State women’s basketball
Brittny Jones        Fresno State women’s basketball
Britteni Williams        UALR women’s basketball

First Name-First Name
Michael Eric        Temple men’s basketball
Chris Paul        New Orleans Hornets
Justin Dennis        Cal State Bakersfield men’s basketball
Cory Richard        Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball
Andre Craig        SLU men’s basketball
William Eddie        Central Michigan men’s basketball

Astronomy
Anthony Crater        Ohio State men’s basketball
John Moonshower    Army men’s basketball
Star Allen        Ohio State women’s basketball
Orion Outerbridge    Rhode Island men’s basketball
Tyler Laser        Eastern Illinois men’s basketball
Genesis Lightbourne    Iowa State women’s basketball
Sky Lindsay        St. John’s women’s basketball




What's your favorite?

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At Hoopdata.com

Folks,

Good news.  I'll be writing regularly at Hoopdata from now on.  My debut article breaks down where teams get their shots using my nifty chart below.

  See the whole thing here.

The Transformation of Rasheed Wallace

When the Boston Celtics signed Rasheed Wallace to a three-year contract this offseason, many believed the team purchased an insurance plan for Kevin Garnett's freshly operated knee in the form of a 34-year old basketball player.  The unpredictability of Garnett's knee clouded Wallace's role with the Celtics entering this season but the Philadelphia-native is used to donning new hats on the court.  At UNC, he was a yelling highlight reel.  In Washington, he was Chris Webber's replacement.  In Portland, he was characterized as a productive yet selfish malcontent. In Detroit, he was still productive but characterized differently as a selfless champion.  In Boston, he's a tall three-point specialist off the bench.  Wait, what?

Yes, it's true, Rasheed Wallace almost exclusively shoots from downtown.  You rarely find many centers with zero post play but Wallace's migration to the perimeter finally reached completion in Boston.  No regular (defined as at least 20 minutes per game) in the NBA shoots more three pointers per minute than Wallace.  In fact, no regular has ever shot more threes per minute than 09-10 'Sheed.  It's early and Garnett's knee will inevitably shake up the Celtics offensive style at some point but in this role, the former post-player shoots threes at a historically frequent rate.

As any basketball fan knows, this transformation did not occur overnight.  His two point shot rate has declined steadily for about a decade but this year is the first time Wallace has launched more threes than twos.  Let's take a look at his career shots per 36 minute numbers courtesy of Basketball-Reference.

Wallace rarely shot the three in his first five seasons largely because he never had any success from downtown.  Entering his sixth season in the league, Wallace had a career .277 three point field goal percentage.  The three point shot never became a significant part of his game until Maurice Cheeks took over for Mike Dunleavy as Portland's head coach in the 2001-2002 season.  Under Cheeks' system, every Blazer with range saw upticks in their three point frequency and Wallace was no exception, nearly doubling his three point field goal attempts from the year before.  So if there were a coach responsible for whetting Sheed's appetite for threes, look no further than Mo Cheeks.

In Wallace's former life as a basketball player, he was an absolute beast in the paint which makes his current lack of post-game borderline inconceivable.  His crafty repertoire of post-moves coupled with his vertical leap and unorthodox high shot release meant he could score on command on any low-post defender.  So far this year, he has abandoned those post-moves entirely but his height and high release still allows him to get his shots off on the perimeter, like an older and less athletic Kevin Durant.

Looking deeper into his shot selection in the Hoop Data warehouse, we find that Wallace has tallied 94 total shots with 68 coming from three point and and only five from around the basket.  None of those five shots were dunks, according to 82games.com.  None!  Additionally, he's been assisted on 100 percent of his threes indicating a reliance on the set shot as opposed to creating his own.  So when it comes down to it, did the Celtics acquire another Eddie House?

Not really. Almost every time Wallace enters the game, he replaces Kendrick Perkins on the floor. Unless the opposing coach reacts with substitution of his own, Wallace's versatility and size will inevitably shake up the defensive match ups.  His dynamic skill set means he can guard in the post effectively but his height will also pull block defenders into unfamiliar territory on the perimeter.  Wallace alters the offensive makeup of Celtics by spreading the floor and opening up lanes for Garnett to work and Rondo to penetrate.  Eddie House's skills, on the other hand, may cause a few minor personnel adjustments but not nearly to the same degree as Wallace.

Tall perimeter players have certainly been in the league before but few have established a powerful post presence early in their career quite like Rasheed.  Thinking back, Clifford Robinson was the first player that came to mind. Like Rasheed, Cliff stands nearly 7 feet tall, never shot threes in college, but shot a ton of threes in his NBA career.  And like Rasheed, Robinson found his 3 point taste later in his career and rose to stardom as a Portland Trail Blazer to boot.  Basketball Prospectus' SCHOENE projection system cites Robinson as one of Wallace's comparables and deservedly so.  Their 3-point shot rate arcs are strikingly similar, stagnant in their first five seasons and ascending in the sixth year.

Cliff Robinson retired as a 40-year-old after several seasons of replacement-level production in his late 30s. The Celtics have to hope Wallace performs at least as well considering the hefty contract they handed him.

It remains to be seen if opposing teams adjust to Rasheed's perimeter play by making some switches on the defensive end.  It's unlikely he'll break any 3-point shooting records this year but sooner or later teams will react accordingly. If that's the case, Wallace will have to redefine himself yet again as an offensive threat.  He's done it before.

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Danny Ranger

Just this:

The NBA in Polychromatic Form

If you're a regular reader of this site, you know I am a big fan of Hoopdata.com.  You'll probably find more numbers than you know what to do with there but don't worry, that's why you have me around.

One of the most useful pages on the site is the Four Factors team stats page.  Identified by Dean Oliver, the Four Factors outline the four biggest responsibilities a team has in order to win games: shooting well from the field, taking care of the ball, getting to the line often and grabbing offensive boards.  And consequently, a team needs to make sure their opponent does poorly in these areas.  All the other stuff is just details.

As far as I know, HoopData is the only site that charts the Four Factors complete with differentials.  And as far as I know, my site is the only one that lays on the lipstick.  The teams below are arranged by their efficiency differential rank.  Green is good, red is bad, and yellow is average in the category.

Quick primer. Offensive efficiency (OFF) is a measure of how many points a team scores per 100 possessions. Defensive efficiency (DEF) measures how many points a team allows per 100 possessions.  Effective field goal percentage (eFG%) weights three pointers more than two pointers because they're worth more.  Free throw rate is a team's proportion of free throw attempts to field goal attempts.  Turnover rate is the percentage of possessions that end in a turnover.  Offensive Rebound Rate (ORR) estimates the percentage of available offensive rebounds collected off of missed shots. Very quick primer.

So, what do we learn?

• The Celtics have positioned themselves head and shoulders above the rest by controlling effective field goal percentage and turnovers better than anyone else.  Aside from J.R. Giddens who plays almost never, every single Celtic who's gotten floortime this year has an above-average effective field goal percentage.  Let that marinate. Well, the Celtics do have one weakness and that's grabbing their own misses. Rasheed Wallace grabs fewer offensive rebounds (3.1 ORR) than Nate Robinson (3.2) which may not be a complete surprise considering his perimeter habitat on offense.  This sore spot isn't as painful with their shooting percentage so high.   
  

•  The Lakers miss Pau Gasol on the boards. The Lakers let their opponents extend their possessions by giving up way too many second chance opportunities.  Their 31.4 percent opponent offensive rebound percentage tops every team in the league if we ignore the Warriors, which we should.  Ron Artest hasn't filled the rebounding void left by the Lakers leading defensive rebounder last year.
  

• The Grizzlies find themselves near the bottom in efficiency differential but they can be proud of a couple things.  To mitigate their shooting woes, the Grizzlies collect their missed shots better than any team in the league.  Also, they get to the charity stripe often and don't foul shooters.  However, their defensive ineptitude makes me wonder if they play the four-cherry-picker scheme.
  

• The Toronto Raptors and the Milwaukee Bucks: a study in contrast.
  

• If you want to find a team good at just about everything but not great in any one factor, look no further than the Dallas Mavericks. Their line looks like a sliced avocado.
  

• Do the Cavs know they can rebound their own shots?  Doesn't seem like it.
  

Jason Varitek’s Fast Decline in 2009

 Note: I wrote this as a side project about a month ago. With yesterdays news that Varitek is returning to the Red Sox, I thought I should just post it here.


Jason Varitek’s hot bat early in the 2009 season appeared to justify the 2-year contract the Red Sox handed him in the offseason. However, his production nosedived late this year. Since the acquisition of star catcher Victor Martinez, Varitek hit just .134 while striking out one out of every three at-bats.  Many wondered whether the Martinez acquisition would affect the playing time of third baseman Mike Lowell and first baseman Kevin Youkilis but it is quite clear that Varitek’s playing time has suffered the most.

Varitek’s .209 batting average during the 2009 season was far and away the lowest of his 12-year career.  The strikeout percentage of his at-bats last year (24.7) reflects his career rate of 24.6 percent so his paltry .238 batting average of balls in-play (BABIP) shares the most blame for his sinking batting average.  Only three hitters in the big leagues, Ken Griffey Jr., Rod Barajas and Dioner Navarro, had a lower batting average on balls in-play.  

Normally, a BABIP that deflated likely indicates a great deal of unsustainable bad luck avoiding defenders, but Varitek made it quite easy for them.  Sixteen percent of his fly balls ended up in the infield, a rate among the league leaders in the category. Digging a little deeper, the strike zone graphic below shows the pitch type and location of the pitches he popped up when he batted lefty (seen from the catcher’s view.)  Evidently, most of his pop outs came on fastballs located up-and-in.

After running this query, my first inclination was to examine Varitek’s ability to hit the fastball.   Has he lost a significant amount of bat speed and his ability catch up with big league heat?  This is where the scouting and statistical perspectives convene.  With Pitch F/X, we can examine statistically how Varitek fared against the fastball.  By grouping the types of fastballs together and analyzing the outcomes of Varitek’s swings across the season, we can see some trends below.

Calculated on a monthly basis, Varitek’s percentage of swings against the fastball resulting in a hit decreased from June to Sept/Oct. Of the 47 hacks against the fastball in Sept/Oct, only three produced a base hit and fourteen completely missed contact, generating a hit and whiff percentage of 6.4 percent and 29.8 percent respectively.  It’s also worth noting that pitchers have fed him a season-high 58.9 percent fastballs in the most recent time period, albeit by a slight margin.

Looking at this in aggregate, Varitek’s problems with fastballs increased this year relative to last.  His swing-and-miss percentage against fastballs grew from 18.2 percent in 2008 to 20.8 percent this season, with a larger percentage toward the end of the season.   Without bat speed information, Varitek’s low batting average is apparently less bad luck than it is a product of failing to make strong contact with a pitch he sees so frequently.

Another Pitch F/X component we can use to find Varitek’s weak spots is his pitch location.  Are pitchers exploiting a specific zone against Varitek?  To answer this question, we can chart all pitches to Varitek and examine the pitch densities in the strike zone. For example, this chart displays the pitches Varitek when he bats from the left side.

 

Judging from the high density of outside pitches, pitchers targeted Varitek away as opposed to jamming him on the inside half of the plate. Is Varitek unique in this respect? To explore this I compared Varitek’s pitch location zones percentages to those of the average major leaguer.  The strike zone template key below explains the meaning of each zone.  The (left or right) handedness of the hitter is incorporated and blended into one chart for visual simplicity but the zones are not visually adjusted for size.

 

This chart confirms that opposing pitchers preferred to pound the outside to Varitek and not the inside.  More than one third of the pitches that Varitek saw fall outside the strike zone away.  The largest difference between the two samples lies in the up-and-away zone (8.8 percent to 14.2 percent).   Pitchers tend to work hitters away in general but this tendency strengthened when Jason Varitek stood in at the plate.

The final step in the analysis involves combining two findings: Varitek’s fastball weakness and the heavy concentration of outside pitches.  Is there an area where Varitek swing-and-misses the fastball more often? Where are the fastballs that he can drive for hits? In the next graphic, we can see the answers.

The number of hits on the inner half of the plate in the strike zone [X,Y area (0-1,1.5-3.5)] are about even with the sum of swing-and-misses.  However, looking at the up-and-away region, swing-and-misses drastically outnumber the base hits.  Recall the information in the pitch location charts.  Pitches target this zone with their heat perhaps because they understand Varitek struggles to make strong contact there. 

If Varitek struggled this much against any other pitch, it wouldn’t be as big a concern.  But because opposing pitchers elect to throw the fastball more often than not, Varitek must adopt changes in his hitting or else he will continue to show deteriorating results.

Let RobotsTake Game Recaps. It's Not Sportswriting Anyway.

Are game recaps really as formulaic as the Space Monkey? I took a look at the first NBA.com game recap I saw from last night's slate of games to find out. I didn't cherry pick this one and only chose it because it was the first one on the page.  My sampling isn't not scientific but it should serve my purpose. Read it here.

Now, I'm assuming that a computer-written recap would incorporate data from all publicly available sites.  Need game flow and lineup information?  Need pace numbers or league and personal records? Preseason predictions?  Most valuable players according to the scoreboard?  It's all out there ready to be coded into their programs.

For purposes of illustration, I pulled up my Microsoft Word and highlighted each sentence either green, orange, or red depending on whether it can be easily programmed into an automated recap.  A red highlight signifies statistical information or quotes available to a computer program. If the sentence is green, it needed brains.  Sentences in orange could go either way depending on the sophistication of the program.  Here's the visualization.

There are 41 sentences in all and evidently almost all of them could have been generated from a computer program much like Space Monkey. Quotes take up twenty sentences which equates to about half the article and the other red space is filled by box score regurgitation.  If you've read a game recap recently, this should not shock you.

So if these robots took over, would it be a bad thing for sportswriters? I don't think so.  Newspapers and other media should improve the efficiency of their dollar by programming game recaps and allocating their sportswriter time and creativity to lengthier reporting and editorial pieces -- which, of course, readers value.  This should liberate sportswriters to do what they best.  Media companies shouldn't waste their valuable resources for a handful of green lines and let's not forget that sportswriters need a healthy media to survive.

So go ahead and ignore the sensational headlines portending the end of sportswriting unless you believe sportswriters write game recaps and only game recaps.  I hope I'm not alone in the belief that sportswriting should be more personal, enlightening, and insightful.  Media should ask humans cover the more human side of the game and leave computers to cover the data.

3 Things I Learned At HoopData.com Today

I went to college at Wake Forest University but I grew up a Tar Heel fan. As a kid I watched their basketball games and scribbled each player's scoring tallies inside my floppy Trapper Keeper. I owe a lot of my early education to watching those games. For example, I learned the meaning of "oaf" by watching Serge Zwikker as he moved around the court like a wounded giraffe. He was the best. But mostly I learned about the value of data and keeping track of it. You could say that Shammond Williams played a large role in my fascination with statistics.

However, as I got older I got bored with the same old basketball statistics. I came to realize that box score statistics served as a poor proxy for what actually happened on the court. It was Daryl Morey, the GM of the Houston Rockets, who so eloquently told us that "someone created the box score and he should be shot." He's right, the box score holds our analytical senses hostage. I longed for new stats that would unlock the game and improve the way I think about it.

Those days are long gone. Enter the new school of quantitative scouting. These students of the game flex their muscle by merging their love of hoops with their computer programming and database management skills. They track the game the way it should tracked in the 21st century. Shooting percentages by distance from the basket. Optimal player tandems. A team's best five and worst five. Ball distribution and types of assists. 82games.com is the pioneer of this field and still is a must-see for any basketball fan. But for the still-starving NBA fan, there's a new goldmine that hit the InterWebs this year: HoopData.com.

I've spent a lot of my time getting lost in the HoopData site and they seem to roll out new bells and whistles every day. Today, I found myself perusing the player assist percentage column. Assist percentage, under the Scoring tab, calculates how often a player's shots are assisted on. Here are three lists that I put together.

NBA's Five Least Creative Scorers Who Play A Lot (30 mins per game)
Highest Ast %

1) Anthony Parker, CLE. 22 made shots. 22 assisted. 100.0 Ast%
2) Channing Frye, PHO. 37 made shots. 34 assisted. 91.9 Ast%
3) Andrei Kirilenko, DAL. 23 made shots. 22 assisted. 91.3 Ast%
4) Raja Bell, CHA. 13 made shots. 11 assisted. 84.6 Ast%
5) Thabo Sefolosha, OKC. 17 made shots. 13 assisted. 82.4 Ast%

Perhaps "least creative" is a little harsh but these players don't dribble or drive to create their shot. However, there are several ways a player can help create his shot without having the ball in his hands like using off-the-ball screens effectively, identifying open spaces/creases in the defense, being aware of developing double-terms, etc. Notice that these players are not their team's go-to scorers but benefit from having superstars or elite ball distributors as teammates. I wonder who...

NBA's Five Most Creative Scorers Who Play A Lot (30 mins per game)
Lowest Ast%

1) Chris Paul, NOH. 65 made shots. 6 assisted. 10.8 Ast%
2) Steve Nash, PHO. 46 made shots. 6 assisted. 13.0 Ast%
3) Russell Westbrook, OKC. 41 made shots. 6 assisted. 14.6 Ast%
4) Tyreke Evans, SAC. 37 made shots. 6 assisted. 16.2 Ast%
5) Raymond Felton, CHA. 28 made shots. 6 assisted. 21.4 Ast%

Point guards dominate this list which comes as no surprise. Kinda odd that they each have six assisted shots though, isn't it? Chris Paul is a gifted scorer as well as a world-class distributor but his scoring independence (some critics might call it ball-hogging) is remarkable. He's twice as independent as the fifth place scorer Felton. Not all point guards post a low assist percentage, however. Teammates assist Jason Kidd on 64.3 percent of his buckets and this shouldn't surprise anyone who has seen Kidd try to blow by his defender.

Let's take a look at what this list would look like if we stripped away the point guards.

NBA's Five Most Creative Swingmen Who Play A Lot (30 mins per game)

1) Hedo Turkoglu, TOR. 29 made shots. 9 assisted. 31.0 Ast%
2) Dwyane Wade, MIA. 54 made shots. 17 assisted. 31.5 Ast%
3) LeBron James, CLE. 62 made shots. 20 assisted. 32.3 Ast%
4) Joe Johnson, ATL. 57 made shots. 21 assisted. 36.8 Ast%
5) Ben Gordon, DET. 53 made shots. 22 assisted. 41.5 Ast%

These shot artists cause a world of matchup problems for their opponents. Not only that, they often have the ball in their hands as hybrid floor generals. At six foot ten inches, Turkoglu's rare shooting ability and quickness creates a nightmare for defenders. Turkoglu's Ast% in Toronto this year is actually about 10 percent lower than it was in Orlando. Dwyane Wade and Ben Gordon, each about 6'4", are too quick for two-guards but long enough to take advantage of shorter point guards. And LeBron, as you know, keeps coaches awake at night.

And this is just one nook of the website. I'll be sure to discover more gems like this and when I do, you can find it all right here.

For more great basketball stats and analysis resources, check out the following sites:

http://www.82games.com/
http://www.basketballprospectus.com/
http://www.basketball-reference.com/
http://www.basketballvalue.com/index.php
http://www.basketballgeek.com/
http://www.countthebasket.com/blog/
http://www.popcornmachine.net/

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As designed, the Bucks quietly have the most efficient defense in the NBA

“The Bucks are not only headed for another season of grinding mediocrity, but they profile as a boring team.”-Basketball Prospectus 2009-10

With the exception of Brandon Jennings’ electric debut, Milwaukee’s team is exactly as prescribed: lock-down defense, no scoring, and little flair.  The Milwaukee Bucks lost three of last year’s top four scorers to free agency but coach Scott Skiles won’t let the offensive void keep them out of the playoff hunt in the East.

The Celtics have garnered the most publicity for their defense but don’t overlook what Skiles has done defensively with this Bucks squad.  Milwaukee boasts the best defensive team to date as opponents score just 89.9 points per 100 possessions and they are the only team to hold every opponent below 100 points this season.  Granted, the Bucks have yet to face a high powered offense but Skiles’ track record suggests this style is here to stay.

They don’t boast any shot blockers but they force turnovers at an extremely high rate (19.2 per game, most in NBA) and frustrate shooters (second lowest opponent true shooting percentage).   With Michael Redd shelved for the next couple weeks, the defensive side of the ball becomes even more vital to their success.

It's way too early to say that the Bucks will continue being this stingy on defense but it's great to see such a youthful roster dedicated to Skiles' philosophy from the get-go.  Who says young players can’t buy into a defensive scheme?

H/T @hoopdata