What stats need to be tracked?

Firstly, I thought this quick study on jump ball stats this season was interesting.

http://82games.com/random14.htm

I wish the NBA tracked some of this stuff officially. It really amazes me all the things that go on in a game that the NBA does not track statistically, even though it would be quite easy to do so, like: possessions, jump ball win%, goal tending, charges drawn, and-1's, etc.

Some, like possessions, would be so simple to track (just count number of times ball passes half-court line) and would clear up so many fallacies about how the game is analyzed. For instance, people tend to thing points per game and points given up per game are accurate indications of offensive/defensive ability, which is preposterous. The logical way to measure how good a team is offensively or defensively is by points per possession, but this can only be done heuristically (like John Hollinger of ESPN does it) or by scanning the play-by-plays.

Same thing with goal tending. Why in the world track blocked shots without tracking goal tending? That's like tracking field goals made without tracking field goals missed.

What other stats can you think of that should be officially tracked which would lead to a better understanding of how well or poorly teams/individuals are performing?

 

I think they should stop creating new stats. It puts too much empasis on being the leader in a certain category than playing for your team. Bring more stats out and the next generation of players will have stats on their mind. If fulfilling your role in the team was a stat then that would be great, apart from that, there not much else that I could think of to be recorded.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Laker_fan:</div><div class="quote_post">I think they should stop creating new stats. It puts too much empasis on being the leader in a certain category than playing for your team. Bring more stats out and the next generation of players will have stats on their mind. If fulfilling your role in the team was a stat then that would be great, apart from that, there not much else that I could think of to be recorded.</div>

Statistics are necessary for understanding, in an objective manner, what happens on the court. With better stats, people will have a better understanding of which players are really playing well.

Players who play strong defense, for example, are extremely underrated by fans because stats don't represent what they do well. The available stats should be such that they cover what happens in a game as well as possible, while striking a balance with being able to easily record them. For instance, it would probably be impractical to try to record how successful a player's screen is. But things like goal tending, charges drawn, deflecting the ball off opposing team are useful for better evaluating a player's performance.

Statistics can also be a motivation for players, and there's nothing wrong with that. Actually, because that is the case, not tracking stats for important facets of the game will bias players to not put as much effort in those areas. The less stats you track, the more areas players don't concentrate enough on. So, your reasoning should really lead you to the opposite conclusion.

 

I want to see the stat for the winning center of the jumpball at the beggining of the game I bet Yao would'nt be a top 5 guy even though he's 7'6.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Here's some stats I'd like tracked...

- Who scores the best without the ball?
- Who defends the pick and roll best?
- Who defends man on man best?
- Who defends the post best?
- Who defends best during the final minutes and/or seconds of a game?

I don't see a lot of defensive statistics tracked and analyzed in the same detail as offensive ones. I think if there was more emphasis put on these stats it might motivate players to give a better effort on the defensive side of the ball.</div>

How the hell do you meaure who defends the best?

You can't just go with points scored against a player or shots missed against a player. It would almost be impossible. Defence has to be seen to be fully appreciated.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting j-mac31:</div><div class="quote_post">
You can't just go with points scored against a player or shots missed against a player. It would almost be impossible. Defence has to be seen to be fully appreciated.</div>

To be fully appreciated, true. But you can say the same about offense. Basketball is too complicated a sport to cover EVERYTHING with stats. There's too many nuances to the game.

That said, a lot more can be done with official stat keeping to improve our understanding of what's going on. It may never be perfect, but that doesn't mean we can't do much better.

 

I wouldn't mind knowing who creates the most free throw oppurtunities. Kind of like assists for drawing a foul.

 

^
I think that's a good one, and I also liked the goaltending one because some players are better shot blockers than other because they go after everything, but when you see the points they give up from goaltending, maybe it would be better for them to block 0.5 less shots a game and be more selective in their shot blocking. Not every goaltended shot is actually going in.

 

I believe NHL keeps track of face-off stats, which is kind of similar to jump ball in basketball. But the jump ball situation happens pretty rare and is not all that significant to keep track of.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">I'd like to see a stat to record the pass, that led to the assist.</div>

or passes that led to freethrows ...

 

I think charges would also be a good charge to register.

 

Fouls drawn on both ends should be tracked. Drawing fouls on opponents is a positive that should be credited on the stat sheet. It would be easy to do.

You could split it up into Defensive Fouls Drawn and Offensive Fouls Drawn.

 

Yup, that's true because blocking fouls don't always lead to FT's, so year, total fouls drawn would be a good stat. A player drawing a lot of fouls will get his team into bonus. If you really wanted to, you could track it for your favourite team, I think the ESPN play by plays record whenever players are fouled.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting og15:</div><div class="quote_post">Yup, that's true because blocking fouls don't always lead to FT's, so year, total fouls drawn would be a good stat. A player drawing a lot of fouls will get his team into bonus. If you really wanted to, you could track it for your favourite team, I think the ESPN play by plays record whenever players are fouled.</div>

Yeah, you can track it. Actually, 82games has those numbers, and a bunch of others, which they get by going through the play by plays. I just don't know why it's not kept like an official stat in the boxscore. It would be simple to do so. At least they could make them available on NBA.com.