Really good food for thought on this thread by Sam Vecenie/The Athletic reacting to a thread by Nate Silver/538. Utilization of defensive metrics is always an interesting debate!
[Analytics]: Why Advanced NBA Metrics Like Jokic’s Defense
Category: Analytics
[Analytics]: Ranking the Best All-in-One Metrics
In case you missed this great piece of work by Bryan Kalbrosky from Hoopshype, I wanted to make sure to highlight it here so everyone can reference the metrics and ratings throughout the season–and for future seasons as advanced stats and analytics continue to evolve. The goal of the research was to determine if there is a, “catch-all, all-in-one composite metric that has the best reputation and has the most accurate assessment of a player’s holistic impact on winning.”
To answer this question, Bryan reached out to a combination of nearly 30 media members, coaches, and directors of analytics departments to break down which all-in-one metric they trust, and of those who trusted any, how many used that metric as their preferred “catch-all statistic”. In doing so, he thoroughly outlines the top 13 metrics that were most trusted in an easily-digestible way that is great for fans of all different skill and interest levels in advanced stats.
Some of those interviewed made it clear that they have their own in-house metrics or that they prefer to average a few numbers they trust to best evaluate players. Unfortunately, the public doesn’t have access to these proprietary metrics, so this really came down to what we, as fans, can trust as we try to do our own analysis of the league.
Spoiler Alert: The #1 most trusted metric for those surveyed was Daily Plus-Minus (DPM):
Ranking the 15 Most Trusted Metrics:
- DPM (@kmedved)
- EPM (@taylor_snarr)
- LEBRON (@The_BBall_Index)
- RAPTOR (@FiveThirtyEight)
- RAPM (@rd11490)
- BPM (@bball_ref)
- RPM (@ESPNStatsInfo)
- WPA (@inpredict)
- Simple Rating – Roland Beech at 82games.com
- FIC (@realGM)
- WS/48 (@jkubatko)
- PIE (@nbastats)
- PER (@johnhollinger)
Interestingly, one Western Conference front office member dished out the following food for thought:
If I could add a wrinkle to your story, it would be that all-in-one stats are overused – that the next phase of basketball analytics is all about context-dependent numbers”…“That would be the most honest quote I could give.
You can keep tabs on all of Bryan’s work on Twitter and Muck Rack:
[Analytics]: Cranjis McBasketball Takes us to School on Analytics vs. the Eye Test and the Importance of Having a Positive, Growth Mindset When Sharing Data on Twitter
In case you missed it, I wanted to share this thread with some important points for all of us to keep in mind as we read, analyze, and critique analytics these days via @Tim_NBA, founder of BBall Index and host of the Lakers Exceptionalism podcast:
