Ballin' Data: Analyzing 2021-2022 NBA Player Data

Introduction:

What was learned?

• The point guards and shooting guards play a big role in making three pointers

• The point guards and shooting guards lead in assists

• The top scoring players tend to be point guards and shooting guards

• Nikola Jokic does not match the typical trends showing a high number of assists and points made

Data:

The data covers the players statistics for the 2021-2022 season for the NBA. The data covers a variety of data relating to player name, position, team, blocks, points, passes, etc. The data was gathered from basketball-reference.com.

Analysis:

Highlight Table-Average % 3pt, team, and position

A highlight table was created to show the average percent of three pointers based when comparing the teams and positions. A darker color means a higher number of 3 pointers.

From looking at the table, the data in the table fits with what is expected. Both positions tend to be located outside of the 3 point line allowing for opportunities to be in this range. The position of shooting guard has the main goal of scoring points. [1] A more recent dataset shows this trend as well. [2]

Bubble Plot-Number of assists & points for each player

A bubble plot was created comparing the number of assists compared to the number of points for each player. The colors represent the position, while the size of the dots indicates the number of rebounds for each player.

There are a few common trends shown in the scatter plot. The centers perform the most rebounds, but also score the least amount of points and have fewer assists. The point guards have the most assists and don't have many rebounds. Trae Young had the most assists and points scored. One unique data point is for the player Nikola Jokic. He had a large number of assists and point scored. He was actually named the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for this season. [3]

Stacked Bar Chart-comparing teams top players based on points

A stacked bar chart was created showing the top players with the most total points per team. The longer the bar, the more points that were scored.

The results from the bar chart closely match the data that was found in the bubble plot. The high scorers in the bubble plot, such as Trae Young and Nikola Jokic are shown here with larger bars. Overall, the Minnesota Timberwolves were the highest scoring team, while the Oklahoma City Thunder were the lowest scoring team. Compared to other teams, the Indiana Pacers don't appear to have any major high scoring players.

Tree Map-assists in relation to position and team

A tree map was created where the data was divided up into five colors. Each color represents a position on the team. The size of the box represents the number of assists and the entire size of a color box indicates which position had the most assists.

The results in the tree plot also closely matches with the previous charts showing the point guard and shooting guards playing the biggest role in assists. The position of point guard is to play a role similar to that of the quarterback who directs the other players. They tend to pass the ball and a pass followed by a basket made is considered an assist.

What to do with the results?

The most important thing about looking into basketball statistics is that if is able to give you an overall trend of how each team and player is doing. By looking at the data, you are able to pick out each player to determine who is doing the best overall. For example, Trae Young was the highest scorer and it would be important to find ways to further promote Trae Young.

When looking at assists, this can be important to see how much you would need to focus on making sure the players are working better as a team. It is important to have strong players, but it is also important to function as a team. The Golden State Warriors won the championships that year whose top players don't fall in the top 5 in either assists or number of points scored.

The statistics can be important to determine which players you would need to help further development and for some to try predicting the outcome of a game. Couches could also use this data to scout potential talent or to scalp players from other teams.

Sources:

[1] https://jr.nba.com/basketball-positions/

[2] https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/what-position-scores-the-most-three-pointers

[3] https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31592058/denver-nuggets-big-man-nikola-jokic-wins-first-nba-mvp-award-sources-say