2023-10-13

Introduction: What is more efficient?

  • With the advent of the Baby Faced Assassin (Steph Curry), the NBA has seen a lot more of “chucking threes” which means they have shot more three’s successfully.

  • However the question arises, has the 3 - pointers become more efficient now that everyone has the ability to accurately shoot down threes?
    • In this homework, we dive into the discussion and analysis of two point shooting and three point shooting.

Calculating and plotting 3-pt shooting

These are the three point shooting percentages of the ten best players in the NBA which should mean that they are well accomplished in all parts of their game. * Shooting percentages are calculated by shots made/ divided by the attempts. A simple stat but really shows the efficiency of their shots across a whole season which is a very good sample.

Calculating and plotting 2-point shooting

On this graph of 2 point shooting, we see a more consistent percentages near the sixties. This is a stark difference between the 3 point percentages that are in closer to the forties with the exception of KD. * But no way are these ten players representative of the whole league right?

Plotting These Together

  • Point plot of the percentages

Plotting the LEAGUE: Plotly way

There is no way ten players from the NBA can be representative of the whole league. So let’s see the trends for shooting efficiency over time… in the forty years of league history since the inception of the three point line.

##Plotly Code

bruh <- ggplot(NBAdf, aes(x = Season)) +
  geom_point(aes(y = X3P.), color = "blue", shape = 21, size = 1.0, stroke = 1.5) +
  geom_point(aes(y = FG.), color = "red" , shape = 21, size = 1.0, stroke = 1.5) + 
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, vjust = 1, hjust = 1)) +
  labs(title = "3 point shooting and 2 point shooting through 40 years of the NBA", y = "Shooting Percentages (Decimal Percentages)")+ 
  coord_cartesian(ylim = c(0,0.70))

ggplotly(bruh)

Conclusions

  • For a long time, two point shooting was the more efficient shot since the creation of the three point line.
  • Obviously taking a shot from up close was a lot better than taking one from afar.
  • With the advent of a new style of basketball with more players with the ability to shoot the three ball, it has appeared that the 3-point shot have become more efficient.
  • However this really isn’t the case. Two point shooting has become more efficient over the years while three point shooting has become more stagnant.
    • The reason we could likely attribute this too is the volume increase in three point shooting, only meant more of it happening and not it being more efficient. ++ for further conclusions, more tests must be done.

What is True Shooting?

  • True Shooting Percentage
    • An advanced Basketball statistic that measures the efficiency of a player not only in field goal shooting but also in three point and free-throw shooting
    • A high true shooting percentage is a well representative of star players who are skilled in all facets of offense
  • The Formula:

\(\dfrac{\text{Total Points}}{2 \times (Field Goal Attempts + 0.44 \times Free Throw Attempts)}\)

The equation takes the total points and divides it by weighted attempt stats.

Let’s Do an Example!

Jusuf Nurkic was recently traded to the Phoenix Suns for what is basically a bag of chips.

Let’s see if he is efficient!

Nurkic’s PTS, FGA, and FTA are 694, 505, 192.
\(\dfrac{\text{694}}{2 \times (505 + 0.44 \times 192)}=\)
Nurkic’s TS% is 58.8 which ranks him 95th in the league.

Sources: