How Analytics Made Me a Better Basketball Player, with Shane Battier

[inquisitive]

Before I really learned analytics I tried to guard a guy, Kobe Bryant, who in my estimation was the toughest competitor that I ever played against. And all I had to rely on was the old eyeball test scouting report. Kobe’s got a really good right hand. You have to keep him out of the painted area. He’s a great finisher. So yeah, any Joe Schmo fan could tell you those things. But after studying and going through the school of analytics I knew exactly to a tee who Kobe Bryant was. And I knew as a defender trying to stop him Kobe’s worst case scenario and my best case scenario was to make him shoot a pull up jumper going to his left hand, all right. The average possession of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008 was generated .98 points per possession, .98. So you took the average possession of the Lakers. They were going to score .98 points every time they had a possession. And so Kobe Bryant only shot the left handed pull up jumper at a 44 percent clip. So every time that he went left and shot that pull up jumper he was generating .88 points per possession.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxcbuV0_WEM[/youtube]