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GNgraduate wrote:TS% is not a stat..
They need to do away with that stat and just go with points per FGA
Because no one is shooting 80% from three.
He actually shot like 65%, that was his true shooting %.
tsherkin wrote:You're basically talking about the data Hoop Data provides in that post.
TS still has value, it just requires context. You need to know shot volume and you need to know minutes and player role, but it provides a useful snapshot of a player's efficiency. A below-average TS is a bad thing, always; if you're under league-average, you need to be called upon to create your own shot less frequently, period. If you're around league average, you're probably not a great option for volume production. If you're above league-average, you're doing OK.
How you get there (FTAs, 3P shooting, high FG%, w/e) isn't so important, but there's a pretty clear trend where elite scorers tend to be at or above 55% TS if they're reasonably healthy. It's when you start getting picky about what the player is doing, how he could improve, how he could be defended, etc, etc, that's when the specifics of his scoring approach become relevant. How much is he assisted? What's league-average Assisted% at 10-15 feet for forwards? That kind of data becomes important.
TS% is still more useful than raw FG%, but like any stat, it requires accompanying context. It's well and good to say a player shoots 48% from 16-23 feet, but if he's taking 25% of his shots from there and still posting a TS of 49%, then he bloody sucks and is inefficient, and is a tool. TS% will effectively highlight that, regardless of how good a shooter he is above the foul line.
Meantime, the relevant components of TS are basically FTA/FGA, 3P%, FT%, and the various levels of FG% relating to the different zones on the floor (at the rim, < 10', 10-15', 16-23'). That data IS available.
It's mostly also called the Four Factors, and isn't new. Dean Oliver has been using eFG% (which accounts for 3P%), FTM/FGA (which accounts for FT% and DrawF), OREB% and TOV% to create an image of a player/team offensively for years now. FF analysis is pretty standard stuff off of RealGM.