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Looking to read some books on sports analytics. Prefer basketball but will consider any sports. Any suggestions? Have you guys read any?

Basketball on Paper by Dean Oliver was the book that started it all. I'd begin with that one. Some of the thinking is outdated, but it is reall the foundation for a lot of things (Ortg/Drtg and wins shares started there). It covers usage curves, strategy optimization, that sort of thing. Due to the date of publication, the illustrative examples aren't current, so it helps to have decent familiarity with 80s/90s players.

If also add the Hollinger forecast/prospectus series if you can find used copies in the cheap. They are basketball yearbooks that discuss players by team and win expectations. The player entries themselves may not reveal a lot to someone, but there is usually one extensive player entry per team where Hollinger goes off on tangents with interesting comparisons, charts, unique perspectives. The intro section is very useful too. Just picking up the book and flipping through it, it is very easy to pick those out.

Barry had some old guides that were similar, but not as statistically driven. Hollinger + Oliver = the foundation. After that it's kind of ad hoc pick ups of different things. The old APBRmetrics forum. Some of the detailed player comparison stuff here, MIT Sloan papers, a lot of basketball blogs. The problem with the field is that good analysts get gobbled up by teams once they prove their value...so there hasn't been a ton of book writing/consolidated knowledge in the last 10 years. It gets delivered in drips from various blogs and such.

I currently have basketball on paper, chasing perfection by andy glockner, moneyball and big data baseball. I hear a lot of bad reviews for these books but there's not much books on analytics. That's why I'm wondering what these other people read or learn from.

Based Mike Ross wrote:Looking to read some books on sports analytics. Prefer basketball but will consider any sports. Any suggestions? Have you guys read any?

Is this for enjoyment or to learn about and produce useful basketball metrics? Frankly, if the latter, you're better off reading a textbook on machine learning or deep learning. These will actually be the most relevant to modern basketball analytics.

Otherwise, I would recommend Elgee's book Thinking Basketball, though I haven't read it. His website outlines the following as core concepts covered in his book:

- It’s a team game — helping 4 instead of 1 (Global Offense and Scoring Blindness)
- Creating value and capitalizing on created value (Portability)
- How easy it is for the best team ever to lose (Sample-Size Insensitivity)
- The final score changes our memories (Winning Bias)
- The importance of clutch, closers and Hero Ball (Late-Game Bias)
- Our minds take predictable shortcuts that shape our reactions to players, teams, free agency and trades

I trust that it's well written, enjoyable to read, and probably quite informative.

Blackmill wrote:

Based Mike Ross wrote:Looking to read some books on sports analytics. Prefer basketball but will consider any sports. Any suggestions? Have you guys read any?

Is this for enjoyment or to learn about and produce useful basketball metrics? Frankly, if the latter, you're better off reading a textbook on machine learning or deep learning. These will actually be the most relevant to modern basketball analytics.

Otherwise, I would recommend Elgee's book Thinking Basketball, though I haven't read it. His website outlines the following as core concepts covered in his book:

- It’s a team game — helping 4 instead of 1 (Global Offense and Scoring Blindness)
- Creating value and capitalizing on created value (Portability)
- How easy it is for the best team ever to lose (Sample-Size Insensitivity)
- The final score changes our memories (Winning Bias)
- The importance of clutch, closers and Hero Ball (Late-Game Bias)
- Our minds take predictable shortcuts that shape our reactions to players, teams, free agency and trades

I trust that it's well written, enjoyable to read, and probably quite informative.

Thinking Basketball by Ben Taylor? Looks interesting I think I might try and get it.

Based Mike Ross wrote:Thinking Basketball by Ben Taylor? Looks interesting I think I might try and get it.

Yes, that's the one. I'm guessing you encountered his blog. It has plenty of good posts on basketball analytics if you want a feel for his writing. He's the primary provider of RAPM data which have you have probably seen, and has made many contributes to the PC board too, though he isn't as active now as when the various player projects were going on. The main reason I haven't read his book is I lack the time.

Blackmill wrote:

Based Mike Ross wrote:Thinking Basketball by Ben Taylor? Looks interesting I think I might try and get it.

Yes, that's the one. I'm guessing you encountered his blog. It has plenty of good posts on basketball analytics if you want a feel for his writing. He's the primary provider of RAPM data which have you have probably seen, and has made many contributes to the PC board too, though he isn't as active now as when the various player projects were going on. The main reason I haven't read his book is I lack the time.

Actually no. Where can I find his blog?

Based Mike Ross wrote:

Blackmill wrote:

Based Mike Ross wrote:Thinking Basketball by Ben Taylor? Looks interesting I think I might try and get it.

Yes, that's the one. I'm guessing you encountered his blog. It has plenty of good posts on basketball analytics if you want a feel for his writing. He's the primary provider of RAPM data which have you have probably seen, and has made many contributes to the PC board too, though he isn't as active now as when the various player projects were going on. The main reason I haven't read his book is I lack the time.

Actually no. Where can I find his blog?

Here you go: http://www.backpicks.com/.