Most hardcore NBA fans had heard about SportVU Player Tracking Technology over the last couple of years, a program that used several cameras around certain NBA arenas to track virtually all player movements and involvement.
In March, Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote a fascinating piece, 'Lights, Cameras, Revolution' about how the Raptors, specifically, utilize the data SportVU provides. At the time, only 15 teams had the cameras installed, but in September it was announced that all 29 NBA arenas would have the SportVU system in place starting this season, and all hoops junkies should be thankful for it now.
With many fans often taking their searches for more advanced statistics to websites like Basketball Reference and HoopData, just to name a couple, NBA.com took a massive step forward in the stats revolution last season when they made a plethora of advanced metrics and lineup combination measures available. What they've done this season, however, with the help of SportVU (which NBA.com says 'uses six cameras installed in the catwalks of every arena to tracks the movements of every player on the court and the basketball 25 times per second'), is probably unparalleled in terms of fan access in pro sports.
NBA.com's new player tracking stats page breaks things down into eight categories: Speed and distance, touches/possession, passing, defensive impact, Rebounding opportunities, drives, catch and shoot, and pull up shots. The data provided is simply breathtaking for a fan who has never had this kind of statistical access to their favorite league.
Right now, for example, you can hit the site to see that Paul George leads the league after two games with 5.26 total miles traveled on the court (the kind of tracking data made popular in soccer), with an average speed of 4.1 miles per hour. You'll find that Chris Paul's 107 touches per game lead the league in the early going, and that the Clippers star point guard has produced 0.27 points per touch thus far. Paul has also generated 29 points per game for the Clippers through his assists.
Roy Hibbert allowed Heat and Pelicans opponents to shoot just 26.3 percent at the rim this week, while DeAndre Jordan has grabbed 73.7 percent of available rebounds while he has been on the court.
Not surprisingly, Rudy Gay is already among the leaders (9th) in pull up shots attempted per game (11), where a pull up is defined as "Any jump shot outside 10 feet where a player took 1 or more dribbles before shooting." His Raptors teammate DeMar DeRozan, also know for his propensity to pull up, actually sits near the top in drives per game after his eight drives in Toronto's opener against Boston. And yes, if you finally wanted to define what a 'drive' is, NBA.com has it for you. A drive is "Any touch that starts at least 20 feet of the hoop and is dribbled within 10 feet of the hoop and excludes fast breaks."
Did you know that 6-10 Chris Bosh has attempted 13 catch and shoot field goals through two games? Well you know now thanks to a seemingly endless stream of data currently available to us.
To start it may actually be a bit overwhelming, but the NBA seems to have received the message that so many traditionalists and anti-stats observers fail to understand, that a greater understanding of the game and its intricacies makes for a more enjoyable and more shareable viewing experience.
Baseball was the first North American major sport to undergo a statistical revolution, and Major League Baseball is the league where advanced stats are now more accepted in day to day evaluations than anywhere else, but between the NBA's recent decisions to dive head first into the stats world and commissioner in waiting Adam Silver's acceptance and promotion of such metrics, basketball fans can now envision a day where their league is ahead of the curve, if that day hasn't already arrived this week.
