NBA: 3 durable, savvy players that the advanced stats love in 2022

Three players that the advanced stats love during the 2021-22 NBA season. 

Advanced stats in the NBA seem to be the new wave. Especially as more and more fans and even front office of NBA teams have started using data and analytics for player evaluation, scouting, and contracts.

There are the non-believers that say, “analytics is not basketball” and only believe in the eye test and the intangibles that cannot be measured or tracked. And there are the total believers that base their opinions of a team or a player based on numbers and data, without any other context other than, “This is what the numbers say! It’s right in front of you, the numbers don’t lie!”

I think it’s fair to say that leaning one way, whether it be the basketball intangibles, eye test, or the analytics only approach, is not exactly correct either. I think the only way to really evaluate and have a full understanding is to watch the games, analyze data on the game, and figure out what is flawed or not flawed in the data.

For example, per 36. Per 36 is an average of what a player “would” or “should” average based on the minutes they are currently playing. For example, Javale McGee, nice player, not a franchise-level guy, but a nice role player in all respects, let’s use him as an example. Javale averages just about 11 points and seven rebounds per game while playing just over 16 minutes per game for Phoenix this season.

Javale’s per 36 is as follows, 23 points per game, 16 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Now, I love Javale but if you’ve followed his career, there is no scenario in which he averages those kinds of numbers. Those are Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Rudy Gobert-like numbers. This stat in particular doesn’t factor in fatigue or the human element.

So in this case, the data is so flawed.

Now on the other side, people will watch Russell Westbrook and say, “I love Westbrook, he will do everything, rebound, score, pass, and he never takes a play off.” I used to be this person, and I like how ferocious Westbrook is in transition, and I like that he plays with an edge. But, let’s talk efficiency, Westbrook scores right around 20 points, dishes out eight assists, and grabs close to eight rebounds.

On paper that’s great, that would tell you he’s doing everything. The guys that love Westbrook’s edge fail to mention that he’s shot under 45 percent from the field for his career and that he’s just barely over 30 percent from 3 for a career. How about turnovers?

“Well he’s got the ball in his hands so much, yeah he’s going to turn the ball over a lot.” A lot? try first in the league in turnovers, 181. And four turnovers a game for a career.

Each example above shows that both ways of thinking can be flawed. Here’s a category that the analytics crew, and the basketball intangibles crew I think will both enjoy. This season, through roughly 40 games, there are only three players that have played over one thousand minutes, get fouled on the shot at a 15 percent or higher clip, and shoot 80 percent or higher from the free-throw line.