Abstract
In this paper, we model a basketball player’s on-court production as a function of the percentiles corresponding to the number of games played. A player’s production curve is flexibly estimated using Gaussian process regression. The hierarchical structure of the model allows us to borrow strength across players who play the same position and have similar usage rates and play a similar number of minutes per game. From the results of the modeling, we discuss questions regarding the relative deterioration of production for each of the different player positions. Learning how minutes played and usage rate affect a player’s career production curve should prove to be useful to NBA decision makers.
The authors would like to thank the editor, associate editor, and anonymous referees for comments that improved the manuscript. The first author’s work was partially funded by grant FONDECYT 11121131
Appendix A
MCMC iterate history plots
We provide a few arbitrarily selected history plots of MCMC iterates (see Figures 6 and 7). The first set corresponds to the first entry of μ(·)j for the twelve groups, and the second set corresponds to ρj for the twelve groups. The general indication these plots provide is that the MC chains have reached their equilibrium states.
References
Albert, J. 2009. “Is Roger Clemens’ Whip Trajectory Unusual?” Chance 22(2): 8–20.10.1080/09332480.2009.10722954Suche in Google Scholar
Behseta, S., R. E. Kass, and G. L. Wallstrom. 2005. “Hierarchical models for assessing variability among functions.” Biometrika 92: 419–434.10.1093/biomet/92.2.419Suche in Google Scholar
Berri, D. 2012. “David Berri educates us on John Hollinger.” (URL: http://www.3sob.com/december-2012) david-berri-educates-us-on-john-hollinger/5515.Suche in Google Scholar
Berry, S. M., C. S. Reese, and P. D. Larkey. 1999. “Bridging Different Eras in Sports.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 94: 661–676.10.1080/01621459.1999.10474163Suche in Google Scholar
“Calculating Win Shares.” 2013. (URL: http://www.basketball-reference.com/about/ws.html).Suche in Google Scholar
Fearnhead, P. and B. M. Taylor. 2011. “On Estimating the Ability of NBA Players.” Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 7(3): article 11.10.2202/1559-0410.1298Suche in Google Scholar
García, J. A. M. and L. M. Caro. 2011. “A Stakeholder Assessment of Basketball Player Evaluation Metrics.” (URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/16880).Suche in Google Scholar
Geman, S. and D. Geman. 1984. “Stochastic Relaxation, Gibbs Distributions, and the Bayesian Restoration of Images.” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence 6: 721–741.10.1109/TPAMI.1984.4767596Suche in Google Scholar
Hastings, W. K. 1970. “Monte Carlo Methods using Markov Chains and their Applications.” Biometrika 57: 97–109.10.1093/biomet/57.1.97Suche in Google Scholar
Hollinger, J. 2003. Pro Basketball Prospectus, Brassey’s Inc.Suche in Google Scholar
Hollinger, J. 2005. Pro Basketball Forecast, Potomac Books, Inc.Suche in Google Scholar
Mahoney, R. 2010. “NBA’s Statistical Revolution Bringing Real Change, More Winning.” Retrieved January 10, 2013 (URL: http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/12/nbas-statistical-revolution-bringing-real-change-more-winning).Suche in Google Scholar
Metropolis, N., A. Rosenbluth, M. Rosenbluth, A. Teller, and E. Teller. 1953. “Equations of State Calculations by Fast Computing Machines.” Journal of Chemical Physics 21: 1087–1091.10.1063/1.1699114Suche in Google Scholar
Ozmen, M. U. 2012. “Foreign Player Quota, Experience and Efficiency of Basketball Players.” Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 8(1): article 6.Suche in Google Scholar
Page, G. L., G. W. Fellingham, and C. S. Reese. 2007. “Using Box-Scores to Determine a Position’s Contribution to Winning Basketball Games.” Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 3(4): article 1.10.2202/1559-0410.1033Suche in Google Scholar
Pelton, K. 2010. “Rethinking NBA Aging.” Retrieved January 10, 2013 (URL: http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=896).Suche in Google Scholar
Rasmussen, C. E. and C. K. I. Williams. 2006. Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/3206.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Shoals, B. 2010. “For prime Out Loud!.” Retrieved January 10, 2013 (URL: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/01/20/for-prime-out-loud).Suche in Google Scholar
©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Research Articles
- Equitable handicapping of scramble golf tournaments
- Risk management with tournament incentives
- The structure, efficacy, and manipulation of double-elimination tournaments
- Effect of position, usage rate, and per game minutes played on NBA player production curves
- Modeling team compatibility factors using a semi-Markov decision process: a data-driven approach to player selection in soccer
- Ranking the performance of tennis players: an application to women’s professional tennis
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Research Articles
- Equitable handicapping of scramble golf tournaments
- Risk management with tournament incentives
- The structure, efficacy, and manipulation of double-elimination tournaments
- Effect of position, usage rate, and per game minutes played on NBA player production curves
- Modeling team compatibility factors using a semi-Markov decision process: a data-driven approach to player selection in soccer
- Ranking the performance of tennis players: an application to women’s professional tennis