Basketball: A Solved Sport

[prankster]

Interesting article.

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[Hey Adrien!]

Interesting article.

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the personal homepage of NT - Nabraj covering tech world, sports, philosophy and random musings.

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Translation, NBA Basketball has become so boring, lol.

My favorite captain obvious quote: Recently, teams have realized three-pointers have higher point value despite their lower scoring percentage.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Should just use the MTV Rock-N-Jock basketball game model from the 1990’s. Heck with some of the court designs, we’re halfway there. 10 point pods, 25 foot hoop worth 25 points.

Crazy that mid-range jumpers are the worst shot in the game yet that’s what the Johnnies used to torch us a few games ago. Full court press was a thing of the past also but now teams are employing it on us every game and we haven’t been able to adjust.

 

[That Guy]

NBA sucks now. It used to be my favorite league to watch, even above college ball, but ever since the Warriors began their dominant run with chucking up 3s nonstop, I have lost more interest in it every subsequent year. I still follow it and watch a highlight or two every once in a while, but I can't tell you the last time I watched a full game. Last time I went to a game was over 10 years ago.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Should just use the MTV Rock-N-Jock basketball game model from the 1990’s. Heck with some of the court designs, we’re halfway there. 10 point pods, 25 foot hoop worth 25 points.

Crazy that mid-range jumpers are the worst shot in the game yet that’s what the Johnnies used to torch us a few games ago. Full court press was a thing of the past also but now teams are employing it on us every game and we haven’t been able to adjust.

Almost like these strategies are effective or something

 

[Chin Diesel]

Similar to tennis where you don't see any serve and volley players.
Some.of these sports with a fixed-sized court or field, there becomes enough data to play a "correct" scheme.
Some of it is human performance improvement, some of it is equipment technology, some of it is data analysis.
All of it makes the sports more boring.
Baseball got it wrong with prohibiting shifts and limiting throws to first base, etc.
Make the batters learn how to bunt to 3rd vase when they out on a shift or hit the ball inside out. The three true outcomes- HR, BB or K makes for a boring game.

 

[Jaydumo20]

I dislike analytics. Humans have the need to try to codify and scientifically maximize everything from language, to food, to sports, to human relationships. Go for it and totally strip the human element out of human activities. I hear a foghorn... Booooooooorrrriiiiing.

(Cue the analytics guy trying to tell me why I actually do like analytics but don't know it)

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Similar to tennis where you don't see any serve and volley players.

Stefan Edberg is not walking through that door?

 

[UConnTrumbull]

NBA fans hate CBB saying it’s too low scoring and far less talent. For me, that’s what makes CBB great. Literally anyone can win any single night. NBA is boring to me. Three-point shooting contest most of the time. Can’t remember many instant classics in the last few years.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Stefan Edberg is not walking through that door?

One of my favs.

 

[78AlwaysHappy]

Is it time to adjust the line (eliminate?) the 3PT shot?

 

[Conndog]

Stefan Edberg is not walking through that door?

I remember Pat Rafter too- that was his game

 

[Deepster]

I dislike analytics. Humans have the need to try to codify and scientifically maximize everything from language, to food, to sports, to human relationships. Go for it and totally strip the human element out of human activities. I hear a foghorn... Booooooooorrrriiiiing.

(Cue the analytics guy trying to tell me why I actually do like analytics but don't know it)

Exactly this.

Technology and analytics continues to refine all sports. The extreme shifts in baseball almost did a lot of damage until they revised the rules on it. A computer would have eventually lowered batting averages across the board to where the game was completely different than it was.

It has ruined the NBA and it's not coming back. If the NBA was a stock, you'd dump every share you had. Because the only counter to what's happened is letting them actually play defense....and that turns it back into 78-74 rock fights like the old Pistons hey day. And that's not sexy and doesn't put fannies in the seats.

 

[superjohn]

The NHL destroyed the NBA all-star weekend with their 4 nations all-star weekend alternative.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Is the average age of posters in this thread 75?

The premise of the link is wrong. Basketball is nowhere near a solved sport. Teams can adapt their defenses, and teams are significantly underweighting the expected value of post up play. The first team that incorporates the interrelated nature of basketball events and possessions will do very well.

 

[superjohn]

 

[DblCrossbar]

The NHL destroyed the NBA all-star weekend with their 4 nations all-star weekend alternative.

And now no one will bother watching the NHL from here on out. That tournament encapsulated peak moments for this season especially since they opted for a 5 v 5 OT rather than boring possession based pond hockey that has become the norm 3 v 3. The only other matter of interest in the NHL now stems from a player whose country was left out of the event, to which I assume he is grateful for the time off: Alex Ovechkin.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Is the average age of posters in this thread 75?

The premise of the link is wrong. Basketball is nowhere near a solved sport. Teams can adapt their defenses, and teams are significantly underweighting the expected value of post up play. The first team that incorporates the interrelated nature of basketball events and possessions will do very well.

Yup, these early stages of analytics are very surface level and is not accounting for a lot of data when the basis is, “three 3 pointers is worth more than four 2 pointers.”

 

[aceboon]

NBA sucks now. It used to be my favorite league to watch, even above college ball, but ever since the Warriors began their dominant run with chucking up 3s nonstop, I have lost more interest in it every subsequent year. I still follow it and watch a highlight or two every once in a while, but I can't tell you the last time I watched a full game. Last time I went to a game was over 10 years ago.

This was never the Warriors method of operation, the shift was more due to the Harden/D'Antoni Rockets