This first post will focus on some basic advanced stats that teams and analysts used to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of teams. The two ways to measure a team in simplest terms are Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating. Offensive Rating measures how many points a team will score given 100 possessions and conversely Defensive Rating measures how many points a team will give up given 100 possessions. The formulas are simple and listed below:
OR=(Points scored*100)/Possessions
DR=(Points surrendered*100)/Possessions
The purpose of this stat is to measure the efficiency of teams and eliminate the bias that certain paces will have on a team's scoring or defense.
The next basic advanced stats to examine are the Four Factors which are Effective Field Goal Percentage, Turnover Percentage, Offensive Rebounding Percentage, and Free Throw Rate. I will believe take some time to explain each of these statistics.
Effective Field Goal % or EFG is a way to examine shooting percentage that weights 3 pointers more so than 2 pointers. The formula is (Field Goals+.5(3 Point Field Goals))/Field Goal Attempts. This statistic allows for teams to get a better understand of how players are shooting and will allow some of the guards to improve their shooting % while interior players will see little change between their FG% and EFG%.
Turnover Percentage is a way to measure how many turnovers a team commits every 100 possessions. The formula is (Turnovers*100)/Possessions. Teams in the NBA on average turn the ball over every 7-8 possessions so you can imagine how important to a franchise it is to take care of the ball and take as many shot opportunities as possible.
Offensive Rebound Percentage is a way to measure how often teams are rebounding their own shots. The formula is (Offensive Rebounds*100)/(Field Goal Attempts-Field Goals). As you can see with the last two factors, there is somewhat of a theme here. The turnover and offensive rebound percentages are ways to measure if a team is taking as many shots as possible during the course of a game. ORB% helps analysts understand which teams are making the most of their missed opportunities.
The final factor is Free Throw rate and it is a measure of how well teams are getting to the line and making those shots. The formula is Free throws made/Field goals attempted. Typically the worst free throw shooters on teams are hovering between 60-70% so that being said, NBA players are good enough to get to the free throw line and convert. Teams that are getting more opportunities at the free throw line are at a distinct advantage to win the game.
Well that's it for my first post. I hope it was informative and allows you guys to get a general understanding. I plan on making a model for my next post, haven't decided what about, but definitely want to look into making my first model. Anyway thanks for reading!
