The New York Times has published an absolute must-read written by Michael Lewis (of Moneyball fame). The story considers Rockets GM Daryl Morey's analytical judgment in Houston, with Shane Battier as the central protagonist.Battier, we're told, is one of the best players in the NBA. (I need no convincing.) More affecting than the details as to why Battier is so good for his team despite underwhelming basic stats are Morey's general statements about the state of our basketball understanding.
Lewis writes:
The five players on any basketball team are far more than the sum of their parts; the Rockets devote a lot of energy to untangling subtle interactions among the team's elements. To get at this they need something that basketball hasn't historically supplied: meaningful statistics. For most of its history basketball has measured not so much what is important as what is easy to measure - points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots - and these measurements have warped perceptions of the game. ("Someone created the box score," Morey says, "and he should be shot.") How many points a player scores, for example, is no true indication of how much he has helped his team.Lewis goes into the Rockets' use of plus-minus, as well as the hyperdetailed breakdowns the team employs in assessing opponents. There are even some hints Morey uses to figure out whether other teams use the same method as he does (for instance, whether other teams understand the importance of the corner three).
Again, it's a marvelous read.
