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Tracking our Players' Touches

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by durvasa, Nov 2, 2013.

  1. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    As you know, NBA.com is publishing a bunch of "player tracking" stats this year, using SportVU data.

    One of the things it provides is player touches.

    http://stats.nba.com/playerTrackingTouches.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=100

    So it gives the following:

    touches per game (Tch/G) - the number of times a player touches and possesses the ball

    front court touches per game (FTch/G) - the number of time sa player touches and possesses the ball on their team's offensive half of the court

    time of possession - the total amount of time a player possesses the ball per game in minutes

    close touches - touches that originate within 12 feet of the basket where the player is not designated as having a post touch

    elbow touches - touches that originate within the 5 foot radius nearing the edge of the lane and free throw line, inside the 3-point line

    PTS per half court touch (P/HTch) - amoount of points a player scores per half cour touch


    I added a few more columns derived from the above:

    %PossTime - percentage of the time a player is on the court that he has possession of the ball

    Time per Touch (Time/Tch) - total time a player has possession of the ball per touch, in seconds

    Half court touch per 48 min (HTch/48min) - total number of half court touches per 48 minutes


    Here are some results for the Rockets through 2 games:

    Code:
    [SIZE="1"][B]Player                GP     MPG       Tch/G   FTch/G      P/HTch    %PossTime  Time/Tch   HTch/48min[/B]
    Patrick Beverley      1      10.4      24       21          0.24      12.5%      3.3        96.9
    Jeremy Lin            2      30.4      61.5     55          0.27      11.8%      3.5        86.8
    Aaron Brooks          2      17.3      35.5     31          0.21      15.6%      4.6        86.0
    James Harden          2      38.1      65.5     59          0.47      11.5%      4.0        74.3
    Chandler Parsons      2      37.5      48.5     40          0.24      3.7%       1.7        51.2
    Francisco Garcia      2      27.8      31       26          0.52      3.2%       1.7        44.9
    Omri Casspi           2      21        30       17.5        0.46      2.9%       1.2        40.0
    Terrence Jones        1      4         10       3           1         2.5%       0.6        36.0
    Dwight Howard         2      33.3      68       24          0.63      5.1%       1.5        34.6
    Ronnie Brewer         1      7.6       9        5           0         2.6%       1.3        31.6
    Omer Asik             2      20.7      33       10.5        0.48      2.9%       1.1        24.3
    Donatas Motiejunas    1      4         3        2           0.5       2.5%       2.0        24.0
    Greg Smith            1      4         5        1           0         0.0%       0.0        12.0[/SIZE]
    
    Harden, by the way, has the longest time per touch (4.0s) of any non-PG player in the league who's played at least 2 games and 20 mpg. The non-PG with the second longest time per touch is Tyreke Evans (3.7s). Here's the top 50 in time per touch for players who've played at least 2 game and 20 mpg:

    Code:
     [SIZE="1"][B]    Player                 Team    GP    MPG          %PossTime   Time/Tch   HTch/48min[/B]
    1    Nate Wolters           MIL     2     29.7          20.2%       5.4        91.3
    2    Will Bynum             DET     2     35.6          16.9%       5.4        76.2
    3    Jrue Holiday           NOP     2     35.4          18.6%       5.2        86.1
    4    Stephen Curry          GSW     2     31.5          17.5%       5.0        91.4
    5    Victor Oladipo         ORL     3     29.4          15.0%       5.0        71.8
    6    Damian Lillard         POR     2     37.5          18.4%       4.9        94.7
    7    Jose Calderon          DAL     2     30.1          21.9%       4.8        107.6
    8    Eric Bledsoe           PHX     2     33.6          14.3%       4.8        75.7
    9    Jarrett Jack           CLE     2     25.2          19.8%       4.7        106.7
    10   Jordan Farmar          LAL     3     23.2          17.7%       4.6        86.3
    11   Tony Parker            SAS     2     33.9          18.6%       4.6        96.3
    12   Greivis Vasquez        SAC     2     28.6          18.2%       4.6        94.8
    13   Kyrie Irving           CLE     2     31            17.7%       4.6        94.5
    14   Goran Dragic           PHX     2     33.2          16.6%       4.6        92.5
    15   Mike Conley            MEM     2     31.6          20.3%       4.5        110.9
    16   Steve Nash             LAL     2     22.2          17.1%       4.4        97.3
    17   Jameer Nelson          ORL     3     31.6          17.4%       4.4        90.1
    18   Isaiah Thomas          SAC     2     30.6          16.7%       4.4        95.7
    19   Deron Williams         BKN     2     24.4          19.7%       4.4        113.1
    20   Derrick Rose           CHI     2     32.9          20.1%       4.4        116.0
    21   George Hill            IND     2     32.7          17.1%       4.3        100.6
    22   John Wall              WAS     2     36.7          16.9%       4.3        100.1
    23   Chris Paul             LAC     3     36.8          20.9%       4.2        122.6
    24   Chauncey Billups       DET     2     31.2          12.8%       4.2        72.3
    25   Steve Blake            LAL     3     28.9          12.5%       4.2        75.9
    26   Kyle Lowry             TOR     2     34.3          16.6%       4.2        95.9
    27   Reggie Jackson         OKC     2     28.2          17.7%       4.2        98.7
    28   Raymond Felton         NYK     2     34.5          15.1%       4.1        84.2
    29   Mo Williams            POR     2     24            16.3%       4.1        92.0
    30   Ty Lawson              DEN     2     36            14.2%       4.1        84.7
    31   Ricky Rubio            MIN     2     33.2          17.2%       4.0        101.9
    32   James Harden           HOU     2     38.1          11.5%       4.0        74.3
    33   Avery Bradley          BOS     2     32.1          15.0%       4.0        86.0
    34   John Lucas III         UTA     2     32.3          14.6%       4.0        95.1
    35   Norris Cole            MIA     3     21.9          15.1%       4.0        87.0
    36   Kemba Walker           CHA     2     36            18.3%       3.9        118.0
    37   Kirk Hinrich           CHI     2     21.6          14.8%       3.9        96.7
    38   Nate Robinson          DEN     2     23.6          11.4%       3.8        73.2
    39   Tyreke Evans           NOP     2     20.3          10.3%       3.7        68.6
    40   Gary Neal              MIL     2     28.8          11.8%       3.7        78.3
    41   Jeremy Lin             HOU     2     30.4          11.8%       3.5        86.8
    42   Jeff Teague            ATL     2     35.4          13.8%       3.4        102.4
    43   Michael Carter-Wi      PHI     2     34.3          14.0%       3.4        91.7
    44   LeBron James           MIA     3     39.1          11.5%       3.3        81.0
    45   DeMar DeRozan          TOR     2     38.7          7.8%        3.3        58.9
    46   Monta Ellis            DAL     2     35.6          11.8%       3.2        88.3
    47   Mario Chalmers         MIA     3     29.9          12.7%       3.2        89.4
    48   Lance Stephenson       IND     2     38.7          7.8%        3.2        59.5
    49   Dion Waiters           CLE     2     21.9          5.9%        3.1        40.5
    50   Andre Iguodala         GSW     2     35.7          7.6%        3.1        52.4[/SIZE]
    
     
    #1 durvasa, Nov 2, 2013
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2013
  2. steady

    steady Member

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    Thanks for posting Durvasa.

    The numbers confirm one thing I noticed last night - Aaron Brooks seems to be holding the ball for longer than other players when he has it.

    Pts per offensive touch
    0.21
    Percentage of time when on court that he has the ball
    15.6%
    Average number of seconds he holds the ball per touch
    4.6

    The last two numbers are higher than anyone else on the team. James Harden has the second highest "Average number of seconds he holds the ball per touch", and his average is only 4.0 seconds.
     
  3. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    I wish someone could track success per possession. That's a big KPI for us when going TT.

    It's a stat that both Rudy and JVG tracked. It is a TS% that uses an entire possession as measure. And it treats turnovers as failed possessions

    I used to count this myself during games. Boxscores can only approximate it
     
  4. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    82games uses points per possession for their offensive and defensive ratings. Unfortunately they don't update that often.
     
  5. Convictedstupid

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    Do you know the league average of P/HTch? Dwight at .68 seems pretty high.
     
  6. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    Synergy has PPP. Sounds close to what you're talking about.
     
  7. Convictedstupid

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    Derp. Meant .63.
     
  8. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    That's really role dependent. Both Dwight and Omer have a high rate because we don't run the offense through them. A lot of the time when they get the ball, they're in position to take a shot.
     
  9. jtr

    jtr Contributing Member

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    Absolutely fabulous thread durvasa! I had been considering doing a SportVU post myself. I would like to say that the data currently available is miniscule, but it should correct itself as the season wears on.

    Have you found a comparable stat page to the following synergy data:

    [​IMG]

    My analysis has been heavily dependent on like information over the last few months.
     
  10. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    durvasa

    Do all stadiums have sportsvu now. I'm on mobile. So didn't notice if your post said so
     
  11. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    The defensive impact stats provided so far at NBA.com is really only defense at the rim. That's kind of disappointing, since SportVU should be able to track shot contests away from the rim as well, but for whatever reason they didn't make that available.
     
  12. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    Yes, this season 6 cameras have been installed at every arena. That wasn't the case in past years.
     
  13. jtr

    jtr Contributing Member

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    I wonder if it is in their plans to incorporate synergy data this season? You cannot sign up for the service currently.
     
  14. Convictedstupid

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    Maybe I'm missing something but I'm a little confused as to why Dwight's Tch/G is 68 but his FTch/G is only 24.
     
  15. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    I was also confused about that initially, but I think his defensive rebounds are counted as a "touch". So he actually has touched the ball more frequently in the back-court, where he'll generally pass it to a guard, then he has in the front court or in a half-court setting.

    Still, 44 additional touches in the back-court per game seems like a heck of a lot. Maybe they're also counting in-bounding the ball as a touch? That could explain it.
     
    #15 durvasa, Nov 2, 2013
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2013
  16. Convictedstupid

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    Ahhhh that makes sense. This app is really cool. Having a lot of fun playing around with it.
     
  17. d12babymamas

    d12babymamas Member

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    excellent post durvasa. thank you.
     
  18. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    Back court touches aren't very meaningful. When we talk about touches, we usually mean offensive touches.

    Also, the P/HTch is the player's points, right? Do they have team points per HTch? That would balance out the roles of facilitators and finishers.
     
  19. Zalgiris

    Zalgiris Member

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    Told you DMo is our 3rd best scorer and he should have played yesterday in the first half.

    5 stars, durvasa
     
  20. Merovingian

    Merovingian Member

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    Hmm AB was holding the ball even longer than Harden. I guess he played the pg the way a pg used to play in this team several years ago.
     

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