Does anyone know how they get their data? Is it from a stats service or do they have people in every team's city that logs the needed information from game to game?
They have game tracking people. Last year they were in short supply so posted a want-ad on their main page for people who could watch games and track stats for them.
I think most of their stats are derived from the play by plays. They must have a program that parses the play by play and extract all the info. Some of the special articles that track other stats (like charges drawn) that aren't necessarily in the play by plays use manual tracking I guess.
After spending about 50plus hours doing independent scouting and analysis of games, I've concluded that official play by plays suck. There are multiple errors each game, and a lack of universality. Some games, credit for steals go to the person who knocks the ball loose, while other games the credit goes to the player who ends up with the ball. Also, I've concluded that shot clock analysis is not of much good use, and that transition defense can only be judged when watching film. I will release some sample reports soon.
Heh, I hate that. They should make some official rule to whom the steal credit goes to, the one who initiates or the guy who ends up with it, it's just something that keeps nagging at me.
The official rule is that the player who knocks the ball away gets credit. In college ball, sometimes the official scorers don't even know that.
It's not in the rule. But the guy who tips the ball to his teammate in a rebounding situation should get some credit too.
I don't know about the NBA, but here it is from the official NCAA Statistician's Manual for 2006-07. Rebounds are defined differently.
I tend to think so too. Isn't http://www.popcornmachine.net/GameFlows.html pretty much the work of one (Lakers) fan? I can hardly imagine he could afford to employ multiple persons working for a not-for-profit project like that.
I think so, yes. He must have a program that extracts the info from the play by plays, like 82games.com. That's a great site. basketballvalue.com is another good one.
Rockets Bench (hoopsstats.com) Note the Bench tab near the top (center) of the page. You can look at a different team with the drop-down menu. Sort of a cluttered, confusing interface, but they got lots of info there. And if you're looking for basketball stats, in general, this is a great resource: http://www.countthebasket.com/statlinks.htm
