Let’s play guess the shot chart!
By Ian Levy
We all know that there can be a disconnect between what our eyes see when watching a basketball game and what the numbers reflect. There can be a third aspect to this distortion — the data visualization. Even if we can reconcile our observations of a player’s shooting characteristics with the hard numbers, seeing those numbers splayed out on a shot chart can create incongruity with both statistics and the eye test.
I thought it would be fun to play with that disconnect a little bit, with a rousing game of Guess the Shot Chart. Below are five player shot charts from the 2015-16 season, courtesy of Austin Clemens, each with the player’s name blacked out.
I offered a brief description of each player below the shot chart. See if you can use the description and the visual to guess the player. Tweet us @NylonCalculus and let us know how many you got right. Grand prize is an absurdly over-inflated sense of self-worth.
1) A step inside the line
This player struggled to finish efficiently around the basket and has a clear predilection for cutting short his drives with pull-up jumpers just inside the arc. Although he is an above-average mid-range shooter the imbalance inside the arc is clearly a drag on his overall efficiency. Still on the younger side with plenty of room to grow, finishing better at the rim and pushing more of those drives all the way to the paint could be what helps him hit his ceiling.
2) My kingdom for a jumpshot
This player blossomed last season finally finding a niche and beginning to unfurl his immense talents. However, there was a striking lack of versatility to his scoring. Very good around the rim, very not good from everywhere else. Not a pure interior player, being able to make jumpers in the future is a huge key for this player.
3) Go right or you’re fired
This player is definitely the straw that stirs the offensive drink, spending plenty of time with the ball in his hands. He is fairly active from beyond the arc and gets to the rim at a decent rate. However, he is not particularly efficient from either area. In addition, you can see his strong preference from driving right and his tendency to pull-up short of the basket from that side of the floor.
4) Love me some baseline
This player’s shot chart is almost a straight line running parallel to the baseline. He is extremely efficient from almost every area where he is active, including stretching out to the corner three-pointer. Obviously, this shot chart is fairly unique in terms of its arrangement reflecting a player who is still given opportunities to catch the ball on the low block and work in the post.
5) A little bit of everything
This player was insanely efficient from nearly everywhere inside the arc and appears to be toying with developing a three-point shot. Given how terrific they were on long two-pointers it seems like it is just a matter of time before they expand their range. The distribution here also implies plenty of pick-and-roll action, resulting in either pick-and-pop jumpers or strong rolls to the rim.