Fansided

Nylon Calculus: Which WNBA players are creating the most open shots?

By Ian Levy

SEATTLE, WA - JULY 10: Sue Bird #10 of the Seattle Storm looks on during the game against the Los Angeles Sparks on July 10, 2018 at Key Arena in Seattle, Washington. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Joshua Huston/NBAE via Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - JULY 10: Sue Bird #10 of the Seattle Storm looks on during the game against the Los Angeles Sparks on July 10, 2018 at Key Arena in Seattle, Washington. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Joshua Huston/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

It’s been a fantastic start to the WNBA season, with an incredible class of scorers leading the way. The depth of elite offensive creators in the WNBA is as good as it’s ever been, with both budding young stars and legendary veterans driving their teams.

Carrying the offense for a team doesn’t just mean scoring however. Skilled facilitators help deliver the ball and shooting stretches defenses and makes sure there is space for everyone to work. Just past the halfway point of the season, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at which players are creating the most high-quality chances for their teams.

Box Creation is a metric created by Nylon Calculus’ Ben Taylor, and generally can be interpreted as the number of open or high-quality scoring opportunities created by a player for their teammates, per 100 possessions. The metric is based off a hand-tracked dataset of NBA games and uses a player’s assists as well as the gravity of their scoring and outside shooting to estimate how many open shots they’re creating.

I’ve applied the formula to WNBA statistics for this season and the table below shows the top ten players by Box Creation.

It really shouldn’t be any surprise to see Sue Bird at the top of the list. She’s helping lead the best offense in the WNBA this season (the Storm are scoring 1.7 points per 100 possessions more than than the next-best offense, the Connecticut Sun). She’s just passed 6,000 career points and is averaging a career-high 7.4 assists per game, just a hair behind Courtney Vandersloot in about six fewer minutes per game. Bird’s accurate, high-volume 3-point shooting just puts more pressure on the defense to stick with her.

Bird is not the only offensive key to the Storm either. Teammates Jewell Lloyd and Breanna Stewart both have Box Creation marks above 5.0 and rank in the top-20.

Just a hair behind Bird is Diana Taurasi, the top scorer in WNBA history. As much as anyone on this list, Taurasi is opening space for her teammates with her gravity as a scorer — she is ranked seventh in the WNBA in points per game this season, and leading the league with an average of 3.3 made 3s per game. She’s also clearly an effective and willing distributor (and ranks fourth in WNBA assists, all-time) with a mark of 7.7 assists per 100 possessions this season.

Scanning through the rest of the list you can see the players who create open space primarily with their scoring (Quigley) but also as distributors. Brittany Boyd’s mark is fairly impressive considering she has the lowest scoring totals on the list and is an infrequent and relatively non-threatening outside shooter. But her ability to orchestrate the Liberty offense and deliver the ball to her teammates has helped earn her an increasingly larger role as the season has gone along.

Next: WNBA team ratings and the Lynx's slow start

Obviously there may be some translation issues with this metric from the NBA to the WNBA but it definitely lines up with the eye test and emphasizes the incredible impact of veterans like Taurasi and Bird. Keep an eye on Bird and the Storm as the season progresses, as they have a good chance of setting the mark for the most efficient offense in WNBA history.

Home/Nylon Calculus