Wembanyama just had the coolest summer possible without even mentioning that he had a hilarious cameo in the new season of Futurama! And as far as I know, he is one of the only celebrities to ever play themselves on Futurama without being a disembodied head in a jar. He is an alien after all.
> However, the public isn’t given access to full coordinate tracking data, and building a computer vision model to get these details precisely is a super arduous task much better suited for a full scale research team.
Does this imply that the NBA collects these data and shares it evenly and privately with teams, or perhaps allows teams to collect and crunch the numbers themselves? Do we know?
If it were feasible to get a ~standardized data collection system in place at all of the home arenas, it seems like this would save a hell of a lot of time, effort, and pain for teams to lug around their own setups.
Well all teams have installed cameras inside their stadium — they have a data provider. For a while it was Second Spectrum, but they got absorbed by Genius Sports. It could still be second spectrum but I’d have to see. Teams aren’t bringing the equipment around, they’ve had this set up since at least the early 2010s.
I believe Hawkeye is the provider currently, and it was SecondSpectrum before that (and Stats (SportVU) before that). All arenas have it in there, with all arenas having it since ~2014, and a handful had cameras prior to that. Hawkeye has added a lot more pose data to the whole thing, finally getting at questions of "having your hand up in the shooter's face" and things of that nature.
At least with SecondSpectrum and SportVU, there was a "base" level of data and dashboarding that each team would get. I'm still certain that all teams have access to the raw data, which with SportVU was a large XML file that contained player1-player10 X/Y, ball X/Y, and some basic events labeled (shot, rebound, pass, foul, etc). And then there was usually a UI that you could see some of the more basic advanced stats rolled up for you, stuff like Potential Assists, movement/MPH stuff, etc.
SecondSpectrum came in with a lot more of the machine learning stuff. Good teams were already doing this by themselves (I know I was), but SS put a lot of rigor and effort into it. Pick and roll defense identifications, defensive alignments, and then they implemented better cameras as well to get improved "positioning"/"which way am I facing" type things. They offered some of this to all teams when they became the official provider, but they still had an extra $100k/yr Eagle package that had even more stuff in there (and you'd be surprised at how many teams balked at 100k/yr for this type of data).
I think one of my favorite things I did was tracking "deferred" shots. It was great to see how often people were turning down 3s and how that would often have a detrimental effect on the efficiency of a possession. Also generally a lot of stuff with defensive spacing and how just a foot or two is the difference between shutting down corner 3s or allowing them at a league leading rate.
Love this article, Joseph. I'm a lifelong Spurs fan, but even if I weren't, I think this is an excellent, balanced primer for one of the most exciting upcoming seasons for a young player in a long time. (Also, fwiw, that's JULIAN Champagnie that knocks down the corner 3, not his brother, Justin).
"the photo of Wemby you see above is from Getty Images, a provider of editorial and stock photography. We’re now paying for their services as part of our continual effort to professionalize and upgrade our operations. Silver Bulletin is still in a “slow growth” phase, and that feels very comfortable for us; we’re not looking to conquer the world or pay for fancy office space somewhere. But we are reinvesting in the business, and we’re deeply appreciative for subscribers who help make that possible"
Note that the one time Wemby played the Thunder last season, they guarded him with robust "smalls" and he was largely ineffective and zoned out on offense (1 for 5 from the field, I believe) and maybe a little on defense. As the Spurs win more games, more opponents will experiment with this. Coaching adjustments are one of the things that make NBA postseason so unique. But even in the regular season there is experimentation that makes the long slog of 82 games more fun than it might be.
I remember Bill Russell, who was known for his blocking prowess, used to emphasize the importance of blocking the ball to a teammate.
c.f. Dwight Howard, who did not block a shot a shot lower than the fifth row of the lower bowl a single time in his entire career.
Dwight had a blocked shot recovery rate of roughly 50-53% during his prime, which is absolutely horrendous.
Wembanyama just had the coolest summer possible without even mentioning that he had a hilarious cameo in the new season of Futurama! And as far as I know, he is one of the only celebrities to ever play themselves on Futurama without being a disembodied head in a jar. He is an alien after all.
Al Gore and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers!
this was a really fun article to read
> However, the public isn’t given access to full coordinate tracking data, and building a computer vision model to get these details precisely is a super arduous task much better suited for a full scale research team.
Does this imply that the NBA collects these data and shares it evenly and privately with teams, or perhaps allows teams to collect and crunch the numbers themselves? Do we know?
If it were feasible to get a ~standardized data collection system in place at all of the home arenas, it seems like this would save a hell of a lot of time, effort, and pain for teams to lug around their own setups.
Well all teams have installed cameras inside their stadium — they have a data provider. For a while it was Second Spectrum, but they got absorbed by Genius Sports. It could still be second spectrum but I’d have to see. Teams aren’t bringing the equipment around, they’ve had this set up since at least the early 2010s.
Former NBA analytics guy here:
I believe Hawkeye is the provider currently, and it was SecondSpectrum before that (and Stats (SportVU) before that). All arenas have it in there, with all arenas having it since ~2014, and a handful had cameras prior to that. Hawkeye has added a lot more pose data to the whole thing, finally getting at questions of "having your hand up in the shooter's face" and things of that nature.
At least with SecondSpectrum and SportVU, there was a "base" level of data and dashboarding that each team would get. I'm still certain that all teams have access to the raw data, which with SportVU was a large XML file that contained player1-player10 X/Y, ball X/Y, and some basic events labeled (shot, rebound, pass, foul, etc). And then there was usually a UI that you could see some of the more basic advanced stats rolled up for you, stuff like Potential Assists, movement/MPH stuff, etc.
SecondSpectrum came in with a lot more of the machine learning stuff. Good teams were already doing this by themselves (I know I was), but SS put a lot of rigor and effort into it. Pick and roll defense identifications, defensive alignments, and then they implemented better cameras as well to get improved "positioning"/"which way am I facing" type things. They offered some of this to all teams when they became the official provider, but they still had an extra $100k/yr Eagle package that had even more stuff in there (and you'd be surprised at how many teams balked at 100k/yr for this type of data).
I think one of my favorite things I did was tracking "deferred" shots. It was great to see how often people were turning down 3s and how that would often have a detrimental effect on the efficiency of a possession. Also generally a lot of stuff with defensive spacing and how just a foot or two is the difference between shutting down corner 3s or allowing them at a league leading rate.
Love this article, Joseph. I'm a lifelong Spurs fan, but even if I weren't, I think this is an excellent, balanced primer for one of the most exciting upcoming seasons for a young player in a long time. (Also, fwiw, that's JULIAN Champagnie that knocks down the corner 3, not his brother, Justin).
"the photo of Wemby you see above is from Getty Images, a provider of editorial and stock photography. We’re now paying for their services as part of our continual effort to professionalize and upgrade our operations. Silver Bulletin is still in a “slow growth” phase, and that feels very comfortable for us; we’re not looking to conquer the world or pay for fancy office space somewhere. But we are reinvesting in the business, and we’re deeply appreciative for subscribers who help make that possible"
This is the way.
And who cares about NBA basketball when we have Western civilization to preserve?
Note that the one time Wemby played the Thunder last season, they guarded him with robust "smalls" and he was largely ineffective and zoned out on offense (1 for 5 from the field, I believe) and maybe a little on defense. As the Spurs win more games, more opponents will experiment with this. Coaching adjustments are one of the things that make NBA postseason so unique. But even in the regular season there is experimentation that makes the long slog of 82 games more fun than it might be.