So, what else can Google Motion Charts be used to visualize? Well, this application doesn’t actually *move*, but it does visualize a ton of point guard advanced statistics at once.
That’s quite a few advanced stats in one place! Play around with the chart and see what can be revealed. I have 4 player evaluation metrics here; my Advanced Statistical Plus/Minus (which is based on a statistical plus/minus framework, but using advanced stats and not a simple linear regression) along with my VORP formulation, John Hollinger‘s PER (which is an offensive metric only), Dean Oliver’s Offensive and Defensive Ratings, and Basketball Reference’s Win Shares. It’s informative to compare them, and to look at which inputs (like TS% or ORB%) are more valued by them.
As for the point guards–look at Rose and Westbrook. They’re just about clones! Also, note Rondo’s defense and Nash’s offense.
Enjoy!
Glossary Table:
| # | Label | Meaning | More Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Player | Player name | |
| 2 | Age | Age of player | |
| 3 | Tm | Team of player | |
| 4 | TS% | True Shooting % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 5 | eFG% | Effective Field Goal % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 6 | ORB% | Offensive Rebounding % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 7 | DRB% | Defensive Rebounding % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 8 | TRB% | Total Rebounding % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 9 | AST% | Assist % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 10 | STL% | Steal % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 11 | BLK% | Block % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 12 | TOV% | Turnover % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 13 | USG% | Usage % | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 14 | PER | PER | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 15 | ORtg | Offensive Rating | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 16 | DRtg | Defensive Rating | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 17 | OWS | Offensive Win Shares | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 18 | DWS | Defensive Win Shares | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 19 | WS | Win Shares | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 20 | WS/48 | Win Shares/48 minutes | see Basketball Reference Glossary |
| 21 | ASPM | Advanced Statistical Plus/Minus | |
| 22 | O ASPM | Offensive Advanced Statistical Plus/Minus | |
| 23 | D ASPM | Defensive Advanced Statistical Plus/Minus | |
| 24 | OVORP | Offensive Value over Replacement player | |
| 25 | DVORP | Defensive Value over Replacement Player | |
| 26 | VORP | Value over Replacement Player | |
| 27 | VORP-GM | Value over Replacement Player, in games played | |
| 28 | MPG | Minutes per Game |
What strikes me on the chart is how Rondo, Nash and Chris Paul are so distinct from the rest of the class in their usage and ast% habits.
Any reason Stephen Curry’s not on there?
I have him classified as a “combo guard” since that’s what BasketballValue has him as. This chart only has players listed as pure points.
Eventually I’ll fill in all the other positions!
Let me know what you think of using google motion charts. My not-very-involved opinion is that they are fun for playing with, but are kind of a pain considering they don’t add much information. More of a tool to use when exploring data than something that adds new data. I’m trying R for some DT posts in the pipeline, but its a little obscure in the documentation. They tell you WHAT everything is, but rarely have I found a simple explanation of HOW to do something.
Yeah, R is tough to learn. I really haven’t gotten into it so far, though I’m looking into learning more.
Google motion charts are the only chart setup I have seen that can show 4 or even 5 dimensions of data simultaneously. It’s exceptionally good as an interactive charting tool, and quite easy to implement on a website, if you can inject the required code into the header. On my newest charts, I’m pulling the data directly from a Google Spreadsheet, rather than embedding it in the header–thus cleaning up the html considerably.
I like them a lot.
I’ll have to give them a try.