APBRmetrics :: View topic - Standardizing Team Abbreviations

APBRmetrics
The statistical revolution will not be televised.

FAQ

Memberlist

Usergroups

Profile

Standardizing Team Abbreviations
Goto page Previous 1, 2

APBRmetrics Forum Index -> General discussion

View previous topic :: View next topic

Author

Message

HoopStudies

Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 705
Location: Near Philadelphia, PA

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:14 pm Post subject:

(I knew this wouldn't be "easy", but easier than some of the other standardization stuff.) Basically, I sense that PHX is winning out of PHO. The fact that PHX is on their uniform is kind of a big one. That one is also pretty standard with the NBA, as opposed to some others (SAN vs SAS bugs me, PHL, UTH, and GOS are seemingly out of nowhere). Other than that, we haven't really narrowed down usage. I like Robert's list for reference, but I don't like the idea of adopting it. A big thing is that I'd like to just see it separated out by league -- use the same abbreviation in different leagues. I think we can use MIN for both the T-wolves and the Minnesota Fillies of the WBL because they are different leagues. That doesn't cause the stretching for abbreviations that is done here. That allows CHA to be the Charlotte Hornets and CHB to be the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA. Or it allows CHH to be the Hornets and CHA to be the Bobcats. But with all those non-NBA Chicago failures, it makes things much more complex. All I'm hoping for in the end is a list that is relatively more used so that I can make one conversion of my data. _________________ Dean Oliver Author, Basketball on Paper The postings are my own & don't necess represent positions, strategies or opinions of employers.

gabefarkas

Joined: 31 Dec 2004
Posts: 1313
Location: Durham, NC

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject: Re: Standardizing Team Abbreviations

HoopStudies wrote:

PHO vs PHX
WAS vs WAZ for the Wizards
WAB vs WAS vs WSB for the Bullets
SAN vs SAS
NOR vs NOH

Before putting my foot in my mouth, I looked at the last data set I threw in to SPSS, and saw that I had used PHX, TRN, UTA, CHA (for the Hornets), WAS, and SAN.

The only one I surprised myself with was TRN, as instinctively I think of TOR as the obvious choice.

PHX seems to be the snazzier/flashier choice, as any abbreviation that uses a letter worth 5+ points in Scrabble instantly makes it that much cooler.

The other one I would take issue with is CHH for the Hornets and CHA for the Bobcats. In my mind, it should be CHA and CHB, respectively.

In general, I feel like the acronym should by default be the first three letters of the city (eg, UTA, SAN, MIA, ORL, CHI, PHI, etc) for the first or most prominent/noteworthy/commonly-mentioned team from a particular city. Then, if there are other teams in the same city, their abbreviations should be modified accordingly. My Hornets/Bobcats example would fall under this rule.

Ed Küpfer

Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 785
Location: Toronto

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject:

HoopStudies wrote:

All I'm hoping for in the end is a list that is relatively more used so that I can make one conversion of my data.

I'll take a first crack at this. I'll use Robert's list as my basis, since he appears to have listed every pro hoops team in North America.

My buddy, a database guy, tells me the first thing to do is assign a unique ID to every franchise. A franchise can move from city to city, league to league. I don't know what the limits of franchisedom are, but most are pretty straightforward. Each franchise gets an numerical ID — this to remove ambiguity. After franchise IDs are assigned, team abbreviations can be assigned. The standardisation of the latter will have to wait until the former is finished. I'll begin now by listing all ABA and NBL/BAA/NBA teams with my franchise IDs. I pretty sure about these but I'd appreciate if someone with the knowledge could look it over and point out errors, specifically if I've grouped teams together under a single franchise code when in fact they were two separate franchises, or if I've separated a single franchise into two or more groups.

Code:

Team League FranchiseID
Boston Celtics BAA/NBA 1

Chicago Stags BAA/NBA 2

Cleveland Rebels BAA 3

Detroit Falcons BAA 4

New York Knickerbockers BAA/NBA 5

Philadelphia Warriors BAA/NBA 6
Golden State Warriors NBA 6
San Francisco Warriors NBA 6

Pittsburgh Ironmen BAA 7

Providence Steamrollers BAA 8

St. Louis Bombers BAA/NBA 9

Toronto Huskies BAA 10

Washington Capitals BAA/NBA 11

Baltimore Bullets ABL/BAA/NBA 12

Detroit Pistons NBA 13
Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons/Fort Wayne Pistons NBL/BAA/NBA 13

Indianapolis Kautskys/Indianapolis Jets NBL/BAA 14

Los Angeles Lakers NBA 15
Minneapolis Lakers NBL/BAA/NBA 15

Cincinnati Royals NBA 16
Kansas City Kings NBA 16
Kansas City-Omaha Kings NBA 16
Sacramento Kings NBA 16
Rochester Royals NBL/BAA/NBA 16

Anderson Duffey Packers/Anderson Packers NBL/NBA/NPBL 17

Denver Nuggets NBL/NBA/NPBL 18

Indianapolis Olympians NBA 19

Sheboygan Redskins NBL/NBA/NPBL 20

Philadelphia 76ers NBA 21
Syracuse Nationals NBL/NBA 21

Atlanta Hawks NBA 22
Milwaukee Hawks NBA 22
St. Louis Hawks NBA 22
Tri-City Blackhawks/Tri-Cities Blackhawks NBA/NBA 22
Buffalo Bisons NBA/NBA 22

Waterloo Hawks NBL/NBA/NPBL 23

Baltimore Bullets NBA 24
Capital Bullets NBA 24
Chicago Packers/Zephyrs NBA 24
Washington Bullets/Wizards NBA 24

Chicago Bulls NBA 25

Houston Rockets NBA 26
San Diego Rockets NBA 26

Seattle Supersonics NBA 27

Milwaukee Bucks NBA 28

Phoenix Suns NBA 29

Buffalo Braves NBA 30
Los Angeles Clippers NBA 30
San Diego Clippers NBA 30

Cleveland Cavaliers NBA 31

Portland Trailblazers NBA 32

New Orleans Jazz NBA 33
Utah Jazz NBA 33

Denver Rockets/Nuggets ABA/NBA 34

Indiana Pacers ABA/NBA 35

New Jersey Americans ABA 36
New York Nets ABA/NBA 36
New Jersey Nets NBA 36

Texas Chaparrals ABA 37
San Antonio Spurs ABA/NBA 37
Dallas Chaparrals NBA 37

Dallas Mavericks NBA 38

Charlotte Hornets NBA 39
New Orleans Hornets NBA 39

Miami Heat NBA 40

Minnesota Timberwolves NBA 41

Orlando Magic NBA 42

Toronto Raptors NBA 43

Memphis Grizzlies NBA 44
Vancouver Grizzlies NBA 44

Charlotte Bobcats NBA 45

Anaheim Amigos ABA 46
Los Angeles Stars ABA 46
Utah Stars ABA 46

Carolina Cougars ABA 47
Houston Mavericks ABA 47
Spirits of St. Louis ABA 47

Oakland Oaks ABA 49
Virginia Squires ABA 49
Washington Caps ABA 49

San Diego Conquistadors/Sails ABA 53

Kentucky Colonels ABA 96

New Orleans Buccaneers ABA 97
Baltimore Claws ABA 97
Memphis Pros/Memphis Tams/Memphis Sounds ABA 97

Minnesota Pipers ABA 98
Pittsburgh Pipers/Pittsburgh Condors ABA 98

Miami Floridians ABA 99
The Floridians ABA 99
Minnesota Muskies NBA 99

I'm pretty sure about most of those. The next list is the teams about which I have no idea. Were the Akron Firestone Non-Skids and Akron Goodyear Wingfoots two different franchises or the same? Hoe about the Long Beach Chiefs and Long Beach Stingrays? Were the Tri-City Blackhawks the same franchise as the Buffalo Bisons? No idea. My knowledge in this area is embarrasingly inadequate. Robert, could you look at these and group the teams that were the same franchise? I've separated the display into the different leagues:

Code:

Team League FranchiseID

Akron Firestone Non-Skids NBL 100
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots NBL 101
Buffalo Bisons NBL 102
Chicago Bruins NBL 103
Cleveland Allmen Transfers NBL 104
Cleveland Chase Brass NBL 105
Cleveland White Horses NBL 106
Chicago Studebaker Flyers NBL 107
Detroit Eagles NBL 108
Detroit Gems NBL 109
Detroit Vagabond Kings NBL 110
Dayton Metros NBL 111
Dayton Rens NBL 112
Hammond Ciesar All-Americans NBL 113
Hammond Calumet Buccaneers NBL 114
Kankakee Gallagher Trojans NBL 115
Pittsburgh Pirates NBL 116
Pittsburgh Raiders NBL 117
Toledo Jim White Chevrolets NBL 118
Toledo Jeeps NBL 119
Warren Penns NBL 120
Whiting Ciesar All-Americans NBL 121
Coumbus Athletic Supply NBL 122
Fort Wayne General Electrics NBL 123
Midland Dow A.C.'s/Flint Dow A.C.'s NBL 124
Oshkosh All-Americans NBL 125
Richmond King Clothiers/Cincinnati Comellos NBL 126
Youngstown Bears (NBL) NBL 127

Chicago Bruins ABL 200
Philadelphia Warriors ABL 201
Oakland Oaks ABL 202
Atlanta Glory ABL 203
Buffalo Germans ABL 204
Brooklyn Arcadians ABL 205
Brooklyn Celtics ABL 206
Brooklyn Visitations ABL 207
Boston Whirlwinds ABL 208
Baltimore Orioles ABL 209
Chicago Condors ABL 210
Chicago Majors ABL 211
Cleveland Pipers ABL 212
Columbus Quest ABL 213
Colorado Explosion ABL 214
Cleveland Rosenblums ABL 215
Detroit Pulaski Post Five ABL 216
Detroit Cardinals ABL 217
Detroit Lions ABL 218
East Liverpool Panthers ABL 219
Fort Wayne Caseys ABL 220
Fort Wayne Hoosiers ABL 221
Hawaii Chiefs ABL 222
Kansas City Steers ABL 223
Los Angeles Jets ABL 224
Long Beach Chiefs ABL 225
Long Beach Stingrays ABL 226
New England Blizzard ABL 227
Nashville Noise ABL 228
New York Celtics ABL 229
New York Hakoahs ABL 230
Paterson Crescents ABL 231
Paterson Whirlwinds ABL 232
Philadelphia Phillies ABL 233
Philadelphia Rage ABL 234
Philadelphia Tapers ABL 235
Pittsburgh Rens ABL 236
Portland Power ABL 237
Rochester Centrals ABL 238
Richmond Rage ABL 239
Syracuse All-Americans ABL 240
Seattle Reign ABL 241
San Francisco Saints ABL 242
San Jose Lasers ABL 243
Trenton Bengals ABL 244
Toledo Red Man Tobaccos ABL 245
Washington Taper/New York Tapers ABL 246
Washington Palace Five ABL 247

Evansville Agogans NPBL 301
Grand Rapids Hornets NPBL 302
Kansas City Hi-Spots NPBL 303
Louisville Alumnites NPBL 304
St. Paul Lights NPBL 305

Chicago American Gears/Chicago Gears NBL/PBLA 300
Houston Mavericks PBLA 306
Atlanta Crackers PBLA 307
Birmingham Skyhawks PBLA 308
Chattanooga Majors PBLA 309
Grand Rapids Rangers PBLA 310
Kansas City Blues PBLA 311
Louisville Colonels PBLA 312
New Orleans Hurricanes PBLA 313
Oklahoma City Drillers PBLA 314
Omaha Tomahawks PBLA 315
St. Joseph Outlaws PBLA 316
Springfield Squires PBLA 317
St. Paul Saints PBLA 318
Tulsa Rangers PBLA 319
Waterloo Pro-Hawks PBLA 320

California Dreams WBL 400
Chicago Hustle WBL 401
Dallas Diamonds WBL 402
Dayton Rockettes WBL 403
Houston Angels WBL 404
Iowa Cornets WBL 405
Milwaukee Does WBL 406
Minnesota Fillies WBL 407
Nebraska Wranglers WBL 408
New England Gulls WBL 409
New Orleans Pride WBL 410
New Jersey Gems WBL 411
New York Stars WBL 412
Philadelphia Fox WBL 413
San Francisco Pioneers WBL 414
St. Louis Streak WBL 415
Washington Metros WBL 416

Charlotte Sting WNBA 500
Cleveland Rockers WNBA 501
Detroit Shock WNBA 502
Houston Comets WNBA 503
Los Angeles Sparks WNBA 504
Minnesota Lynx WNBA 505
New York Liberty WNBA 506
Orlando Miracle WNBA 507
Phoenix Mercury WNBA 508
Sacramento Monarchs WNBA 509
Utah Starzz WNBA 510
Washington Mystics WNBA 511

_________________
ed

HoopStudies

Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 705
Location: Near Philadelphia, PA

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 7:44 pm Post subject:

Ed Küpfer wrote:

HoopStudies wrote:

All I'm hoping for in the end is a list that is relatively more used so that I can make one conversion of my data.

I'll take a first crack at this. I'll use Robert's list as my basis, since he appears to have listed every pro hoops team in North America.

Not true, unfortunately. The IBL, the new ABA, the CBA, the D-League are missing.

Ed Küpfer wrote:

My buddy, a database guy, tells me the first thing to do is assign a unique ID to every franchise. A franchise can move from city to city, league to league. I don't know what the limits of franchisedom are, but most are pretty straightforward. Each franchise gets an numerical ID — this to remove ambiguity. After franchise IDs are assigned, team abbreviations can be assigned. The standardisation of the latter will have to wait until the former is finished. I'll begin now by listing all ABA and NBL/BAA/NBA teams with my franchise IDs. I pretty sure about these but I'd appreciate if someone with the knowledge could look it over and point out errors, specifically if I've grouped teams together under a single franchise code when in fact they were two separate franchises, or if I've separated a single franchise into two or more groups.

DeanL has assigned franchise IDs. I didn't want to deal yet with franchises, but since you put one out there, let me put out one that is already in place (for NBA teams only):

Code:

TeamCode FranchiseNumber FranchiseSequence TeamName Nickname StateCode FirstYear LastYear
AND 17 1 Anderson Packers IN 1950 1950
ATL 22 4 Atlanta Hawks GA 1969
BAB 12 1 Baltimore Bullets MD 1948 1955
BAL 24 3 Baltimore Bullets MD 1964 1973
BOS 1 1 Boston Celtics MA 1947
BUF 30 1 Buffalo Braves NY 1971 1978
CAP 24 4 Capital Bullets DC 1974 1974
CHA 39 1 Charlotte Hornets NC 1988 2002
CHB 45 1 Charlotte Bobcats NC 2004
CHI 25 1 Chicago Bulls IL 1967
CHP 24 1 Chicago Packers IL 1962 1962
CHS 2 1 Chicago Stags IL 1947 1950
CHZ 24 2 Chicago Zephyrs IL 1963 1963
CIN 16 2 Cincinnati Royals OH 1958 1972
CLE 31 1 Cleveland Cavaliers OH 1971
CLR 3 1 Cleveland Rebels OH 1947 1947
DAL 38 1 Dallas Mavericks TX 1981
DEN 34 1 Denver Nuggets CO 1977
DET 13 2 Detroit Pistons MI 1958
DNN 18 1 Denver Nuggets CO 1950 1950
DTF 4 1 Detroit Falcons MI 1947 1947
FTW 13 1 Ft. Wayne Pistons IN 1949 1957
GS 6 3 Golden State Warriors CA 1972
HOU 26 2 Houston Rockets TX 1972
IND 35 1 Indiana Pacers IN 1977
INJ 14 1 Indianapolis Jets IN 1949 1949
INO 19 1 Indianapolis Olympians IN 1950 1953
KCK 16 4 Kansas City Kings MO 1976 1985
KCO 16 3 Kansas City-Omaha Kings NE 1973 1975
LAC 30 3 Los Angeles Clippers CA 1985
LAK 15 2 Los Angeles Lakers CA 1961
MEM 44 2 Memphis Grizzlies TN 2002
MIA 40 1 Miami Heat FL 1988
MIH 22 2 Milwaukee Hawks WI 1952 1955
MIL 28 1 Milwaukee Bucks WI 1969
MIN 41 1 Minnesota Timberwolves MN 1990
MNL 15 1 Minneapolis Lakers MN 1949 1960
NJ 36 2 New Jersey Nets NJ 1978
NOH 39 2 New Orleans Hornets La 2003
NOJ 33 1 New Orleans Jazz LA 1975 1979
NY 5 1 New York Knickerbockers NY 1947
NYN 36 1 New York Nets NY 1977 1977
ORL 42 1 Orlando Magic FL 1990
PHI 21 2 Philadelphia 76ers PA 1964
PHW 6 1 Philadelphia Warriors PA 1947 1962
PHX 29 1 Phoenix Suns AZ 1969
PIT 7 1 Pittsburgh Ironmen PA 1947 1947
POR 32 1 Portland TrailBlazers OR 1971
PRO 8 1 Providence Steamrollers RI 1947 1949
ROC 16 1 Rochester Royals NY 1949 1957
SAC 16 5 Sacramento Kings CA 1986
SAN 37 1 San Antonio Spurs TX 1977
SDC 30 2 San Diego Clippers CA 1979 1984
SDI 26 1 San Diego Rockets CA 1968 1971
SEA 27 1 Seattle SuperSonics WA 1968
SFW 6 2 San Francisco Warriors CA 1963 1971
SHE 20 1 Sheboygan Redskins WI 1950 1950
SLB 9 1 St. Louis Bombers MO 1947 1950
STL 22 3 St. Louis Hawks MO 1956 1968
SYR 21 1 Syracuse Nationals NY 1950 1963
TOR 10 1 Toronto Huskies CN 1947 1947
TRI 22 1 Tri-Cities Blackhawks IA 1950 1951
TRN 43 1 Toronto Raptors ON 1995
UTA 33 2 Utah Jazz UT 1980
VAN 44 1 Vancouver Grizzlies BC 1995 2001
WAS 24 5 Washington Bullets DC 1975 1997
WAT 23 1 Waterloo Hawks IA 1950 1950
WAZ 24 6 Washington Wizards DC 1998
WCP 11 1 Washington Capitols DC 1947 1951

But I'd rather stay away from this topic and deal just with abbreviations first.
_________________
Dean Oliver
Author, Basketball on Paper
The postings are my own & don't necess represent positions, strategies or opinions of employers.

Ed Küpfer

Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 785
Location: Toronto

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject:

HoopStudies wrote:

DeanL has assigned franchise IDs. I didn't want to deal yet with franchises, but since you put one out there, let me put out one that is already in place (for NBA teams only):

That's where I got my FranchiseIDs. They should be the same.

HoopStudies wrote:

But I'd rather stay away from this topic and deal just with abbreviations first.

I think the Franchise question has to be answered. How should we abbreviate the Denver Nuggets (NBA)? How about the Denver Nuggets (ABA)? And the Denver Nuggets (NBL)? The first two are the same frinchise, two different leagues. The first and the third are two different franchises, same league. Should the Nuggets NBA/ABA be two different abbreviations? Personally, I think each franchise/city/league combination should be unique, but if not, then a franchise ID solves problems.

There are other questions solved easily through my unique Franchise ID proposal. When VAN went to MEM, they chang abbreviations, but retain IDs. If you need a summary of the franchise over time, instead of adding MEM+VAN, you just sum the numbers for the FranchiseID.

I'm going away for the weeked, but when I get back I'll assemble a conversion table. Perhaps a vote will settle the question of which abbreviations we use for "formal" purposes (I agree with KevinP to stick to official NBA usage as much as possible, but older teams we'll have to come up with from scratch.) For informal purposes, I think standardisation is a pipe dream, but in other cases, say where we have to put in some real work on a study, it makes sense to standardise.
_________________
ed

gabefarkas

Joined: 31 Dec 2004
Posts: 1313
Location: Durham, NC

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:21 pm Post subject:

Regarding your Denver Nuggets example, I think a certain amount of information should be implied from context. For instance, if you're writing about some stats from, say, the 1971-72 season, then the abbreviation DEN would imply the ABA franchise. If you're writing an article about highest scoring teams of the 80s, then the NBA franchise would be implied. Does that make sense?

Bobster

Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Posts: 73
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:07 am Post subject:

Ed Küpfer wrote:

HoopStudies wrote:

All I'm hoping for in the end is a list that is relatively more used so that I can make one conversion of my data.

I'll take a first crack at this. I'll use Robert's list as my basis, since he appears to have listed every pro hoops team in North America.

I'm pretty sure about most of those. The next list is the teams about which I have no idea. Were the Akron Firestone Non-Skids and Akron Goodyear Wingfoots two different franchises or the same? Hoe about the Long Beach Chiefs and Long Beach Stingrays? Were the Tri-City Blackhawks the same franchise as the Buffalo Bisons? No idea. My knowledge in this area is embarrasingly inadequate. Robert, could you look at these and group the teams that were the same franchise?

i should have mentioned that the list was a couple years old - and needed some updating.

the firestones and goodyears were two seperate franchises run by the rival rubber and tire companies.

the tri-city club did start the season in buffalo.

anyway, i just thought i'd throw the list out there, just in case someone could use bits and pieces of it.
_________________
Robert Bradley
Association for Professional Basketball Research
http://www.APBR.org

Mike G

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 3564
Location: Hendersonville, NC

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:49 am Post subject:

admin wrote:

I just don't see how this is our call to make; the NBA has set forth abbreviations (with some confusion), and they are certain letters and they are capitalized. If we didn't like the name "Toronto Raptors," would we just go and call them by another name?

I've heard 'em called 'Craptors'. Back around 1990, an Indy TV station allowed the sports guy to show "Portland 145, Enver 115" (No D, get it?)

The NBA keeps changing the abbreviations, teams move from city to city, expansion happens. What the NBA has 'set forth' doesn't help anything, unless every year we want to go thru this again. And I doubt what we decide ever becomes anything 'official'.

The all-caps nightmare seems to have begun with the Postal Service going to standard 2-letter abbreviations for the states (in the '70s?). This isn't a big deal, because (excepting RI), they're all one-word 'acronyms'. Thus no information is lost.

How many of these old franchises can you identify from these abbrevs.?:

ATC
BAC
BFB
BIR
DTE
FTW
INO
MIF
ROC
YNG

Now scroll down and try.

AtC
BaC
BfB
Bir
DtE
FtW
InO
MiF
Roc
Yng
_________________
`
36% of all statistics are wrong

HoopStudies

Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 705
Location: Near Philadelphia, PA

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:56 pm Post subject:

Ed Küpfer wrote:

HoopStudies wrote:

DeanL has assigned franchise IDs. I didn't want to deal yet with franchises, but since you put one out there, let me put out one that is already in place (for NBA teams only):

That's where I got my FranchiseIDs. They should be the same.

HoopStudies wrote:

But I'd rather stay away from this topic and deal just with abbreviations first.

I think all 3 can be DEN because they are different franchise/city/league combos. I just have a league field and that takes care of a lot. If DEN of the NBL is listed with the "league" field as "NBL" I don't run into problems.

Ed Küpfer wrote:

There are other questions solved easily through my unique Franchise ID proposal. When VAN went to MEM, they chang abbreviations, but retain IDs. If you need a summary of the franchise over time, instead of adding MEM+VAN, you just sum the numbers for the FranchiseID.

I like DeanL's design on this where he has sequencenumber on franchise moves, too.

But my focus has to, well, get where I think we are going. Modify DeanL's abbreviations a little and get some more consistency.
_________________
Dean Oliver
Author, Basketball on Paper
The postings are my own & don't necess represent positions, strategies or opinions of employers.

mtamada

Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 376

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:11 pm Post subject:

HoopStudies wrote:

Ed Küpfer wrote:

I vote for DeanO's (DEANO's?) idea: call them all DEN, with the understanding that to completely identify a team, one needs to also know the league and season, to avoid the Denver Nuggets NBL/ABA/NBA confusion. The result is abbreviations that are usually easy to use and remember. Studies which go back many years or across leagues will have to be careful, due to the multiple Denver, Chicago, etc. teams but most of our studies are on relatively recent years and on one or two leagues.

Ed Küpfer wrote:

The franchise id is a good idea but I think should be kept separate from the abbreviation question. Partly because the abbreviation question is then easier to answer. The franchise IDs could then be tackled next.

BTW, DeanO's original list failed to included the New Orleans Jazz. Somebody else's list included them, with what I presume we'd all agree is the obvious abbreviation: NOJ.

Even without the franchise IDs to worry about, there will still be the issue of what to do if the NBA changes abbreviations, as with PHO into PHX. I think all we can do is choose a good abbreviation and stick with it; we will have to have "crosswalk" or "concordance" tables which match the NBA's varying abbreviations with our constant ones.

Oh, and here's my vote for the Charlotte situation. Although CHA seems natural for the original Charlotte Hornets, as time passes and the Charlotte Hornets fade into history, it will make less sense to give them the "prime" abbreviation of CHA. So CHA should either go to the Charlotte Bobcats, or if we're not optimistic about their long-term survival or tenure, then we should give them CHB and give CHH to the Charlotte Hornets, and not give CHA to either franchise.

Display posts from previous:

	APBRmetrics Forum Index -> General discussion	All times are GMT - 5 Hours Goto page Previous 1, 2
Page 2 of 2

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum