Im Still Ballin
07-31-2021, 06:14 PM
It doesn't tell us how and where a player scores. It's not going to give you a good understanding of a player's efficiency, situationally speaking. I find significant value for other statistics/metrics, such as:
- Play type stats
- Distance/heat map stats
- eFG%
- FT% (obviously)
TS% is a number we love to throw out on the internet -- especially guys like RRR3 -- because it's a summary of efficiency. We need to make sure that we understand it in the right context.
For example, here are some interesting TS% cases:
Jimmy Butler just had a 60.7 TS% season, despite being a terrible 3pt shooter, and mediocre midrange shooter. His TS% was so high because of 3 things:
- Efficient volume scoring in the paint
- Extremely high free throw rate
- Great free throw shooting
An efficient slasher, with fantastic free throw shooting, but horrendous perimeter shooting.
Another interesting TS% case: Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson:
Most people would assume that Larry Bird's career TS% would be higher than Magic's, because he's a great shooter. Well, they'd be wrong:
Larry Bird: 56.4 TS%
Magic Johnson: 61.0 TS%
Despite being a better free throw shooter, and a superior perimeter shooter, Magic smokes him. Why? Because Magic took less shots, limiting himself to only efficient paint points, and had a higher free throw rate.
There are other examples, but you get the idea.
Point of thread: TS% is not everything. We need to avoid simplistic takes that ignore the multifaceted, complex nuances of basketball. I see a lot of guys *cough* RRR3 *cough* that boil everything down to simply shooting and spacing. We shouldn't be surprised if LA with Westbrook turns out to be a success.
- Play type stats
- Distance/heat map stats
- eFG%
- FT% (obviously)
TS% is a number we love to throw out on the internet -- especially guys like RRR3 -- because it's a summary of efficiency. We need to make sure that we understand it in the right context.
For example, here are some interesting TS% cases:
Jimmy Butler just had a 60.7 TS% season, despite being a terrible 3pt shooter, and mediocre midrange shooter. His TS% was so high because of 3 things:
- Efficient volume scoring in the paint
- Extremely high free throw rate
- Great free throw shooting
An efficient slasher, with fantastic free throw shooting, but horrendous perimeter shooting.
Another interesting TS% case: Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson:
Most people would assume that Larry Bird's career TS% would be higher than Magic's, because he's a great shooter. Well, they'd be wrong:
Larry Bird: 56.4 TS%
Magic Johnson: 61.0 TS%
Despite being a better free throw shooter, and a superior perimeter shooter, Magic smokes him. Why? Because Magic took less shots, limiting himself to only efficient paint points, and had a higher free throw rate.
There are other examples, but you get the idea.
Point of thread: TS% is not everything. We need to avoid simplistic takes that ignore the multifaceted, complex nuances of basketball. I see a lot of guys *cough* RRR3 *cough* that boil everything down to simply shooting and spacing. We shouldn't be surprised if LA with Westbrook turns out to be a success.