Weekly Chart Dump
Short and Sweet. More on then-and-now, and more on L2M
Hello folks! I’m going to be short this week since I’ve been a bit under the weather over the weekend + today, I even missed out on a bunch of games that happened since I couldn’t concentrate properly.
Today I’ll just quickly write about the charts that didn’t make the cut for my latest post (maybe that one knocked me off of my feet):
Change of Jump Shot Locations
I was exploring a way to approach the thought process behind the changes in jump shots through the most frequent bins on the court, but in the end decided to explain that change through different images and videos for both centers and guards.
Unassisted Jump Shots
But this chart is still quite good, and maybe even better than my real explanation, but I just couldn’t place it both in the same text in a way that would make sense.
Anyway, this chart makes it clear that shot creators still operate in that short mid-range as I’ve mentioned, with a lot more bins inside the paint, that would still be at the same distance as baseline jumpers - more-less. But the elbow isolations have turned into above-the-break 3-pointers (at the 45 degree). The players nowadays are practicing those shots more often than before, and they can comfortably pull from a dribble. There surely were players in the early 2000s who could’ve boasted a similar shot chart for themselves, but the entire setup of the game was simply different.
Assisted Jump Shots
This one is also really neat. It shows that sharpshooters were shooting a big amount of 3-pointers back then already. But the thing with this chart was that I couldn't conceptualize it as well as where the change came from. In the end, mostly centers and forwards shot those baseline jumpers, so I felt like other charts showed that better. Those shots turned into the corner 3s, while the elbow shots stretched out to the 3-point line.
Top locations for unassisted makes by top-40 scorers
Another attempt to contextualize the spacing impact was to take a look at where top-40 players attack from back then and in today’s game. The result was pretty simple. Players pack the paint today, and attack either from there or from the 3-point line. There is only one single bin outside of the ATB-3 zone and paint in the ongoing season!
Number of incorrect calls from L2M report through the years
I posted the chart from last week’s chart dump to Twitter and it blew up big time. Most of the replies, quotes, and comments overall are of course about the unfairness and general silliness that I expected. But there were some good questions.
One of the comments asked for this chart - to see how the 2023-24 season stacks up with previous seasons. We currently have the least errors compared across all seasons in the past, at least at this point in the season. But given how the trend is going, this season might end up with the least L2M errors in its entire existence.
Here is a year-by-year breakdown as well. It’s now quite apparent that the refereeing trend has changed throughout the season, and in my opinion, the games have been thoroughly enjoyable!
That’s all for this short edition, have a nice week until the next one!