The topic of analytics is a divisive subject in the sporting world, particularly when it comes to basketball. Those of us who embrace the movement (reminder: we’re called numberFire for a reason) see how the metrics correlate with what we are able to see with our peepers a large majority of the time, and we're therefore able to put a lot of trust in what the numbers tell us.
Even people who are vehemently against the growing use of analytics in sport would have a hard time denying that players who top the leaderboards in a given metric - particularly the most popular one-number iterations like player efficiency rating (PER) and win shares (WS) – tend to be the same players that the general, non-number-trusting public vote into All-Star games and whose jerseys they buy and wear. In the end, we argue a lot, but we at least tend to agree that great players are great.
Sometimes, however, there are anomalies that climb the ranks in advanced metrics – players who aren't necessarily household names, but still manage to sit right alongside them on the leaderboards.
The shot chart shown above (developed by Austin Clemens for Nylon Calculus) denotes shot volume with the size of the spots on the floor (big spots equals high volume), and has a color scale from dark red (way above average success rate) to dark blue (way below). Put simply, Wright took a lot of his shot attempts at the rim and made them at a scorching hot rate. Of his 331 total field goal attempts on the year, 240 of them (72.5%) came from within five feet of the basket. On those attempts, he shot a downright ridiculous 76.7%. His overall field goal percentage of 67.7% and true shooting percentage (weighted twos, threes, and free throws) of 69.5% would’ve both led the league if he had qualified.
Advanced metrics in basketball focus heavily on efficiency, so it’s no surprise to see Wright benefit from just sticking to what he does well. In fact, his offensive rating (estimated points produced per 100 possessions) of 135, according to basketball-reference.com, would have also led the league – you guessed it – if he had played enough games or minutes to qualify. Keeping the 1,000-minute floor in mind, he also ranked well in block percentage (4.2%, 9th in the league and ahead of Andre Drummond and Dwight Howard), rebound percentage (13.1%, 33rd), and turnover rate (8.5%, 9th). Combine all those things and you get one of the highest rated players in basketball across the board.
The Dallas Mavericks reloaded this summer and look poised to contend in a competitive Western Conference. A lot of attention will be paid to the new players coming in and how they’ll mesh with Dirk and Monta, but keep an eye on Brandan Wright. He won’t stand out too much, but he might very well be the one quietly and efficiently making a difference.