statistical shift in the NBA

Just got finished reading one of the most fascinating articles I've read in quite some time. The NY Times story is about NBA player Shane Battier (formerly of Duke and now playing with the Houston Rockets) and how the Rockets management is now crunching stats in the same way that much of baseball (famously, Theo Epstein) does.

Eye-opening in this piece are the stats of Kobe Bryant, whom Battier has famously kept off-balance in their last few encounters. For instance, how 'bout this: "Since the 2002-03 season, Bryant has taken 51 3-pointers at the very end of close games from farther than 26.75 feet from the basket. He had missed 86.3 percent of them."

And, in this number-crunching manner, Shane Battier, averaging a meager 6.1 points per game this year, is one of the best players in the NBA. Seriously.

For sports fans, this is a must read. I kid you not, 10 years from now the basketball landscape will look much like baseball statistically-speaking, affecting not only how games are analyzed, but how teams are built and trades are made.