Tag Archives: NBA

NBA Role Players: Do They Actually Make a Difference? (Part 1)

Posted on March 7, 2013 by harvardsportsanalysis

By Ty Aderhold When one looks at the NBA, it is easy to see that it is a superstar-driven league.  Most experts will tell you it is almost impossible to win the championship without at least one superstar.[1] At the … Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Ohio Basketball Streaks: Which Was More Improbable?

Posted on February 16, 2011 by dadler3

By Arjun Modi and Daniel Adler Going into this past weekend, two Ohio basketball teams were streaking, but within just 24 hours, both streaks were over.  On Friday evening, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 26 game losing streak mercifully ended when they … Continue reading →

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One and Done: A Thing of the Past? An Analysis of the NBA First-Round Playoff Format

Posted on November 9, 2010 by wmcmillan

By Will McMillan In the middle of the 2002-2003 NBA season, the league made a decision to switch the first round of playoff series from a best-of-5 to best-of-7 format. This was a puzzling move at the time, with the … Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Predicting NBA Road Team Attendance: Do Marginal Fans Come to See the Home Team Lose?

Posted on November 8, 2010 by John Ezekowitz

By John Ezekowitz and Alex Koenig Before the start of the latest NBA season, NBA superfan and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons wrote a column ranking all NBA teams in order of “must-see.” Simmons has his personal definition of what makes … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, NBA Basketball | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Dunk: Fan Favorite, Winning Strategy?

Posted on October 19, 2010 by David Roher

By Alex Koenig and Michael Owen The Dunk is as elusive as it is tantalizing. It’s been described as the ultimate athletic feat, combining size, speed, agility and strength. And unlike hitting a hole in-one or throwing a tight spiral, … Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , | 23 Comments

Not a Post About LeBron…Sorta

Posted on July 9, 2010 by dadler3

Let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine that we still have a salary cap, but no maximum salary (similar to the NFL). Would LeBron, Bosh, and Wade be so willing to take A LOT less money to play together? True, they may sacrifice a couple million per season the way things stand now, but let’s say teams could offer as much of the cap as they wanted. Would LeBron pass up $45 million per year just to play with his buddies? How much does he really value winning/friendship/living in Tony Montana’s old house? Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Value of an NBA Playoff Seed

Posted on April 21, 2010 by David Roher

By David Roher More than half of the teams in the NBA make the playoffs year. This makes a lot of the drama at the season’s conclusion about seeds. Having a 3 instead of a 4 or a 6 instead … Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Where Every Team Is Above Average: Home-Field Advantage and its Effects on Revenue

Posted on March 7, 2010 by David Roher

By David Roher Had an incredible time at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference yesterday. I got to tell so many people how long I’d been reading their books and blogs, or how important they were to my becoming interested in … Continue reading →

Posted in MLB Baseball, NBA Basketball, NFL Football, NHL Hockey | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Jordan Eludes Defenders, and Three-Game Losing Streaks

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Ben Blatt

By Ben Blatt See the updated math below the original post. There’s no shortage of ways to describe Michael Jordan’s greatness. But here’s a particularly astonishing one: MJ was never part of a three-game losing streak from November 1990 until … Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , , , | 26 Comments

Short Man Syndrome: The Advantage of Being Short in the NBA Dunk Contest

Posted on February 14, 2010 by ncurran12

By Neil Curran Spud Webb over Dominique Wilkins. Jordan from the free throw line. Dwight Howard as Superman. The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is a place where legends are both made and made greater. It’s the appeal of the act … Continue reading →

Posted in NBA Basketball | Tagged , , | 6 Comments