Saturday, February 8, 2014

The best teams don't need second chances

Two things you would think successful NBA teams do well is score second chance points and have a high effective field goal percentage (a measure that takes into account the value of three point shots). I took team data from NBA Stats as of February 7th's games and plotted second chance points (vertical axis) against effective FG % (horizontal axis), and captured each team's winning percentage based on the size of the red circle (the bigger the circle equals the greater the win % for each team). The chart presents some evidence that the best teams don't really rely on second chances but are very effective shooters (in terms of eFG%). The exception being the Portland Trailblazers, who benefit from LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez, who average the 9th and 15th, respectively, most second change points per game this season. Of course, bad teams, like the Bucks and Celtics, do both poorly.

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