Oct 15, 2021; Miami, Florida, USA; Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) dribbles the ball around Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) during the second half at FTX Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports The halfway point of the 2022 NBA Playoffs provides an opportunity to analyze the play of the four remaining teams
Nylon Calculus
Can the positive or negative tone of Reddit posts helps us find the saltiest NBA fanbase after wins, losses and more? Which fanbases are the most insufferable? On the other hand, which fanbases suffer the most? Which fanbases find the most joy in their team, and which fanbases simply don’t care? Of course, we know
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Clutch statistics, both for teams and players, are notoriously unreliable as predictors of future outcomes. They come with the requisite noise of small sample size, the context and style
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Last week on The Whiteboard, I began the annual exercise of examining the offensive style of each team using the same NBA offensive style charts I’ve been building for
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Last week on The Whiteboard, I began the annual exercise of examining the offensive style of each team using the same NBA offensive style charts I’ve been building for
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. In yesterday’s installment of The Whiteboard, I began the annual exercise of examining the offensive style of each team using the same NBA offensive style charts I’ve been building
For much of the regular season, the Milwaukee Bucks have avoided the national spotlight. They begin their campaign for a second-consecutive championship on Sunday against the Chicago Bulls, and the numbers say they’re just as good as last year. Less than nine months ago the Milwaukee Bucks secured the franchise’s second championship and first in
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. As the end of the NBA season approaches playoff and award races are narrowing. In the case of MVP, that latest straw poll at ESPN indicates that we’re likely
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. On the surface, the most obvious link between the 60-point games for Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyrie Irving this week was their 3-point shooting — 7-of-11 for Towns, 8-of-12 for
The play-in tournament offers a chance for teams currently in the NBA Draft Lottery to make the playoffs and maybe even pull off an upset. Who is primed for a run? With the NBA playoffs fast approaching, there are teams in both conferences that could make a late-season push for the play-in tournament and the
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Another night. Another win for the Golden State Warriors. Another rough shooting night for Steph Curry. He finished 18 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists in a 38-point blowout
Seth Partnow, author and former Director of Basketball Research for the Milwaukee Bucks, spoke with FanSided about his new book, The Midrange Theory. Last month saw the release of Seth Partnow’s new book, The Midrange Theory. Throughout the book, Partnow, the former director of basketball research for the Milwaukee Bucks, explores the evolution of basketball
Every NBA team’s offensive style is in a constant state of evolution. Which teams have undergone the biggest changes this season? Last week, I took a first look at the offensive style for every team in the league this season, using offensive style charts. I’ve used these charts for the past few seasons as a way
Here is a look at how each NBA team uses shot selection, ball movement, player movement and pace to try and create offensive efficiency. Every team has the same goal on offense — score as many points as possible. But every team goes about that in a different way, using different patterns of movement, different
The Villanova Wildcats have lost their All-American point guard and don’t really have a replacement — do they have any hope in the Tournament? Collin Gillespie has been the heart and soul of Villanova over the past two seasons. The senior guard started every game since his sophomore year and finished first and second on
The Houston Rockets have several solid veterans who will draw interest at the trade deadline. How could they flip them for long-term value? The Houston Rockets are likely to be very active at the NBA Trade Deadline. They’ve slipped, significantly, in the standings and the playoffs are a pipe dream at this point. They’re also
James Harden became a 35-point scorer whenever Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook sat, flashing glimpses of his future stardom. Nearly a decade ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder traded away James Harden, a future MVP in only his third season, for Kevin Martin, rookie Jeremy Lamb, two future first-round picks (Steven Adams and Mitch McGary), and
It’s time to put aside the Stephen Curry comparisons for good. Trae Young is a uniquely talented offensive player but in the James Harden mold. The comparisons to Steph Curry started even before Trae Young officially declared for the NBA Draft. His slight built, flashy handle and propensity for pulling up off the dribble at
The Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans have leveraged superstar trades into a huge number of draft picks. But how far ahead of the pack are they? The past two years have seen a succession of enormous, superstar trades in the NBA, with Anthony Davis, Paul George, Russell Westbrook (twice), Chris Paul
By adding James Harden to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Nets have assembled a historically unique Big 3. As the situation with the Houston Rockets unraveled in the past few days, the Brooklyn Nets swooped in and pulled off an enormous trade to land James Harden. They gave up an enormous amount of
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