FanPost

Kobe doesn't shoot enough?

The MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (stat-geek convention) is going on this weekend, and several really interesting papers have been given. One presented today, by Matt Goldman and Justin Rao, takes into account the efficiency of a shooter and his team based on their taking shots at various points during the shot clock. The results? Most elite players undershoot, including our very own Kobe Bean Bryant (L.O., on the other hand, is one of the few overshooters).

Truehoop on ESPN mentioned it today, though the piece is mostly just full of speculation about what the study may or may not have accounted for. They don't want to accept the conclusion about Kobe specifically. Basically, they say "if x is true and y is true, then Kobe must be hurting the Lakers overall efficiency.

You can find a full copy of the paper here (it's not for the faint of heart; I have a PhD and it's still mostly gobbledygook to me). Unfortunately, it doesn't present very much data about specific players.