The basic numbers for individuals

We've seen how to calculate team efficiency. Individual efficiency is a little dicier and less transparent. But by the same token, it's also a little more interesting, and there's more room to play. All stats in this post are individual stats unless otherwise noted.

Sometimes we need to normalize stats for minutes played, so we introduce percent-minutes (%min) and minutes-ratio:

%min = 100*(minutes played)/(minutes the team played)

min-ratio = (minutes played)/(minutes the team played)

Next we have to calculate individual players' possessions used. We use the same formula as for teams, except that we scale team offensive rebounds by (1) number of misses by the player in question, and (2) minutes played by the player in question. We get the following:

Poss = FGA + TO + .475*(FTA) - (Team OR)*(min-ratio)*(FGA-FGM)

We then ask who is using our team's possessions, and at what percentage? We introduce percent of possessions used (%poss):

%poss = poss/((team poss)*(min-ratio))

Next we proceed to scoring. We've already seen eFG and PPWS. Since we can estimate a player's possessions used, we may as well count points per possession (PPP):

PPP = Points/Possession

The other ways a player can end a possession are to turn the ball over:

TO-r = 100*(TO/Possession)

...or to go to the free-throw line (in which case we may as well go ahead and chart both how well he gets there, and how well he scores from there):

FTA-r = 100*(FTA/FGA)

FT-r = 100*(FT/FGA)

Rebounding is pretty straightforward, too. We want to know what percentage of rebounds a particular player grabbed out of those that were available when he was in the game. We chart offensive, defensive, and total rebounding rates.

OR-r = 100*(OR)/((Team OR + Opp DR)*(min-ratio))

DR-r = 100*(DR)/((Team DR + Opp OR)*(min-ratio))

TR-r = 100*(rebounds)/((Team rebounds + Opp rebounds)*(min-ratio))

Finally, we go to assists, steals, and blocks. Assist-rate (A-r) is number of assists a player recorded as a percentage of buckets that were made while he was in the game:

A-r = 100*Assists/((Team FG)*(min-ratio))

Steal-rate (S-r) is number of steals a player recorded as a percentage of opponent possessions that ended while he was in the game:

S-r = 100*(steals)/((Opp Poss)*(min-ratio))

Block rate (Bl-r) is number of blocks a player recorded as a percentage of opponent field goals that were attempted while he was in the game:

Bl-r = 100*blocks/((Opponent FGA)*(min-ratio))