Welcome
The sixth issue of Unexpected Points Added. This one double-dribbles with NBA research, MLB teams and who develops velocity best, NHL experiments from scheduling, and a visual way to profile soccer coaches.
Please share your favorite sports analytics source I should review, and I'll come up with a sports analytics acronym based on your name
This Week's Lineup
NBA Overvaluing Fourth Quarter Scoring?
Digging into the same thought of a baseball batter performing better in the "later innings." How much if perception? Percent of points scored in the fourth skews under 25%, and efficient fourth-quarter scoring leads to future player's pay.
Visualizing NBA Playoffs Seeding Win Percentage
A nice technical and visual walkthrough of putting together visualizations based on scarping data to answer questions around the probability of a higher seed winning a game.
Best and Worse Teams in Fastball Velocity Development
Included this due to the heightened awareness of the pending pitcher crackdown in MLB. This piece shows which teams are increasing velocity out of the pitchers they have acquired. I would love to see an update at the end of the season on this one.
Head-to-Head or Common-Opponent?
The NHL season schedule changing on the fly (zing) provided us with an experiment on team strength theories. For example, would goals scored for head-to-head or common-opponent be more informative in learning who is the better team? More data to come, but I wanted to get this out before it's updated.
Profiling Soccer Coaches with Data
A tool that profiles coaches in a similar fashion as players. Performance and Playstyle are both incorporated into a visualization to understand coaches at a macro level. Includes technical walkthrough.
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Unexpected Points Added is curated and maintained by Patrick Hayes. If you have questions or suggestions for the newsletter, just reply to this email. I answer every single one.