Blocked shots down, or just misses?
After some introductory work talking about Kirilenko's lowered block totals and the general malaise re: blocks around the league, Phil Miller offered this little tidbit:
It's possible that the decline in blocks is merely a statistical blip. Or, suggests the Jazz's chief record-keeper, it might be the result of some bad seats.Alarming news for stat geeks such as myself. And as much as some basketball purists would like to emphasize that statistics only reflect reality and don't create it, this is vaguely disturbing news for the NBA at large. The central region of debate when arguing the MVP race, Hall of Fame inclusion, and so on has always been the stat: x All-Star appearances, y total points, etc. [z has no place here] So, what does this mean?
"Position might have something to do with that," said John Allen, the Jazz's head statistician since the team moved to Utah in 1979. "If someone gets a block, but we're not sure, I'm not going to get it. And that could be happening in a lot of places."
Stat crews around the league have been relocated from their traditional courtside seats - Allen's crew moved to the top of the lower bowl before the 2005-06 season - which affects their ability to observe quick, subtle plays.
"Reach-in steals, tip-ins and blocked shots - it's difficult to see them from a long distance away," Allen said. "Sometimes we have no clue on referee's signals. We have to listen to the P.A. announcement and hope he has it right."
First, the article articulates the "created" nature of statistics. I frequently hear baseball commentators laugh about a homefield distinction between whether a play was called an error or a hit, but it's intriguing to consider that stats in the NBA aren't an exact science, either. How many of those Stockton-to-Malone plays were actually assists? Am I supposed to believe a pass from Stockton to a guarded Malone who then dribbles, pump-fakes twice, and hits a fadeaway is really an assist? The answer, of course, is yes. Stockton was so good he could get assists while sitting on the bench. He actually has been racking up 500 assists per year since he retired on interest.
Second, this is yet another exercise in the Stern-run NBA. The basic principle of the article, in brief, is that stat-keeping will be less accurate now that the stat-keepers' seats have been moved away from the court to give better seats to ticket-holders. Statistics--in my opinion, the primary constituting element of sports' history--have been further undermined to create more cash flow. True, this isn't a major move--a coalition of inter-racial stat-keepers will have to riot on the court for there to be any notable change in the current NBA--but I find it a nice encapsulation of the business-centric NBA.
Also, I was trying to figure out how Harp was listed with 4 assists last night.
In related news, the lovely and talented IzeofLight has an insiders' view of the game from last night. If you don't mind your blog with a subtext of beefcake-watching, check it out here: http://lauradawnthompson.blogspot.com/2007/03/jazz-game.html
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1 comment:
Social Darwinism at it's finest. The stat geek is obviously at the bottom of the food chain.
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