The Straight Hoop

We are in an exciting period for basketball analytics. The SportsVU cameras are giving us gobs of data and some great minds over at Harvard are using that data in a new and exciting way. Kirk Goldsberry of the amazing site Grantland has detailed an exciting new model to look and predict a possessions value on a second-by-second basis (Check that out  here ). That new model takes into a just about every possible action that occurs during a possession and spits out the Expected Possession Value(EPV). This new stat is pretty exciting for a number of reasons but what excites me most is that this model can actual put a value on decision making in real time. By calculating a players tendencies to pass or shoot at any given position on the court we can, using this model, actually weigh a players decision to pass or shoot accurately. The implications of this stat are huge. EPV gives us our most accurate look at decision making to date. Eventually, coaches could identify the exact moments...

You don't have to look hard at the numbers to see Kevin Durant had a monster January; 36-6-6 tends to speak for itself and don't get me started about the percentages. Durant was so good that his greatness called into question the necessity of his sidekick, Russell Westbrook. This is not new. There will always be a pocket of people who believe the best thing for the Thunder would be to deal Westbrook. Durant being amazing without him only provides a large stage for those people to shout on. On the surface this seems like a ridiculous proposition. We all saw how the Thunder operated without Westbrook in last years playoffs. Even with a greatly improved Reggie Jackson its easy to imagine the same outcome for the Thunder sans Westbrook. There is an interesting aspect to the "trade Westbrook" narrative however. Could the Thunder possibly get more value out of the salary they are paying Westbrook? My initial reaction would be to shout from the highest mountain a resound...