The times of NBA coaches relying solely on intuition and experience may soon be behind us, with many franchises now turning to analytics as a solution to old-school problems.
Thanks to constantly advancing technology, the NBA is now awash with spreadsheets, tracking software, and predictive models. Detailed analysis of player traits and abilities is something that has had a place in scouting for many years, and now that’s being translated to the court as well.
How are Statistics Informing In-Game Decisions?
You may have noticed that coaches on the sidelines in the modern NBA game spend a lot of time looking at tablets nowadays. That’s because they’re being fed data through real-time dashboards that show a variety of important figures about the ongoing game.
There are a few coaches that have become renowned for their clever use of statistics within a game. For example, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is known to regularly adjust lineups mid-game based on which five-man units are producing the best plus-minus at that moment.
He even sometimes benches his big stars if the data suggests it’s a good idea, a move that many old-school coaches would have found difficult to do.
Steve Kerr has also used analytics to plan rest windows for Steph Curry, ensuring he finishes games strong while maintaining rhythm throughout. With the basketball legend now at 37 and coming to the end of his career, it’s crucial to manage his minutes effectively.
Mark Daigneault of Oklahoma City Thunder famously has four factors that he seeks to exploit through analytics – effective field goal percentage, turnover rate, rebounding, and free-throw rate. It could be thanks to this that his side are favourites in the NBA betting odds to win the 2025-26 NBA Championship, listed at 11/5 as of the 26th of June.
Scouting and Drafting – Beyond the Eye Test
Analytics continue to play a huge role in player scouting and drafting, and now it’s easier than ever for franchises to try to identify who could turn into the next Michael Jordan or Scotty Pippen.
In the past, player scouting involved seeking tall, athletic players, but there was a lot of gut feeling involved by experts as well. Now, the human bias is almost removed from the situation, with franchises preferring to rely on efficiency metrics and predictive modelling.
A great example of this model in effect was when Nikola Jokić was picked 41st overall in 2014. This was largely because traditional scouts overlooked his unorthodox style.
However, Denver’s analytics team saw incredible passing vision and scoring efficiency, traits that have been central to his MVP seasons. Pascal Siakam’s selection by Toronto was driven in part by motor and defensive projections based on tracking data as well, rather than simply watching tapes of his development.
Nowadays, in the leadup to the NBA draft, college prospects are run through similarity models that compare them to successful NBA players. This has often led to the uncovering of hidden gems, who looked average on paper before analytical tools discovered their quality attributes.
What are the Biggest Changes That Analytics Have Brought About?
The use of complex analytics in basketball has led to so many changes, and some of them are visible when watching the matches. For example, one of the most noticeable changes has been the transformation of shot selection.
The long two-pointer is now mostly extinct. Unless you’re Kevin Durant or DeMar DeRozan, coaches will direct you to the three-point line or the rim. The Houston Rockets once attempted over 85 percent of their shots from those two areas under Daryl Morey’s system.
Defence is modelled as well as practiced now too. Using tracking data from systems like Second Spectrum, coaches assess closeout speed, defensive positioning, and help rotations.
The Milwaukee Bucks built their drop defence around such data during their 2021 title run. On top of this, game planning is now hyper-personalised. Coaches seek to expose opponent weaknesses through heat maps and player tendencies.
Analytics are having a huge impact across all sports, but it’s clear that they’re having arguably the biggest impact in basketball.
The game can be broken down into stats and figures easily, and coaches are using these numbers to dictate everything from team selection to tactics in a game. Being able to use the data in the right way has become a key part of basketball strategy.
