One way to get a sense of player's strengths and weakness is to chart them against their peers. The visual can give a more intuitive feel than numbers by themselves and it's much easier to take in information on a bunch of different players at a time.
I created one for the draft that groups the prospects stats in categories that are mostly independent and represent different aspects of my draft model's evaluation. All the stats are standardized in a z-score, with average players scoring at 0 and the spread between best and worst scaled by the standard deviation. That way the differences in each category are set to the same visual scale.
The stats are then put in a box plot using position as the grouping variables, so a player's assists, for example is compared to guys at the same position, instead of comparing a power forward's assists to a point guard.
Below is an image of the rebounding category, with Celtics picks Semi Ojeleye and Jayson Tatum's mark in the chart highlighted with commentary.
The data in the link is interactive so you can change the filters are hover over the screen to see more information on a particular data mark.
Among the highlighted stats for Jayson Tatum, he was:
- A very good scorer, among the best from the wing positions
- An above average rebounder at the three, but not great.
- Distribution was his biggest weakness, one the worst wings in that rating.
- Was above average for his position in blocks and steals rating.
- He was one of the youngest players in the draft, and played a very competitive college schedule.
For Semi Ojeleye highlights were:
- Very good rebounder as a three, combo forward potential
- One of the best wing scorers in the draft
- Weakness in blocks and steals
- Slightly above average for a wing in distribution
- Ojeleye is one of the older prospects in the draft.
Comments