Thinking Basketball

This book is *not* a statistical primer. This is *not* a book of stories or history. This is *not* a nitty-gritty x's and o's breakdown of the game.This book is an examination of cognitive biases, how they compromise our ability to understand the sport, and how to understand the game better without them. This is basically "Thinking, Fast and Slow" for basketball (and a lot shorter).Examples include how Wilt's scoring, while dominant on paper, didn't help his team as much as you'd think, about how pumping a huge amount of your offense into one vehicle often has seriously diminishing returns. And about how storylines about games or playoff series are often compromised by who wins: the exact same performance that is praised on a team that won the game is often panned if it's on the losing team. And so on.This isn't a magnum opus. This is merely a primer for understanding the game better (a more thorough exploration of the topics discussed can be found in the author's Top 40 list at backpicks.com). On one hand, the book isn't a lot to look at. On the other hand, it has so enhanced my understanding of the game that it is almost inconceivable to imagine my understanding of the game before.An extremely worthwhile read for anyone who wants to understand the game better.

Great book & easy read.

Thinking Basketball feels like it could have been written yesterday and 30 years ago. Even as sports have entered the analytics age, the way we process information remains hamstrung by the way we watch and process in a sport with almost 200 possessions per game. What gets lost as our eyes follow the ball? Or in our recollections, as we remember only one or two emotional moments? Thinking Basketball helps you rethink a sport that everyone thinks they understand and challenges the narratives of conventional wisdom that lead us astray.This book is prescient. It can help you deliberate you and your friends' late night arguments over who really deserves MVP but also arm you with a healthier approach to statistics, measurements, and popular narratives that crop up everywhere in our lives. Understanding the brain's limitations and the way the brain takes shortcuts, based on studies from psychology and behavioral science, is the first step to not falling for the mirages we create for ourselves.Thinking Basketball will make you smarter but it's not a dry textbook. Taylor introduces original concepts presented in clear prose with the context of sports debates to bring us along for the ride. The conclusions Taylor presents, based on a careful historical study of basketball, lively use of data, and a background in cognitive science, are ones that should disseminate through the basketball-speaking world. The questions Taylor asks, if we keep them in our minds, should keep us on our toes far beyond the world of basketball.

Ben Taylor does an incredible job explaining the depths of what makes a basketball player truly relevant for his team. A player could average 20pts per game for his squad which looks great on paper but how efficiently is he scoring for his opportunities. I think the book does a great job of asking if a player is actually helping or hurting his team when on the floor. Individuals whom consider themselves as die hard basketball fans should give this book a chance.

Taylor provides an easy-to-read look at how various psychological blindspots commonly lead people to erroneous opinions about basketball and its players. Why do people think clutch performance is more important than the rest of the game? Why do people overvalue rings? He backs up his arguments with stats and sound logical reasoning.What this book provides: A lens to clarify your own thoughts on basketball and help you avoid common traps. A lance to pierce your buddy's arguments about why a 20 ppg iso scorer is a good addition to a team.What this book doesn't provide: Taylor argues with advanced stats. He explains what these stats measure and a little bit about how they are calculated. However, he does not dig into the details about how they were calculated and developed - this is beyond the scope of the book. If you want a primer on how to perform mathematical analysis yourself, look elsewhere.

I've been an avid reader of Ben Taylor's work on basketball since 2010, dating back to the days he ran his backpicks.com blog. Taylor is in the top 5 of basketball analysts because of the way he approaches the game. He judges players based on the actions they did, not by narrative. If you are expecting a book that rates players with a lot of titles highly because of wins, then this book is not for you. This book contains a lot of the concepts that Ben Taylor discussed on his website. If you haven't been exposed to those concepts in the past, this book will change the way you think of basketball.Here are a few concepts you will learn from the book:-A 7 game playoff series is a small sample size. The best team will not always win because of the small sample size-A players value is determined on what he can do on a good team, not a bad team. A player who improves a 45 win team to 60 wins is more valuable than a player who moves a 15 win team to 45 win team.-Portability of a players skill is very important in determining his value. A player who can play well on multiple teams is more valuable than a player whose skill set fits on a few teams. For example, Isolation scoring is not a portable skill. Most good teams already have isolation scoring. Adding an isolation scorer will not move the needle as much as adding an offensive rebounder or good defensive player. If you add Allen Iverson to the Warriors, they do not become a better basketball team. They might be worse because the team is distributing more shots to him that should have gone to Curry and Thompson. If you add Durant to the Warriors, they become a better team. His shooting, rebounding, and defense will fit all teams.

I've been a longtime fan of Ben Taylor's YouTube channel (Thinking Basketball) so I decided it was time to support him some more by buying this book. Let me tell you, in no uncertain terms: It. Was. Worth. It.One of the best books I've read, regardless of the genre or fiction/non-fiction.Ben does a great job at making this book accessible to someone who's diving into reading about analytics. He makes it a fun read, analogies are spot-on, and tying little neuroscientific terms to basketball was insightful.He does a great job explaining why clutch shots aren't as important as people say. He also explains lots of misconceptions (having a Wilt-like scorer is good, Karl Malone was bad in the clutch, and isolation players are objectively good additions to your team).10/10, would recommend to anyone.

Se si vuole comprendere il basket dal punto di vista delle statistiche e di come queste influenzano il gioco e influenzano la nostra visione del singolo giocatore allora questo è il libro giusto.L'ho trovata una lettura fortemente interessante ma probabilmente non è un libro adatto a chi mastica poco di questo sport.

Boa leitura, serve para mostrar que alguns conceitos sobre determinado assunto está relativamente equivocados. Mostra que o conhecimento e superficial sobre NBA,

¿Puede un jugador que anota 25 puntos por partido perjudicar a su equipo? ¿Puede ser una mala decisión añadir otro súper anotador, aunque anote de manera eficiente, a un equipo? ¿Por qué el clutch no es tan importante? ¿Es mejor jugador uno que otro solo por haber ganado más campeonatos?En este libro encontrarás respuestas basadas en estadísticas, sesgos... y con ejemplo reales.Un libro que invita a reajustar algunas de nuestras creencias relacionadas con el baloncesto. Su título lo define bastante bien.Además en la era del big data de Thinking Basketball se pueden extrapolar conocimientos a otros campos.Quizás después de leer este libro optes por Daniel Kahneman (Pensar rápido, pensar despacio) como siguiente lectura... ;)

Great read for all Basketball lovers and thinkers. It challenges a lot of biases with analyses and examples.