{"id":63007,"date":"2014-03-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rockcontent.com\/blog\/the-power-of-sports-data-visualizing-passes-between-nba-players-offers-new-game-insights\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T08:51:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:51:45","slug":"the-power-of-sports-data-visualizing-passes-between-nba-players-offers-new-game-insights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pingback.com\/en\/resources\/the-power-of-sports-data-visualizing-passes-between-nba-players-offers-new-game-insights\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Sports Data: Visualizing Passes Between NBA Players Offers New Game Insights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2013-2014 season is the NBA\u2019s first full year using SportVU technology\u00a0in all NBA arenas, and basketball analytics have never been more powerful. For the non-statheads, SportVU is a six-camera system installed in the rafters of NBA arenas that collects incredibly detailed data about player movement 25 times per second. Examples include speed, distance to the ball, directional movement, touches, and more. SportVU began a test run in 2011-2012 and expanded to include the entire league this year. The NBA made the data open and free to the public in November on a special section of NBA.com<\/a>. This week, Andy Bergmann<\/a> published his latest project on the NBA\u2019s Hang Time blog<\/a>\u00a0– Analytics Art: NBA Passing<\/strong>. Bergmann\u2019s graphic combines simple, striking design with advanced passing analysis from SportVU data that would have been unavailable just a few months ago. The graphic depicts the number of passes between each team\u2019s starting five players from games where all five were active and saw playing time. The thicker the line, the more frequent the passes. Bergmann\u2019s decision to standardize the organization of each team\u2019s starters gives the graphic a mesmerizing star-like web, which makes it easy to understand the differences between how teams distribute the ball. <\/p>\n

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Analytics Art: NBA Passing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For example, the Minnesota Timberwolves have built their team around two young stars, point guard Ricky Rubio and power forward Kevin Love. While spectacular passes<\/a> between the two are easy to find on top 10 lists and highlight reels, individual highlights don\u2019t allow sports analysts to draw a statistically valid conclusion. Using the data from SportVU, however, Bergmann is able to quantify just how much the Timberwolves\u2019 offense revolves around the Rubio\/Love partnership compared both to other players on the team and other teams in the league.