Stats glossary

Every number on BasketPlayer, in plain words, and how it is worked out.

The basics

GP · Games played: Games the player took the court in.
MIN · Minutes: Minutes played per game.
PTS · Points: Points per game (or in total, or per 36/40/48 minutes, depending on the mode picked on a player page).
REB · Rebounds: Missed shots grabbed, at either end. OREB = offensive (own team's misses), DREB = defensive.
AST · Assists: Passes that lead directly to a basket.
STL · Steals: Times the player took the ball from the opponent.
BLK · Blocks: Opponent shots the player blocked.
TOV · Turnovers: Times the player lost the ball to the opponent without a shot.
+/- · Plus-minus: The score difference while the player was on court: +8 means his team outscored the opponent by 8 in his minutes.

Shooting

FG% · Field goal percentage: Share of all shots (twos and threes) that went in.
3P% · Three-point percentage: Share of three-point shots that went in.
FT% · Free throw percentage: Share of free throws that went in.
eFG% · Effective field goal percentage: Like FG%, but a made three counts 1.5 times, because it is worth 1.5 times as much as a two.; (FGM + 0.5 × 3PM) ÷ FGA
TS% · True shooting percentage: Scoring efficiency including free throws: how many points a player or team gets per shooting attempt.; PTS ÷ (2 × (FGA + 0.44 × FTA))
FT rate · Free throw rate: How often a team gets to the line and scores there, compared with how often it shoots. Shown ×100 (26.0 = 26 free throws made per 100 shots).; FTM ÷ FGA

Team stats

On team pages (Stats tab), league team tables and team comparisons. Built from regular-season games only.

Possession: One trip down the floor that ends in a shot, a turnover or free throws. We estimate them from the box score, the standard way.; FGA + 0.44 × FTA − OREB + TOV, averaged over both teams of the game
Pace: Possessions per game. Neither good nor bad: a high number means a fast team, a low one a slow, deliberate team. Overtime games are scaled to regulation length.
ORTG · Offensive rating: Points scored per 100 possessions. Better than points per game for comparing teams, because a fast team scores more just by having more possessions.
DRTG · Defensive rating: Points allowed per 100 possessions. Lower is better.
NET · Net rating: Offensive rating minus defensive rating: by how many points per 100 possessions a team outscores its opponents. The best single number for team strength.
Turnover rate: Turnovers per 100 possessions. Lower is better.
Off. rebound rate: Share of its own missed shots a team rebounds.
Def. rebound rate: Share of the opponent's missed shots a team rebounds.
Why our ratings can differ slightly from official ones: Box scores credit turnovers and rebounds to players; the few that belong to the team as a whole aren't recorded, so possessions and ratings can be a point or so off the league's own figures.

The Four Factors

Basketball analyst Dean Oliver found that four things decide most games. Each one has an attack side (what a team does) and a defence side (what it lets the opponent do).

1. Shooting: eFG% in attack, opponents' eFG% in defence. The most important of the four.
2. Turnovers: Turnover rate in attack (lower is better: ball security), opponents' turnover rate in defence (higher is better: turnovers forced).
3. Rebounding: Offensive rebound rate in attack, defensive rebound rate in defence.
4. Free throws: Free throw rate in attack, opponents' free throw rate in defence (lower is better).

Advanced player stats

Shown on player pages when the league publishes them.

PIR · Performance Index Rating: The standard European efficiency number: everything good a player did minus everything bad.; PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK + fouls drawn − missed shots − turnovers − shots blocked − fouls committed
PER · Player efficiency rating: NBA per-minute production in one number; the league average is 15.0.
USG% · Usage rate: Share of the team's plays a player finishes (with a shot, free throws or a turnover) while on court.
AST% · Assist percentage: Share of teammates' baskets the player assisted while on court.
REB% · Rebound percentage: Share of available rebounds the player grabbed while on court (also split into OREB% and DREB%).
STL% / BLK%: Share of opponent possessions ending in his steal / share of opponent two-point shots he blocked.
WS · Win shares: Estimated number of team wins the player was responsible for. WS/48 is the same per 48 minutes (league average about 0.100).
BPM · Box plus-minus: Estimated points per 100 possessions a player adds compared with an average player.
VORP · Value over replacement player: BPM turned into a season total, compared with a replacement-level player.

Ranks and percentiles

League rank: Where a team stands among all teams in its league on one stat: 1st = best (for pace, 1st = fastest). Green badges mark the top quarter of the league (1st-5th of 20), orange the middle, red the bottom 30% (15th-20th of 20). Where lower is better (points allowed, turnovers), 1st is the lowest number, so green always means good.
Percentile: On player comparisons: the share of regular players in the same league and season with a lower number. 90th = better than 90% of them. Regular players = at least 30% of the most games played and 10 minutes a game.
Percentile radar: One spoke per stat, from 0 at the centre to 100 (best in the league) at the edge. The bigger the shape, the more complete the player.

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