NBA

Charles Barkley’s Comments On Analytics Are True

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By @GoldenPerspectv

Charles Barkley

Mark J. Rebilas – USA Today Sports

Charles Barkley went on a rant during last night’s NBA on TNT postgame show in regards to “analytics.” The synopsis of his spout was that analytics were useless, the Houston Rockets GM Darly Morey was “an idiot” and those who advocate analytics are “a bunch of guys who never played the game.” Oh, and they also were the guys who “never got the girls in high school.”

The topic of analytics was brought up shortly after Morey tweeted, “Best part of being at a TNT game live is it is easy to avoid Charles spewing misinformed biased vitriol disguised as entertainment.” The tweet was displayed on the show and Barkley expressed his dismay with no hesitation. 

To be more precise, here’s an excerpt of his spew:

“Analytics don’t work at all. It’s just some crap that people who were really smart made up to try to get in the game because they had no talent. Because they had no talent to be able to play, so smart guys wanted to fit in, so they made up a term called analytics. Analytics don’t work.”

As much as Barkley has outlandishly (and sometimes ignorantly) demised his credibility with horrible reasoning in the past, I must say I agree with him on this topic. Even after looking beyond the comedy of his tirade, I concur with him to an extent. First, let’s take a look at the definition of “analytics”

Analytics: the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics.

Now allow me to explain how Barkley won me over. He argued, “What analytics did the Miami Heat have? What analytics did the Chicago Bulls have? What analytics do the Spurs have? They have the best players, coaching staffs who make players better.” 

In that facet, I agree 100 percent with him. However, some stats are still key representatives to what a player brings to the table. The very general statistics such as points, rebounds, assists, etc. are examples that are nationally injected in the decision making that ranks players. I wouldn’t argue too much about that at all.

Then, you have the advanced stats. Those consist of categories including PER (player efficiency rating), USG (Usage Rate) and VA (Value Added). Each category has its flaw(s), which is why you can’t necessarily put together a championship team solely from analytics, but I admit they are useful to a certain degree. For example, ranked 50th in the Eastern Conference in VA is Joakim Noah. Obviously this is my opinion, but Noah is the second most valuable player on the Bulls next to Pau Gasol. And ranked 30th in the Eastern Conference in the same category is Boston Celtics center Tyler Zeller. Not to take anything away from Zeller, but Noah adds more value to a team than Zeller. But according to the stats, I’m wrong.

Another example, George Hill is ranked 10th in PER among the league. That means that he tops three All-Stars (Kyrie Irving, John Wall and Kyle Lowry). It does not necessarily make him better than those point guards though.

The point I’m trying to persuade is that analytics is not a very good tool to construct an NBA team. If every player was a free agent, you wouldn’t look at their PER and say, “Give me Chris Anderson over Victor Oladipo because he’s ranked higher.” It is not a fitting structure to amalgamate or even confuse with talent. No San Antonio Spurs player reserved a top-20 position in any of the three advanced categories I previously mentioned.

Even general stats are deceptive sometimes. Marc Gasol is arguably the best center in the league but only averages 18 points and eight boards per game. Numbers are not the be-all, end-all. Nick Collison didn’t just get his contract extended for the three points and three rebounds he contributes per game.

Championships are won due to a collective group of talent, chemistry and discipline. Each championship team had those three components that led them to the ultimate prize. The teams that have all three are considered elite ball clubs, and those are the ones we predict to extend their playoff run. Titles are won beyond individual stat sheets.

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