Basketball on Paper - Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis

Jul 31, 2026

Basketball on Paper delivers a performance-analysis framework centered on rules and practical tools for evaluating basketball. The content emphasizes how systematic data and informed methods can clarify team and player decision-making, turning observations into structured analysis. Through acknowledgments to statisticians, researchers, coaches, and technical reviewers, the work highlights reliance on quality datasets, iterative feedback, and research-driven validation. The result supports more rigorous coaching and evaluation grounded in evidence rather than intuition.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages497

Reading Time20 h 52 min

AccessFree to download

Acknowledgments

Data sources and electronic versions

Technical review and research contributions

Support from organizations and publishers

Terms, abbreviations

on Paper Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis DEAN OLIVER Potomac Books, Inc. WASHINGTON. D.C. To Coach Gene Victor and my friends from Caltech. We made a really good team. [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to Dad for buying me the first Bill James Baseball Abstract in 1984. Thanks to Bill James for writing that Baseball Abstract and all the other books that inspired so much, then releasing the methods to those of us who follow. Thanks to Dad for buying me Defensive Basketball. Thanks to Frank McGuire, Dean Smith, and Clair Bee for their contributions to Defensive Basketball and for helping to make coaching such an honorable profession. Thanks to Coach Gene Victor for making me an assistant coach, valuing my opinion as a precocious college student, and setting me up as a scout with Bertka Views. Thanks to Bill and Solveig Bertka for their guidance and trust while I worked for Bertka Views. Thanks to the Seattle Supersonics organization and to the Charlotte Sting organization for the opportunity to see their needs and for boosting my stock with publishers. Thanks in particular to Yvan Kelly and John Maxwell for being friends on the inside. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to Doug Steele and Dean Lavergne for providing me with electronic versions of the data used here. They made my life so much easier by doing quality work over a long period of time. I’m sure I owe their wives/girlfriends a few trips to bed-and-breakfasts to make up for the time they’ve allowed their significant others to spend helping me out. Thanks to Mohan Sandhu and Jessica Donovan for reading draft chaptersand providing comments. Thanks to Clay Kallam of the Full Court Press ([www.fullcourt.com](www.fullcourt.com)) for numerous thought-provoking conversations. Thanks to Swarna Ghanta for initially and perhaps unintentionally inspiring me to write at all. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my very good friend Dave Carta for providing me shelter, wireless Internet, comments on chapters, and a good atmosphere for getting this done. I really can’t say thank you enough. Jefferson Sweeney’s complimentary videotape helped out on one of those chapters. David Berri provided me with inside information on sports economics that helps to make my work a bit deeper. I’m glad the Internet introduced us. Thanks to ENVIRON International for giving me the time off to make it work. Thanks to Ross Russell, who designed the cover, and to the basketball that gave its life for that cover. The Association for Professional Basketball Research, started and stewarded by Robert Bradley, has also been a very valuable resource in developing this book. Bradley’s Compendium ofPro Basketball is an underrecognized source of a vast amount of NBA information. Mike Tamada has been a valuable technical reviewer of my work, raising questions about my methods and pointing me in the direction of other people doing related work. Bob Chaikin has also provided useful insight through his years of watching tape and developing his own unique way of evaluating basketball. Thanks to Stuart McKibbin for his insightful research on the Lakers. Thanks also to Nic Antoine for spreading the word and hooking me up with Pete Palmer, whose advice was valuable and whose insight on baseball was used several times in this book. Thanks to Pete for then hooking me up with John Thorn, who, along with Sean Lahman, was integral in putting me in touch with my publisher. I really appreciate the help of all of you. If no one but you smiles and noone but you thinks a little more upon reading this, I will still be happy. My publisher may not be, but I will. [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) ABBREVIATIONS

FAQs

What is the book focused on?

It focuses on rules and tools for performance analysis in basketball, emphasizing structured evaluation methods.

How is the book’s analysis supported?

It relies on quality data sources, including electronic versions of datasets, along with feedback from technical reviewers and researchers.

Who contributed to the book’s development?

Coaches, researchers, technical reviewers, and data providers are acknowledged, along with organizations that offered opportunities to observe and refine the work.

Jul 31, 2026

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