[octothorp]

Definitely worth the read, thanks for posting that. I'd heard about this for a few years, but this is the first real examples I've seen, and I'm impressed. I think it makes sense that raw statistical analysis is less useful in basketball than baseball, or even football; capturing far more data than is typically available is a fascinating approach.

Besides, any analysis that says that Valanciunas' athleticism and high activity level more than make up for his tendency to overhelp and get caught out of position is solid analysis in my opinion. However, the conflict over a 3pt heavy offense is really interesting. It sounds to me like part of the problem may be that the simulation is basically looking for what the most effective use of each individual possession is, without taking into account how working the ball inside and using the full shot clock forces the opposing team to work harder on defense and thus makes their offense less effective over the course of a game.