Fantasy Basketball: Run The Numbers – Know Your Statistical Scarcity… and Your 5x5s!

January 10, 2019 | Run the Numbers |

Amazing, yet totally believable headline from earlier this season: “Pelicans’ Anthony Davis drops rare 5×5 statistical game…”

Jaw-dropping headline from last week that I’m still not over: “Nurkic’s NBA-best 5×5…..” <RECORD SCRATCH>

That’s TWO five-by-fives already this season! A 20/20 5×5 from Jusuf Nurkic!?! The NBA is definitely “Where Amazing Happens”.

Quick nostalgia video for my fellow StarCraft and/or Aliens fans regarding the quote I hear in my head each time a 5×5 is mentioned:

I’ll try to keep it relatively short this week, as the concepts won’t be new. I thought it was high time we look at statistical scarcity again, now that we have a significant sample of this season’s stats. We’ve talked about how statistical performances compare across categories based on player rater values and just how good stats have to be to offset those that negatively affect us among other similar ideas. But this time, I’m back to comparing the scarcity of our counting stats, this time through the lens of the 5×5.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Run The Numbers: Return of the Punt Rankings

December 21, 2017 | Run the Numbers |

by: Tad

Part III of a three-part series (maybe it’s episode VI, though?). Quick summary of what I’ve been doing for the last couple weeks in Run The Numbers: Now that you know your team, you can see which categories aren’t going to matter for you for one reason or another. So, ignore them and get better value in your pickups and trades. This week, I give you the rankings for punting threes, assists, and steals. But, remember, this isn’t that hard to do at any time if you want up-to-date ratings. If you’ve got a few minutes and can handle some excel work, paste the first few pages of the ESPN Player Rater into a sheet and subtract whatever categories you need to from the Rating. But in the interest of time, my list is straight from Basketball Monster’s per-game ratings through 12/19. I’ll provide 8-category and 9-category top 20s along with a few more players that rise significantly in each situation. The players in bold are the high-risers within the top 20s.

Please, blog, may I have some more?