Chapter 18: Further Reading - Team Defensive Analytics

Foundational Texts

Basketball on Paper: Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis

Author: Dean Oliver Year: 2004 Publisher: Potomac Books

While primarily known for offensive metrics, Oliver's foundational text includes important chapters on defensive analysis and the Four Factors framework applied to both sides of the ball. Essential context for understanding how defensive efficiency measurement evolved.

Key Chapters: Chapter 5 (Team Defense), Chapter 10 (Putting It Together)

SprawlBall: A Visual Tour of the New Era of the NBA

Author: Kirk Goldsberry Year: 2019 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Goldsberry's visual approach illuminates defensive concepts through spatial analysis. His shot charts and positioning data provide excellent context for understanding how modern defense tries to control shot location.

Key Sections: Rim Protection, The Death of the Mid-Range, Defensive Shot Charts

The Midrange Theory: Basketball's Evolution in the Age of Analytics

Author: Seth Partnow Year: 2021 Publisher: Triumph Books

Written by a former NBA front office executive, this book provides insider perspective on how teams evaluate defense analytically. Includes practical discussion of defensive metric limitations.

Key Chapters: Defensive evaluation chapters, team-building philosophy

Academic Papers

Characterizing the Spatial Structure of Defensive Skill in Professional Basketball

Authors: Alexander Franks, Andrew Miller, Luke Bornn, Kirk Goldsberry Journal: Annals of Applied Statistics, 2015 DOI: 10.1214/14-AOAS799

Groundbreaking paper introducing spatial defensive analysis using tracking data. Develops methodology for expected field goal percentage that accounts for defender positioning.

Key Contribution: xFG% methodology, defender positioning impact

Quantifying the Effect of Defense on Player Performance

Authors: Daniel Cervone, Alexander D'Amour, Luke Bornn, Kirk Goldsberry Venue: MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, 2016

Extends Expected Possession Value framework to defensive evaluation, attempting to isolate individual defensive contributions.

Key Concepts: Defensive EPV, individual defensive attribution

Gravity and Spacing: The Impact of Elite Shooters on Basketball Defense

Authors: Sameer K. Deshpande, Shane T. Jensen Journal: Journal of Sports Analytics, 2019

Analyzes how offensive shooting threats affect defensive positioning and rotations. Useful for understanding the defensive challenge of modern spacing.

Relevance: Explains defensive positioning requirements in modern offense

Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus

Author: Joseph Sill Venue: MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, 2010

Introduces the regularized adjusted plus-minus methodology that separates offensive and defensive contributions through regression.

Key Contribution: D-RAPM methodology foundation

A Multiresolution Stochastic Process Model for Predicting Basketball Possession Outcomes

Authors: Daniel Cervone, Alexander D'Amour, Luke Bornn, Kirk Goldsberry Journal: Journal of the American Statistical Association, 2016

While focused on offense, includes defensive considerations in the Expected Possession Value framework.

Relevance: Methodology for evaluating defensive impact on possession outcomes

Technical Resources

NBA Stats API - Defensive Dashboard

URL: https://stats.nba.com/ Type: Data Source

Official source for defensive statistics including: - Defensive field goal percentage by distance - Opponent shooting by player defended - Matchup data - Contest frequency

Key Endpoints: /leaguedashptdefend, /playerdashptdefend

Cleaning the Glass

URL: https://cleaningtheglass.com/ Author: Ben Falk Type: Subscription Service

Premium analytics site with garbage-time filtered defensive statistics. Includes matchup difficulty adjustments and luck-adjusted shooting metrics.

Notable Features: Luck-adjusted opponent shooting, defensive matchup data

Second Spectrum

URL: https://www.secondspectrum.com/ Type: Tracking Data Provider

The NBA's optical tracking partner. Research publications and blog posts provide cutting-edge defensive analysis methodology.

Key Contributions: Contest classification, defensive positioning metrics

Thinking Basketball

Author: Ben Taylor URL: https://www.youtube.com/thinkingbasketball Type: Video Series/Book

Excellent video analysis of defensive concepts including switching, help defense, and individual defensive evaluation. The "Backpicks" GOAT series includes extensive defensive analysis.

Recommended Content: Defensive ranking methodology, historical defensive analysis

Scheme and Strategy Resources

NBA Defensive Scheme Analysis

Various Authors: Zach Lowe (ESPN), John Hollinger (The Athletic) Type: Journalism

Regular analysis of defensive schemes, trends, and team evaluations from the best NBA writers.

Key Value: Connects analytical findings to scheme implementation

Basketball Reference Defensive Glossary

URL: https://www.basketball-reference.com/about/glossary.html Type: Reference

Comprehensive definitions of defensive statistics including Defensive Box Plus-Minus (DBPM) and Defensive Win Shares.

Synergy Sports Technology

URL: https://synergysports.com/ Type: Video/Data Platform

Industry standard for play type analysis including defensive efficiency by coverage type and play type defended.

Key Data: Defensive play type efficiency, coverage effectiveness

Historical and Contextual Reading

The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy

Author: Bill Simmons Year: 2009 Publisher: ESPN Books

Historical context for defensive evolution and team-building around defense. Discussion of great defensive teams and players through NBA history.

Seven Seconds or Less

Author: Jack McCallum Year: 2006 Publisher: Touchstone

Inside look at the Phoenix Suns' offense-first approach provides contrast to defensive-minded team building. Understanding what defense must counter.

The Soul of Basketball

Author: Ian Thomsen Year: 2018 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Includes detailed analysis of the 2011 Dallas Mavericks' championship run, with emphasis on their defensive adjustments against LeBron James.

Conference Proceedings and Presentations

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

URL: https://www.sloansportsconference.com/ Type: Annual Conference

Archive includes numerous defensive analytics papers including: - "The Dwight Effect" (Rim Protection, 2014) - "Spatial Analysis of Defensive Skill" (2015) - "Quantifying Defensive Impact" (various years)

NESSIS (New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports)

URL: http://www.nessis.org/ Type: Academic Conference

Rigorous statistical methodology papers on defensive evaluation.

Video Resources

NBA Film Room

Various Platforms: YouTube, NBA.com Type: Official NBA Content

Breakdown videos explaining defensive concepts, schemes, and individual technique.

Coach Daniel YouTube Channel

URL: https://www.youtube.com/c/CoachDaniel Type: Coaching Analysis

Detailed X's and O's breakdown of NBA defensive schemes and principles.

Half Court Hoops

URL: https://www.youtube.com/halfcourthoops Type: Tactical Analysis

Play-by-play defensive breakdown videos explaining scheme implementation.

Practical Implementation

Python for Sports Analytics

Type: Code Resources

Key repositories for implementing defensive analytics: - nba_api: Python client for NBA defensive stats - basketball_reference_web_scraper: Historical defensive data

R Packages for Basketball Analytics

Packages: ballr, nbastatR, hoopR Type: R Libraries

R implementations for accessing and analyzing defensive data.

Specialized Topics

Rim Protection Analysis

Lowe Post Podcast - Rudy Gobert Episodes Host: Zach Lowe Platform: ESPN

Detailed discussion of rim protection value and limitations in modern NBA.

Switch Defense Evaluation

Warriors Film Review (2015-2019) Various Sources: YouTube, The Athletic

Analysis of Golden State's switch-everything approach and personnel requirements.

Defensive Rating History

Basketball-Reference Historical Data URL: https://www.basketball-reference.com/

Historical Defensive Rating by team and season for era-adjusted comparisons.

Suggested Reading Order

For Beginners

  1. Oliver, "Basketball on Paper" (foundational concepts)
  2. Basketball-Reference Glossary (metric definitions)
  3. Thinking Basketball videos (visual explanation)
  4. NBA Stats Defensive Dashboard (familiarization)

For Intermediate Analysts

  1. Franks et al., spatial defensive analysis paper
  2. Cleaning the Glass subscription (applied metrics)
  3. MIT Sloan conference papers
  4. Scheme analysis articles (Lowe, Hollinger)

For Advanced Researchers

  1. Full academic paper collection
  2. Second Spectrum documentation
  3. D-RAPM implementation
  4. Original tracking data analysis (if accessible)

Key Takeaway from Literature

The consensus from defensive analytics research:

  1. Measurement is hard: Defense is inherently more difficult to quantify than offense
  2. Process beats outcomes: Shot quality metrics more reliable than opponent shooting
  3. Context matters: Scheme, teammates, and role affect individual metrics
  4. Multi-year needed: Single seasons have too much variance
  5. Video essential: Numbers identify questions; film provides answers
  6. Humility required: Best metrics explain only 30-40% of defensive variance