George Washington University Athletics
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Christian's Analytics Go Beyond The Box Score
2/5/2020 4:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Using analytics and its benefit to giving teams an ability to analyze their play has become a hot topic in sports over the last few years.
It turns out GW first-year head coach Jamion Christian has embraced basketball analytics for over a decade.Â
His first introduction to using numbers to analyze the sport came when his team was looking at ranking recruits.
"It started when I was an assistant at Emory & Henry (in 2004)," Christian said. "I worked for Coach (Bob) Johnson in Division III. We were recruiting so many guys. So, I wanted to put together a system where I could rate the guys fairly and with no kind of bias. I felt like that was important. It was all about trying to find the most valuable player that was maybe getting the least amount of attention."
Christian has been excited about crunching numbers and analysis since he was a kid. He remembered when he was 13 years old reading a story about a little league baseball coach that had implemented an evaluation system to rate his players.
After a bad season, the baseball coach put together a system that measured the skill required at each spot on the field. What mindset do they need for each spot? The coach moved players around the diamond based on this new analytical system.
Years later, it made Christian think about how he could relate this to basketball. If a player looks like and plays like a point guard based on his ability, could that player move around on the floor to take advantage of those skills in different spots?
"How many times are we playing guys out of position?" Christian asked. "How many times did guys play me out of position when I was a player? If we can identify the factors that it takes to have a great system, the five most important things, and evaluate that, then we can move guys around position-wise so they can have positional success."
Christian sought a way to tabulate these important on floor parameters.
The depth of statistical analysis Christian and GW uses goes beyond the points, rebounds, and assists fans see in a box score. Christian values what he calls the "little things" as much as those obvious numbers: are you boxing out on rebounds? How many times did the team get the ball back when you were on the floor?
In a generic plus-minus calculation, a box score gives a point to a player when they are on the floor and their team scores a basket. They lose points when the other team scores while they are on the floor. Christian says their version of plus-minus is much more intricate than just the use of those basic statistics.
"We go really in depth," Christian said. "We look at how many times we turn the ball over when you are on the floor. We look at how many times we are rebounding the ball when you are on the floor. What's our effective field goal percentage with you on the floor? Effective field goal defense? Then we also can go from one player to two players to three, to four, and there can be different combinations of players. That's what has helped us put the best five guys on the floor."
Christian saw the numbers jump out when he moved players around and worked them in different lineup combinations.
"There's this chemistry that exists between all people, and it's amazing how it plays out digitally, with numbers and data," Christian continued. "When you watch a group of guys that have a great connection, it may seem that their characteristics don't fit, but their chemistry works well. So, we've always tried to apply that to our lineups."
AJ Register is the Colonials' director of scouting and analytics. His role is to break down each opponent at least two days before their matchup with the Colonials. He then sends scouting reports to the coaching staff and players.
Register says the depth of statistical breakdown he uses from game film helps find the best lineup combinations based on the opponent and game situation.
"(Analytics can) help us on defense and how to guard certain guys, and on offense where guys shoot best on the floor," Register said. "Back at Alabama, our scouting reports were basic. We would say a guy goes right most of the time or he's right-handed. Now we add analytics to support. (The analysis reveals) he's going right 52% of the time, and he's shooting 47% from the three on the left wing. It's more detailed.
"Instead of just going off the eye test, you want to go back and be sure that what your eyes are seeing is what is really going on. Because some guys you might feel are better driving right whereas they (might) be better driving left. Just based on the film, it might be something you overlook."
The numbers Register tabulates outside of a typical box score aid in this evaluation of each game, and Christian says the numbers accumulated become more valuable as the season moves on.
"It's helped us a ton as we build up lineup data through the course of the year," Christian noticed. "We find the best defensive lineup, best three-point shooting lineup, best steal lineup, all these different things. You'll see that through the course of a game, I've been able to shorten up the game by looking at it a bit differently."
Register sends the players the scouting reports with the analytical breakdowns to their phones and iPads.Â
"They can watch the videos, read and get all the information they need so they can keep going back before the game starts and start seeing their matchup, this is what (this player) likes to do well, this is (that player's) weakness, and they will have it right there."
Christian uses the numbers to pursue the best possible combination of five players for an entire game. They interchange players into different lineups and see what the plus-minus figures reveal.
"We've been doing it for about eight years now, so we have a pretty good understanding of what we are looking for and the factors that make up the bigger numbers," Christian said.
"Sometimes that could be Shawn Walker on the floor as the lead guard with these four guys. Sometimes it could be Amir Harris as a lead guard with these guys. Sometimes it could be both guys depending on the matchup of the third and fourth guy on the floor. So, you are mixing all these components into it and just trying to find the perfect 200 minutes."
With each game passing and implementing this intensive analytical study created by Christian, the Colonials get closer and closer to that goal.
It turns out GW first-year head coach Jamion Christian has embraced basketball analytics for over a decade.Â
His first introduction to using numbers to analyze the sport came when his team was looking at ranking recruits.
"It started when I was an assistant at Emory & Henry (in 2004)," Christian said. "I worked for Coach (Bob) Johnson in Division III. We were recruiting so many guys. So, I wanted to put together a system where I could rate the guys fairly and with no kind of bias. I felt like that was important. It was all about trying to find the most valuable player that was maybe getting the least amount of attention."
Christian has been excited about crunching numbers and analysis since he was a kid. He remembered when he was 13 years old reading a story about a little league baseball coach that had implemented an evaluation system to rate his players.
After a bad season, the baseball coach put together a system that measured the skill required at each spot on the field. What mindset do they need for each spot? The coach moved players around the diamond based on this new analytical system.
Years later, it made Christian think about how he could relate this to basketball. If a player looks like and plays like a point guard based on his ability, could that player move around on the floor to take advantage of those skills in different spots?
"How many times are we playing guys out of position?" Christian asked. "How many times did guys play me out of position when I was a player? If we can identify the factors that it takes to have a great system, the five most important things, and evaluate that, then we can move guys around position-wise so they can have positional success."
Christian sought a way to tabulate these important on floor parameters.
The depth of statistical analysis Christian and GW uses goes beyond the points, rebounds, and assists fans see in a box score. Christian values what he calls the "little things" as much as those obvious numbers: are you boxing out on rebounds? How many times did the team get the ball back when you were on the floor?
In a generic plus-minus calculation, a box score gives a point to a player when they are on the floor and their team scores a basket. They lose points when the other team scores while they are on the floor. Christian says their version of plus-minus is much more intricate than just the use of those basic statistics.
"We go really in depth," Christian said. "We look at how many times we turn the ball over when you are on the floor. We look at how many times we are rebounding the ball when you are on the floor. What's our effective field goal percentage with you on the floor? Effective field goal defense? Then we also can go from one player to two players to three, to four, and there can be different combinations of players. That's what has helped us put the best five guys on the floor."
Christian saw the numbers jump out when he moved players around and worked them in different lineup combinations.
"There's this chemistry that exists between all people, and it's amazing how it plays out digitally, with numbers and data," Christian continued. "When you watch a group of guys that have a great connection, it may seem that their characteristics don't fit, but their chemistry works well. So, we've always tried to apply that to our lineups."
AJ Register is the Colonials' director of scouting and analytics. His role is to break down each opponent at least two days before their matchup with the Colonials. He then sends scouting reports to the coaching staff and players.
Register says the depth of statistical breakdown he uses from game film helps find the best lineup combinations based on the opponent and game situation.
"(Analytics can) help us on defense and how to guard certain guys, and on offense where guys shoot best on the floor," Register said. "Back at Alabama, our scouting reports were basic. We would say a guy goes right most of the time or he's right-handed. Now we add analytics to support. (The analysis reveals) he's going right 52% of the time, and he's shooting 47% from the three on the left wing. It's more detailed.
"Instead of just going off the eye test, you want to go back and be sure that what your eyes are seeing is what is really going on. Because some guys you might feel are better driving right whereas they (might) be better driving left. Just based on the film, it might be something you overlook."
The numbers Register tabulates outside of a typical box score aid in this evaluation of each game, and Christian says the numbers accumulated become more valuable as the season moves on.
"It's helped us a ton as we build up lineup data through the course of the year," Christian noticed. "We find the best defensive lineup, best three-point shooting lineup, best steal lineup, all these different things. You'll see that through the course of a game, I've been able to shorten up the game by looking at it a bit differently."
Register sends the players the scouting reports with the analytical breakdowns to their phones and iPads.Â
"They can watch the videos, read and get all the information they need so they can keep going back before the game starts and start seeing their matchup, this is what (this player) likes to do well, this is (that player's) weakness, and they will have it right there."
Christian uses the numbers to pursue the best possible combination of five players for an entire game. They interchange players into different lineups and see what the plus-minus figures reveal.
"We've been doing it for about eight years now, so we have a pretty good understanding of what we are looking for and the factors that make up the bigger numbers," Christian said.
"Sometimes that could be Shawn Walker on the floor as the lead guard with these four guys. Sometimes it could be Amir Harris as a lead guard with these guys. Sometimes it could be both guys depending on the matchup of the third and fourth guy on the floor. So, you are mixing all these components into it and just trying to find the perfect 200 minutes."
With each game passing and implementing this intensive analytical study created by Christian, the Colonials get closer and closer to that goal.
Players Mentioned
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