The Network of Basketball
Through advancement in player tracking technologies and data acquisition methods in the NBA, basketball has evolved into an extensive network of nodes and edges. Companies like SportsVU and Second Spectrum, along with the growing acceptance of analytics in NBA front offices, have revolutionized the game of nodes and edges.
In the basketball graph, each node represents a player on a specific team, while edges represent passes made between two players. Through these connections, conclusions can be reached about the most optimal decision to made in-game. For instance, values (such as points per possession, efficiency, etc.) can be assigned to each edge, thereby creating a notion of strong and weak ties between players. Strong ties would indicate a strong in-game relationship between two players, where a pass between the two generally leads to a more efficient possession than a possession of two players with weak ties. In a real basketball situation, it may be true that a point guard-center tie may be strong, due to the number of plays run between the two (pick and roll, alley-oop), while the tie between a small forward and a center may not be as strong, due to the infrequent interaction between the two.
Using the nodes and strength of the edges between them in the basketball network, NBA front offices can reach conclusions on optimal courses of action during a game. Seeing the presence of strong ties can lead to plays called for the two players together, leading to better results for the team as a whole.
Link: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0047445