I’ve been following a Twitter feed called Shot Quality since middle to late last season. It’s a very cool analytics service that analyzes expected scores based on the quality of shots a team is getting.

They just tweeted out that GW is now a customer. https://twitter.com/shot_quality/status/1436093292052160514?s=21

I think this is great.

There have been so many times we’ve watched a game and thought “we’re lucky to be in this game because the other team is getting better shots and missing them” or “we’d be winning this game if we hit a couple more of those layups” or “why is SirValient Brown shooting that mod-range fadeaway with a hand in his face?”   

This service analyzes each and every attempt in a game based on the likelihood of that shot being made (using I believe both general make/miss data for like shots, and metrics for each individual taking the shot).  That can help us really understand what’s a good shot and what’s not (I think they even take into account not just, say, three point attempt, but whether the shot was at the top of the key or in the corner or on the wing; whether it came off a pick n pop, a spot up, off the dribble; how contested it was, etc) - and it can help us craft a defense that denies opponents good shots (like lots of games we’ve played where an opponent is 2-18 from three for his career, and  then makes his first three against us and the fans are grumbling about why we are leaving him open, when typically that’s a shot we are happy to concede and will typically lead to good outcomes for us). 

On Twitter, they will often publish game ratings, telling you what the expected score should be based on the quality of shots a each team got in that game (which can help you understand things like if a team played well enough to win, but couldn’t hit good shots or got unlucky with their opponents hitting bad shots, which can lead to decisions about whether you actually need to change something after a loss). 

I’m sure the way a program will use it, and the data they get, is different from what they put on Twitter, which makes me even more encouraged to see that Jamion is embracing this kind of analytics (and that gw is spending the money for it).  I would imagine this will also really help Bishop improve his decision making about what is a good shot and when to dish.