Is Giannis Antetokounmpo the Defensive Player of the Year? Does his teammate Brook Lopez have a strong case? And how have the Bucks been able to dominate on defense in the 2019-20 season?
This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores the Bucks defensive strategy and Giannis's impact while incorporating analytics & stats to assess his overall impact.
Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
IMPACT METRICS
-Backpicks BPM is a proprietary model that focuses on player skill instead of situational value. It is box score only.
-PIPM is a hybrid model (box score and plus-minus) that "luck-adjusts" plus-minus data (regresses FT% and 3pt%) to account for noise and is more sensitive to a player's role/fit on a given team. Created by @JacobEGoldstein
-RAPTOR is 538's model that blends box score information, plus-minus data and player tracking data to estimate player impact. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-nba-player-ratings/
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.