Tich’s Take

Revenge of the nerds — this is what NBA legend Charles Barkley thinks is happening to the NBA.

On “Inside the NBA,” the studio pregame and postgame show that accompanies TNT’s NBA broadcasts, Barkley had some interesting things to say about the use of statistics and analytics in basketball.

“I’ve always believed analytics is crap,” Barkley said. “It’s just some crap that some people who were really smart made up to get in the game because they had no talent. … All these guys who run these organizations that talk about analytics, they have one thing in common — they’re a bunch of guys who never played the game and never got the girls in high school, and they just want to get in the game.”

I actually like Barkley for the most part. His candidness is refreshing and entertaining. Sometimes “Inside the NBA” is more exciting than the game around it. But as entertaining as Barkley can be, he can be ignorant on certain issues.

However, before trying to understand Barkley’s comments, there needs to be an understanding of what analytics are. While some of the formulas for statistics like effective shooting percentage or player efficiency rating may seem complex, the most difficult mathematical functions involved in these “advanced” statistics are multiplication and division. “Metrics” like points allowed per 100 possessions do nothing more than give an equal sample size when looking at how many points they give up, giving a more accurate look of how good a team is defensively without worrying about pace.

Despite what Barkley or other opponents of advanced statistics may think, analytics are actually quite simple. Like any statistic, analytics are simply an attempt to quantify what happens on the court in numerical form.

Analytics are also partially responsible for the movement away from isolation-heavy basketball to ball-movement-heavy, three-point-launching basketball. Teams that paid attention to statistics realized a simple concept — the three-point shot is worth more than the two-point shot. For years, stubborn coaches ignored the three-point line as a weapon, choosing to almost ignore it as part of their offensive attack.

Now, pretty much every successful team jacks up threes at a high rate. The top 10 teams in three-point attempts are all probable playoff teams. It is not a difficult concept, but for a long time the weaponization of the three-pointer was seen as a gimmick rather than a legitimate strategy.

Analytics are not just employed by people behind desks in front offices, coaches and players are embracing them.

Still, the majority of analytics staffs around the NBA are what guys like Barkley would qualify as nerds. And sure, most analytics people were never talented enough to play the game past high school or at all. Barkley is right about that. However, just because a person only grows to be 5-foot-7 does not disqualify him or her from loving and understanding basketball. Plenty of people who have never played basketball have an advanced knowledge of what a good basketball player looks like.

There is a misconception that people who love using statistics do not watch the games. In reality, they probably watch more games than anyone. Analytics are just one of the many ways to help understand basketball better.

But they did not help anyone get the girls in high school, so they probably do not matter.

TICHENOR is the sports editor.