The Math Behind Basketball

Kobe Bryant, Photo by Alexandra Walt (public domain).jpg
Kobe Bryant.  Photo by Alexandra Walt.

In this TED talk by Rajiv Maheswaran, the speaker describes the translation of basketball moves into a series of moving dots, looking at games played by professional basketball players.  Using machine learning they were able to identify the difference between the baseline probability that a shot would be successful, and an individual player’s personal odds that they would make a shot. This distinction allows us to tell the difference between those who have more opportunities (or create more opportunities), as opposed to those who perform well based on what is in front of them.

The speaker invites us to consider other applications for the analysis of moving dots.  In my opinion, this means we can think of activity levels, workplace layout, and injury statistics alongside other workplace wellbeing indicators.  It might be that physical movements have a substantial impact on non-physical workplace performance.

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