Advanced statistics (also known as analytics or APBRmetrics) in basketball refers to the analysis of basketball statistics using objective evidence.^[1] APBRmetrics takes its name from the acronym APBR, which stands for the Association for Professional Basketball Research.^[2]

According to The Sporting News, the APBRmetrics message board was "the birthplace of basketball analytics".^[3]

Advanced basketball statistics include effective field goal percentage (eFG%), true shooting percentage (TS%), (on-court/off-court) plus–minus, adjusted plus-minus (APM), real plus/minus (RPM), player efficiency rating (PER), offense efficiency rating, offensive rating, defensive rating, similarity score, tendex, and player tracking.^[4]

A more complete explanation of basketball analytics is available in "A Starting Point for Analyzing Basketball Statistics" in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports.^[5]

Notable basketball analytics practitioners

The field of basketball analytics practitioners includes, but is not limited to, the following individuals:

• John Hollinger authored four books in the Pro Basketball Forecast/Prospectus series and was a regular columnist for ESPN Insider. He is a former vice president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies.

• Justin Kubatko created and maintained the website Basketball-Reference.com, the pro basketball arm of Sports Reference LLC, until 2013.^[6] During Kubatko's tenure, Sports Reference was named one of the 50 best websites of 2010 by Time magazine.^[7]

• Dean Oliver, "one of the godfathers of NBA analytics",^[3] is a former Division Three player and assistant coach at Cal Tech. He is also a scout who has consulted with the Seattle SuperSonics, and he also served in the front office of the Denver Nuggets and the Sacramento Kings.