Interactive Basketball Shot Charts – Next Level Analytics
Basketball Shot Charts are a very useful way to visualize the various scoring opportunities for you or your opponents. But compared to what they could be, traditional Shot Charts lack some very valuable information. At Hoopsalytics, we’ve created a better Shot Chart system that can uncover more valuable insights for basketball coaches, as well as educating your players. Many of these features have never-before been added to Shot Charts.
And as with everything else in Hoopsalytics, you can view video clips of the shots you’ve highlighted in your Shot Chart.
Here’s a summary of the advanced analytic options available in the Hoopsalytics Shot Charts:
- Filter by Player
- Filter by Distance
- Filter by Selected Area
- Filter by Shot Type
- Filter by Offensive or Defensive Sets
- Show Rebound Tendencies
- Show Fouled Shots, Makes and Misses
Any of these data filters can be used in combination. So for example, you can see catch-and-shoot three-point shots from your best shooter from the left corner, and where the missed shot rebounds go. (The example at the start of this article shows this.)
The video below walks you through the options. Or keep reading below for more details on how each of these filters works…
Filter by Player
You can see the shots taken by each basketball player, or a group of players. Just select the player(s) from your roster, and only their shots will appear. Here are the shots taken by USF’s two star guards in 2021-2:
You can also exclude certain players, and see shots taken by everyone else. We’ve ticked “Exclude Selected Players” to get this:
Filter by Shot Type
Is your team more successful on catch-and-shoot versus off-the-dribble? How about runners? What distance and location should you practice these shots? Use the shot type selector to see where these shot types come from, and how successful they are.
Here are the pull-up three-point shots for USF Basketball from 2021-2:
Filter by Distance
Many coaches (including me) hate the long mid-range two point shot. You can see who is taking them, and what their success rate is. Just use the distance filter, and select the 2 Pt. shot type to see how those shots perform.
Filter by Selected Area
You can highlight an area of the basketball court and see the percentages and shots taken in that area. Here we isolate on left corner threes to see each player’s success rate:
You can also exclude a selected area. In this example, we can see how well shots outside of the middle fared:
Filter by Offensive or Defensive Sets
What kinds of shots are you giving up when playing your zone defense versus man-to-man? Or where are your successful shots occurring in your inbounds plays? You can see where you have these advantages or disadvantages.
By choosing an option in the Sets filter, we can see where my basketball team is successful when playing against a 2-3 zone defense:
Show Rebound Tendencies
My High School team had no idea that most rebounds go to the opposite side of the court, and some players didn’t believe me. Now you can show your team where rebounds occur from whatever shots you are viewing in the shot chart. Not only is this educational, but it can highlight tendencies from different shooters, and help your players anticipate where a rebound is most likely to occur.
Here are where the rebounds come from when our opponents take left-corner three-point shots:
By hovering over the grey and blue dots, you can see the type of rebound (offensive or defensive), as well as who got it.
Showing Fouled Shots, Makes and Misses
If you have players that draw shooting fouls frequently, you can see where these events occur in your shot chart (blue dots). Or just isolate on makes, misses, and fouled attempts.
My team has been pretty good at getting to the line on shooting fouls. Here’s where these attempts come from:
Summary
This level of interactivity in your basketball shot charts can give you and your players better and deeper insights into your team’s shooting strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your opponents. As an example for this season, I now know where the weak parts of our zone defense lie, and can address these in practice to tweak how we defend.
Let us know how you are using Interactive Shot Charts, either in the comments or by reaching out directly.