NBA 2022-23 Season Project - Part I (using Tableau)

Project Description
I have a friend who spends a lot of time with the NBA (by his own admission). So I was very interested to ‘nothing but net’ this NBA project and share it with him.

I used NBA data from basketball-reference.com to gather some insights into the 2022-23 season. This is Part I of my analysis. Part II is coming soon!

Project Summary

• Joel Embiid was the player with the highest number of MVP votes. Why?
• The Sacramento Kings had the most overall points during the season. They made the playoffs but weren’t the champs.
• The Kings also were one of three teams that had five players who scored more than 1,000 points in the season.
• Point guards provide the most assists. But if you are listing leaders, you also have to include centers Jokic and Sabonis, who are assist machines.
  
  Questions and Insights
  
  Total Points, Assists, and Rebounds by Position
  A Bubble plot allows us to see lots of information at once. I used total points and total assists as the X and Y axes, respectively. The size of the bubble represents rebounds and the color of the bubble show the player’s position. Jayson Tatum had the most total points. He had more assists than Joel Embiid but Embiid had more rebounds (670 vs. 649).
  

Yet, Embiid was the 2022-23 MVP. Why?

Embiid had the most average points per game and had an excellent playoff run in addition to his stellar regular season. He was the runaway choice for MVP with 73 first-place votes to Nikola Jokic’s 15 first place votes. The graph below shows average points per game instead of total.


Team Total Points
The Scramento Kings scored the most points overall as a team in 2022-23. They made the playoffs but were knocked out by Golden State in the first round. The Kings also had five players with 1,000 points or more. Only two other teams had that same number. But, in the end, it matters in which games you score all those points! 



Assists by Position
Which positions provide the most assists? Point guards lead the way in that category. But if you are listing leaders, you also have to include centers Jokic and Sabonis, who are assist machines.

Who shoots the most threes?
If you want to know which positions shoot the most three pointers for each team, here’s a table for you. This would make an excellent pocket card to keep nearby for every game!

In 2022-23, teams had to watch out for Boston center, Al Horford (44.6%), and Memphis shooting guard, Luke Kennard (49.4%). They were the most accurate 3 point shooters in the league. In 2023-2024 so far, the Suns Grayson Allen is leading the way with 48.1% accuracy.

Stay tuned to this channel for the second part of my NBA study, in which I try to provide some answers to specific questions from the biggest NBA fan I know! Let me know what else you would like to know!

I am looking for a full-time data analyst position, so if you know of an opportunity, please contact me.

Thanks for reading!