Getting Started

[dcheek36]

Hi - I'm new to the board and new to APBRmetrics frankly. I'm an avid basketball fan and experienced software and web developer so combining both passions lead me to start tinkering with stats. I've read hours of online articles and have ordered Dean Oliver's book. Currently I am reading Stumbling on Wins and that has helped invoke me to delve further into the stats realm. The biggest hurdle I have had to date is getting free (moral/legal) access to NBA data. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way for someone just interested in stats for personal learning to obtain team and player data? I've got a small database setup from csv files I was able to obtain however its painful to keep getting the database updated regularly and that task has really taken from my time and energy to learn more.

Thanks!

[v-zero]

My advice would be to write a scraper for ESPN or NBA.com, since hitting those servers is likely to barely show up in the grand scheme of things. Most data you could want is available in some form there. I don't know of a site that is kept well up to date with easily downloadable data.

I would also advise against placing any stock in the techniques used, or conclusions drawn in Wages Of Wins and Stumbling On Wins. It's a decent way to get an idea of some method, but it's not what it is advertised as. I own and have read both, before anybody accuses me of an agenda.

I really should get to selling those.

[DSMok1]

The biggest hurdle I have had to date is getting free (moral/legal) access to NBA data. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way for someone just interested in stats for personal learning to obtain team and player data?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/ is easily the best site, in my opinion, for scraping and compiling data. It is the only site I use currently as a source.