NBA-Power-Partnership-Analysis

In this project, we want to learn why are certain basketball teams are successful. The 19-20 Lakers champion team was used as an example.

Introduction

Looking back at the 2019-20 season, it marked the inaugural season for a basketball duo playing together for the Los Angeles Lakers. They immediately showcased their dominance in the league by clinching the NBA championship. Aged 35 and 26, these two stars could score an average of 51.4 points combined in a game (LBJ: 25.3ppg / AD: 26.1ppg). The pairing stays on the court for about 25 minutes per game on average, and outscores opponents by 11.05 points per 100 possessions when together. Undoubtedly, they stand as one of the best 'power partnerships' in the league. Therefore, we believe that the 19-20 Lakers team would serve as an excellent starting point for us to address the two main questions in this assignment: (1) How does a team best utilize a 'power partnership'? (2) Do great players make their teammates better?

Findings

• LBJ and AD consistently play together during specific game periods, like the first half of the 1st and 3rd quarters, as well as the last five minutes of the game.
• LBJ and AD take turns playing on the court, leading the team when the other is not. It's rare for both to be off the court together.
• The average point difference stays stable and balanced throughout the game, with a higher percentage of positive performance.

Conclusion - What’s the Secret Recipe?

The 19-20 Lakers developed a successful on-court strategy

• Consistent pattern and reasonable load management
• Appropriate scheduling of playing and rest time

Deep bench to help team survive the grind of season

• Lakers has multiple talented and experienced bench players, such as Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso, and Dwight Howard to maintain competitiveness when the star players are off the court. (the bench net rating ranked the 2nd among all team)
• The coach is renowned for expertise in developing defensive systems that can adapt to various compositions.

Control the pace, control the game

• There is no apparent correlation between the on-court arrangement and the team's performance.
• However, this pattern secures a consistent positive point difference by managing each aspect of team composition.

How they make this Lakers team better?

To investigate the individual and combined impacts of LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the team, we have chosen to compare the team's performance using five metrics. While individual performances of LeBron James and Anthony Davis are also strong (e.g. Teammate_FG% is the highest (48.28%) when only LeBron is on the field), the team's performance seems to be maximized when both players are on the court together (Highest Net_ratings (outscores opponents by 11.05 points per 100 possessions) and Plus/Minus (10.44)).