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Paul George Isn’t A Fan of Analytics, Nerds

By Ben Gibson

Nov 13, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) questions a referees call during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Minnesota 107-103. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 13, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (13) questions a referees call during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Minnesota 107-103. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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SOUND THE ALARM! BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES NYLON CALCULUS!

WE’VE GOT AN ATTACK ON ANALYTICS COMING OUR WAY!

Paul George told Candace Buckner of the Indy Star recently that he isn’t a fan of analytics.

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"“I’m not a fan of analytics,” said George, who takes 4.9 shots per game from 15-19 feet, second only to Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin for most in the NBA.“The greatest player to ever play this game was a midrange jump shooter in Michael Jordan,” George continued. “At that time no one had nothing to say. It’s about what’s best for that player and what’s the skill set of that player. We have a lot of guys who are more than capable at shooting well from the midrange. So I don’t know what to say about analytics. It works for some systems. I’m not a believer of analytics. That’s just how it is.”So, analytics be damned. After all, by design, the Pacers’ strength can be found spread out from the midrange and beyond."

Wait, that’s it?

Paul George was certainly trying to make the point that he’s going to keep shooting from mid-range, but I don’t think this means one of the NBA’s star players is putting analytics under siege.

If you remember the past few years one of the better options in the Indiana Pacers’ arsenal was a 17-foot David West jumper. West made over half his shots from there. The point being that if you can make the shot, taking the shot is perfectly fine.  When you look at Paul George’s numbers over the past few seasons it looks like he’s shot around 40% from various mid-range distances.

2-Pt Field Goals3-Pt Field Goals
% of FGA by DistanceFG% by DistanceDunksCorner
SeasonMPFG%Dist.0-33-1010-1616 <30-33-1010-1616 <3%Ast’d%FGAMd.%Ast’d%3PA3P%
2010-111265.45314.0.301.096.104.149.655.368.439.475.362.09633.854.297.317
2011-121958.44014.2.297.094.092.150.621.367.356.313.440.08849.856.248.293
2012-132972.41915.5.241.085.116.159.629.250.372.369.440.06571.835.252.415
2013-142898.42415.8.208.084.150.191.597.360.402.392.362.05569.775.192.490
2014-1591.36717.0.204.041.143.163.400.000.429.250.333.0612.889.227.200
2015-16362.42916.2.132.121.165.253.625.545.267.435.436.0275.783.150.556
Career9546.42815.3.239.088.126.172.618.339.383.383.401.067229.817.230.404

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/16/2015.

Though last season and the start of this season pay be a bit too small of a sample size to put much stock in, it looks like he has been shooting well enough from those mid-ranges, but he could stand some improvement to make those attempts less of an analytics-driven ‘mistake’ and turn it into more of a weapon than ever. The other thing to notice is he doesn’t take too many shots from deep mid-range anyway, so it isn’t as if he’s just chucking and missing from there all the time.

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Candace Buckner did point out that the Pacers attempts near the basket (5 feet or less) rank last in the NBA with 24.1 attempts per game. Paul George’s shot distribution from that range has fallen from 20% to to 12.1% from there and that could be an area of concern for both him and the team going forward. Part of it might be that despite the recent success the Pacers are still trying to figure out exactly how their new offense should work, but it is still something to keep an eye on.

As long Paul George makes the shots he takes, it doesn’t matter whether he likes analytics or not.

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