The Midrange Theory, Seth Partnow
The Midrange Theory, Seth Partnow
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The Midrange Theory
Basketball’s Evolution in the Age of Analytics

Author: Seth Partnow

Narrator: Mike Lenz

Unabridged: 8 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/19/2022


Synopsis

At its core, the goal of any basketball team is relatively simple: take and make good shots while preventing the opponent from doing the same. But what is a "good" shot?

The concept of basketball "analytics" has been lauded, derided, and misunderstood. The incorporation of more data into NBA decision-making has been credited—or blamed—for everything from the death of the traditional center to the proliferation of three-point shooting to the alleged abandonment of the area of the court known as the midrange.

In The Midrange Theory, Seth Partnow, NBA analyst for The Athletic and former director of basketball research for the Milwaukee Bucks, explains how numbers have affected the modern NBA game, and how those numbers urge us toward thinking about it in new ways.

● Why some players succeed in the playoffs while others don't

● How NBA teams think about constructing their rosters through the draft and free agency

● The difficulty in measuring defensive achievement

From shot selection to evaluating prospects to considering aesthetics and ethics while analyzing the box scores, Partnow deftly explores where the NBA is now, how it got here, and where it might be going next.

About Seth Partnow

Seth Partnow covers the NBA and basketball analytics for The Athletic. He is the former director of basketball research for the Milwaukee Bucks.


Reviews

Look, okay, yes, I'm a nerd. I'm not even a basketball fan and I've just read a book about statistical analytics in basketball. I just like sports and I just like numbers, okay?......more

Explained a lot of the past decade’s stylistic shift in an easy to follow manner. That being said the amount of footnotes were distracting and rarely if ever helpful. Would be much more enjoyable if the author wasn’t trying to write an NBA version of Pale Fire......more

Goodreads review by MIKE

Pros: 1. The book provides a compelling theory as to why the midrange has "died" in the NBA. Curry alone isn't responsible for this shift. It was initiated with the introduction of zone defenses, which made it to where teams could "straddle" around a center, resulting in an increase of kick-outs to p......more