The National Basketball Association (NBA) utilizes advanced sports analytics in order to improve the game of basketball and inform coaches and players of trends within the league. The ball screen has become one of the most common actions for offenses in the NBA, drawing the attention of sports researchers. For the first time, the NBA shared player positioning data with the authors in order to research this new field of interest. Although multiple studies have analyzed the effectiveness of ball screens within the game of basketball, none of these studies have analyzed the factor of spacing and its impact on success. This paper explores the relationship between the positioning of offensive players during a ball screen and its impact on the success of the possession by analyzing geospatial data, to include the position of each offensive player during a ball screen, from approximately 40 games of five different NBA teams (which have been deidentified). This paper uses statistical tests to examine if there are certain zone combinations that better correlate to a successful possession than others, as well as determining whether use of zone combinations differ between the five teams. Additionally, research into the impact of the origin of the screen is presented to determine if it will influence a successful possession. This analysis can be used by NBA coaches and players to inform offensive strategies and improve the way the game of basketball is played and understood.
Ball Screen Spacing: A Study on the Positioning of Players During a Ball Screen in Relation to a Successful Possession