HomeInnovative Basketball Analysis for Coaches, Scouts, and Fans
"Oliver's book provides an insightful framework for basketball. His approach highlights and simplifies the basic goals of team offenses and defenses, with an interesting description of how teamwork among players with different roles can be evaluated. This book is a unique and surprisingly practical addition to a coach's library."
- Dean Smith, former UNC coach
"Excellent writing. There are a lot of math guys who just rush from the numbers to the conclusion. . .they'll tell you that Shaq is a real good player but his team would win a couple more games a year if he could hit a free throw. Dean is more than that; he's really struggling to understand the actual problem, rather than the statistical after-image of it. I learn a lot by reading him."
- Bill James, author Baseball Abstract
"Basketball On Paper aims to lay out new measures for examining team and player performance and must be considered the finest effort in this regard yet seen for basketball."
- Roland Beech, 82games.com
"Oliver goes beyond stats to dissect what it takes to win. His breezy style makes for enjoyable reading, but there are plenty of points of wisdom as well. This book can be appreciated by fans, players, coaches, and executives, but more importantly it can be used as a textbook for all these groups. You are sure to learn something you didn't know about basketball here.
- Pete Palmer, co-author of The Hidden Game of Football and The Hidden Game of Baseball
"Dean Oliver looks at basketball with a fresh perspective. If you want a new way to analyze the game, this book is for you. You'll never watch a game the same way again. We use his stuff, and it helps us."
- Yvan Kelly, scout, Seattle Supersonics