Plus/minus in basketball

[mr12182]

Could someone please explain this "statistic" that is now included in an individual's stats for a game?
I'm old so be kind and gentle in your explanation. TIA

 

[funnyfletcher]

Could someone please explain this "statistic" that is now included in an individual's stats for a game?
I'm old so be kind and gentle in your explanation. TIA

It’s the difference in the score when that certain player is in or out of the game. For example if Iowa put me in for two minutes the other team would probably go on a 13-0 run. So I would be -13

 

[BBHawk]

It’s the difference in the score when that certain player is in or out of the game. For example if Iowa put me in for two minutes the other team would probably go on a 13-0 run. So I would be -13

As would most posters. 🙂

 

[Hawkstrat]

I don't think +/- is well thought of anymore as an individual stat.

 

[SSG T]

I don't think +/- is well thought off anymore as an individual stat.

It's OK over a period of time, specifically longer stretches. It's really not useful for an individual game because there are too many other variables

 

[unoHawkeye]

It's OK over a period of time, specifically longer stretches. It's really not useful for an individual game because there are too many other variables

Yep. If you look at Iowa players’ +/- (BPM under “advanced” if you want to look on SportsReference) for the duration of last year, they fairly well reflect who the best and worst players were. Of course, you need to remove all the players who didn’t log substantial minutes.

…And consider that Toussaint had an absurdly short leash, and would have bad stretches only to get pulled for the game with no chance at redemption *stirs pot*

 

[mr12182]

Thanks. Am amazed they can keep track of all that, but I am old. I learned something today.

 

[Titanhawk2]

Seems like an irrelevant stat unless it takes into account who else you're on the court with at the time.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

I think it is far more useful in sports with less scoring like hockey. In basketball the stat is constantly changing because of buckets being scored and it depends too much on situation and teammates on the floor. In hockey it only changes a few times per game, so you can see if a forward has a larger +/- then they are having a major impact in scoring.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Seems like an irrelevant stat unless it takes into account who else you're on the court with at the time.

There are places that track this data. Like others have said, in an individual game, looking at just the player, it's not all that useful. But you can go to this site and select Iowa as the team and see the numbers for last year.

EvanMiya CBB Analytics

Advanced college basketball analytics, home of the Bayesian Performance Rating

evanmiya.com

This site also allows you to see which 5-man combinations and which 2-player combinations were the most efficient. The most efficient Iowa lineup, by far, last year, was Garza/Wieskamp/Frederick/Bohannon/Murray.

The most-efficient two-person pairs that were the most efficient were somewhat surprising. Keegan Murray, Patrick McC and Toussaint all should have played more minutes. Conor was 5th in minutes played and 9th in individual BPR FYI.