I'm not a big scorebook watcher although I value analytics. How can that be?
Basketball is the ultimate team game. I think it was Red Auerbach who said, "it's not about putting the five best players on the court, but the five players who play best together." If you have reliable stats, you can gather a lot of information from assists, turnovers, assist-turnover ratio, shooting percentages, and rebounds. When I assist, I've tracked other stats like forced turnovers, screens leading to baskets, steals, and held balls. Advanced analytics look at combinations of players and their offensive and defensive ratings which is better.
For example, Jordan Mickey has a very high Player Efficiency Rating, but he's barely been on the court and mostly in garbage time. Those stats aren't scalable.
Imagine a player who is a secondary scorer but plays inconsistent individual and team defense, doesn't rebound, pass, screen, or handle the ball a lot. What's his role?
Contrast another player who isn't a big scorer, but is engaged in every other phase of the game - defending, setting up teammates, a presence on the floor and the bench. We really have to ask how the team functions in units.
Confidence and humility aren't mutually exclusive. We can and do value players far beyond the most obvious numbers. Some players produce because of they impact the game in critical ways at critical times...providing help or limiting a scorer. The scorebook tells you nothing of their worth.
Coaches see everything. Scorebook watchers see only a fraction of the game.
