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Who is ‘Most Valuable’. Tyler Schatz Lawrence Mulcahy. There have been 53 MVPs in the NBA with the first being Bob Pettit in the 1956-57 season Since 1980, the selection of the MVP has been determined by sportswriters and broadcasters Before that, it was determined by the NBA players
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Who is ‘Most Valuable’ Tyler Schatz Lawrence Mulcahy
There have been 53 MVPs in the NBA with the first being Bob Pettit in the 1956-57 season • Since 1980, the selection of the MVP has been determined by sportswriters and broadcasters • Before that, it was determined by the NBA players • Both of these methods are subjective and Berri’s article tries to take a more objective approach to determine the MVP
The IBM MVP Award Formula • [(PTS - FGA + RBO + RBD + AST + STL + BLK - PF - TO + (t Wins x 10)) x 250] • [tPTS - tFGA + tRBO + tRBD + tAST + tSTL + tBLK - tPF - tTO] • This formula is a proportion of a players statistics vs. his team’s statistics to show the impact he has on his team • The IBM Award was last given out to Tim Duncan in after the 2001-2002 season and is no longer given out to NBA players
Activity • Use this formula to determine who should win the MVP this year: LeBron or D-Wade. • [(PTS - FGA + RBO + RBD + AST + STL + BLK - PF - TO + (t Wins x 10)) x 250] • [tPTS - tFGA + tRBO + tRBD + tAST + tSTL + tBLK - tPF - tTO] • P:\temp\IBM Award Formula.doc
MVP by Position • Does a certain position receive more MVP awards than the other positions? • To test this we will use frequency tables and the Chi-square goodness of fit test. • This statistic is the sum of the observed counts minus expected counts squared divided by the expected counts • H0: The data are consistent with a specified distribution. (observed counts = expected counts)Ha: The data are notconsistent with a specified distribution.
Analysis/Further Research • The χ2 stat gives a p-value<.0001, so we can conclude that a significantly higher number of centers have been selected • To investigate this further, we decided to separate the years the players(1956-1979) voted for the MVP vs. the years sportswriters determined(1980-Present)the MVP • It should be noted that the year sportswriters started choosing the MVP was also the year the three-point line was introduced
MVP by Conference • Have the two conferences received a significantly different number of MVP awards • To test this we will again use the Chi-square goodness of fit test
MVP by Conference continued • We determined that there is no significant difference in the number of MVPs chosen in the conferences, but is this true when the players determined the MVP?
Conclusions • The players determining the NBA MVP lead to a significantly higher number of centers being selected • a significantly higher number of players from the eastern conference were selected during this time period • The decision to switch to sportswriters has improved the selection process • A model to determine the MVP could work, but it’s hard to determine a players ‘value’ to a team solely through numbers.
Resources • Who is Most Valuable? Measuring the players production of wins in the National Basketball Association • www.basketball-reference.com • http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/software/dataplot/refman1/auxillar/chsqgood.htm