If you’ve ever wondered where the “Four Factors” statistical basketball categories comes from on your favorite stats site, it stems from the mind of statistician Dean Oliver. Author of Basketball on Paper, Oliver is often credited for accelerating the advanced metrics in basketball. He spent time in front offices across the league, but his rudimentary answer to “How do teams win basketball games?” remains a stout baseline for stat heads. For the uninformed, his formula involves four different categories with a particular weight assigned to their individual importance:
- Shooting (40%)
- Turnovers (25%)
- Rebounding (20%)
- Free Throws (15%)
I won’t follow it to a T, but I’m using Oliver’s formula as a jumping-off point to examine four factors to track in the Milwaukee Bucks first round series against the Detroit Pistons.