Identifying statistics and analytics that aren’t influenced by outside factors in sports is no easy task.
I have recently created a formula, however, that filters out a given team’s strength in order to determine how much true value a player holds. I call it Individual Efficiency Margin.
For those who aren’t familiar with tempo-free stats, basketball has now been boiled down to possession-by-possession stats to better understand the game, most notably showcased by the highly popularized efficiency ratings - complex measures of points scored/allowed per 100 possessions. As far as wins and losses are concerned, the stat is fairly simple: if a team’s offensive efficiency rating is higher than its defensive rating, the team will always win.