Een one-page app die het concept Clutch Shot Performance in de NBA verduidelijkt.
Idea & Approach
The dataset contains information on 287 NBA (National Basketball Association) players, focusing on overall shot performance as well as performance in so-called clutch situations.
Naturally, I understand that scoring points from a few meters out without defenders nearby early in a game is much easier than making a game-winning shot from inside the paint while three or four defenders are closing in. And in the NBA, a vast amount of detailed data is recorded.
Idea
- Ask ChatGPT to explain as many of the specific values as possible that you don’t fully understand (even though a data dictionary is available).
- By asking follow-up questions, I eventually received a table showing the differences between a regular shot and a clutch shot.
The idea that followed was: “Why not build an app that explains what certain terms mean and provides interactive plots to help people visualize and understand them?”
Aanpak
The foundation of this app is a vertically scrolling presentation layout, based on a pattern shared on the Plotly community forum. The app also serves as a test to determine whether this vertical scrolling approach affects performance. So far, the answer appears to be no—though the app involves minimal data processing.
Each section (or topic) uses its own background color and a background image that has been converted to grayscale and saved with 10% transparency. The background image adds a bit of visual depth without becoming distracting.
The topics in the final app reflect my own exploration and attempt to understand the subject matter within the context of the NBA.
Result
The app contains:
- Storytelling with vertical scrolling as navigation
- Embedded video
- Two interactive plots (scatter and lollipop)
- Search functionality (e.g., look up the “Swings made per game” ranking for a player)
- An ordered list that starts counting from a value other than 1
- Imported Google Fonts
Figure Friday is an initiative from the Dash/Plotly community where, every Friday, a dataset is shared and participants create a visualization or small app to uncover insights from the data. The following Friday at 6:00 PM, a Zoom session is held where some participants explain the reasoning behind what they created. In the accompanying community thread, the code—and, where possible, a demo—are shared so that members can learn from one another.