What is MSR?

Like it or not, Kirk Goldsberry’s shot chart depiction shows how the game of basketball has changed over the last 2 decades. This was a movement and now is the new norm.

Versatility on both sides of the ball has never been more important in the game of basketball, especially at the highest level. This is why I felt there needed to be a metric that defined it very specifically.

Welcome to Modern Skill Rating.

Much has been made in recent years of how the game of basketball has changed in the “modern” sense. Even though I still believe that the game will always have a need for the ability for players to get “tough buckets” in the form of post ups and offensive rebound putbacks especially in the playoffs, the modern regular season player needs to possess the correct bevy of skills to be productive. And in this day and age the most important element of production is “efficient volume” - being able to produce in mass, but with efficiency.

In addition, there wasn’t a metric that existed to my knowledge that blended versatility between bigs, wings and smalls into one tangible number. This accomplishes that. Anthony Davis, Karl Towns, Jokic, Gobert, Bam Adebayo are all in the top 50 with Lebron, Jimmy Butler, Giannis, Kawhi and Siakim, who sit alongside Harden, Chris Paul, Luka, Steph Curry, Kyle Lowry and Devin Booker.  

I came up with this idea based on my years of coaching at the High School level as well as my years learning to scout at the NBA level. While coaching at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, NY (from 2003-2008), who plays in the country’s best HS league in the country (CHSAA), I learned several things that factored into my formula. As fate would have it, and as I moved on to learning scouting from Ryan Blake (2010-2019), the data that we collected as coaches was also being collected by the NBA’s partner Synergy Sports. What we knew as coaches were the package of skills necessary to compete at the highest high school level. In addition, if we had a player who altered the success of our “combination data” i.e. a player who was a net negative in too many 5,4, or 3 man combinations then we could identify that player or players as the “common denominator”. 

When I was working for SNY as the first fully-credentialed digital content producer in the history of Madison Square Garden, I had the chance to watch Mike D’Antoni’s modern offense first hand in practice. I did a similar test on that team via an forward thinking website called 82games.com, which was built by Roland Beech. Roland was hired by Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks prior to their winning of the championship in 2010.  In the 2011-12 season Amar’e Stoudemire was a net negative in every 5-man combination he played with. He was a significant problem for the team because of his defensive inadequacies that often went overlooked because he was one of the team’s stars. The team had to build AROUND these deficiencies, which seemed counterproductive. While they had success in 2012-13 it was unsustainable in large part because of this fact.    

What I want to make abundantly clear is that I believe that I believe I am an “eye test” evaluator first based on overall experience, but I’ve learned to blend that ability with valid numbers. That’s why I’m really proud of what I’ve built here. Here are the factors built into the MSR concept and why they are chosen. These can be amended based off of opinion, but I believe we’ve diligently covered the concept to answer any criticisms.  

Perhaps the most validating result of the data collected into the MSR formula is the fact that the rankings mirror the game’s best players with no real outliers. For example, Davis Bertans leads one category (9.8 PPG off catch and shoot) slightly edging out Duncan Robinson (9.6), but it doesn’t skew his MSR 9.38 (60th overall). Jonas Vlančiūnas’ 16 PIE (11th in NBA)  doesn’t skew his overall MSR (89th) and Spencer Dinwiddie’s 17.1 Drives per game (8th in the NBA) doesn’t skew his MSR (100th).

And so on. 

This site will take you through a daily journey of the modern game, defining players by its Modern Skills. I hope we continue on this journey together as learning about the game we love so much can be as much fun as watching it.

At least I think it is…

Welcome to ModernNBA.com

Your Friend in Hoops,

-Tommy Dee