These stats are pointless, in my opinion.

They paint a picture that is inaccurate in that it considers only one variable.

The best way to judge two-man pairings etc is to watch a few games, and see how players interact.

Statistics are dangerous, and I don't like the fact that inferences are drawn too readily from them

Example : Paul Rees, David Cooper - much more valuable than stats suggest.

Kobe Bryant - stats don't show how his self-centred attitude detracts from the team (except of course W/L% compared to previous years!)

I disagree. The public stats are only evaluating +/- on the scoreboard, but they can generate all sorts of stats including efficiency.

The effectiveness of Rees/Cooper would surely show up in the overall performance of the team (to an extent) on the scoreboard; i.e., limiting the output of the opposition.

The stats showing how players score their points would be far from pointless in accompanying game tapes as a method of scouting opposition players.

I doubt any scout would do their job based on numbers on a screen. They would be watching tapes of games.

As to the effectiveness of Rees/Cooper showing up on the scoreboard, well of course it will. If it wasn't showing up on the scoreboard, then it wouldn't be happening. You don't need a stat to tell you that

I do think stats have their place, but need to be taken with a grain of salt.

(By the way, I have no idea what that saying means)

Coaches (usually the assistants) in the NBA use stats extensively to work out the best on-court five to combat the line-ups used by opponents.

Come on Isaac.

how would you have any idea what the day to day workings of an NBA coach would be. I don't, and there would be very few that would apart from those who have been in an NBA organisation and more specificly, in the coaching staff.

Coaches probably use stats to some extent, but their use is limited. I don't think subs made during a game will be based on a statistic. But, maybe I'm wrong.

That approach would not allow on the spot decision making.

I think stats are more useful in a game like footy. ie 50% kicks are long and so forth

Read Mark Cuban's blog. He talks about in-depth stats all the time, including a lot of refereeing stats. Are travels more likely to be called in close games? Are more fouls let go in the first half?

There have been specific mentions of assistant and second assistant coaches doing a lot of statistical research about opponents.

I don't think they're absolutely essential in a local league or even in the NBL but the NBA is big money and absolutely every edge is crucial.

The Sixers players and coaches watch game tapes (well, DVDs now) and Breheny distributes statistics to each player in the lead-up to a game. Those sheets will include stats from the season, the last five games, a shot-chart, breakdown of scoring (left, right, from range, dunks, etc). For each player, there is a focus on their likely match-ups in the game. For someone like Paul Rees going into a game against the Tigers, this would be very obvious. For other players, it might vary.

A player is never going to rely entirely on those stats to make their game, but it would hardly hurt to be aware of the information.