Basketball stats glossary

A player who has played enough, and shot enough, for a rate stat to mean something. Without a floor, a rookie who takes one 3-pointer and makes it tops the 3P% leaderboard at 100% — and, worse, shifts everybody else's percentile down a notch.

Two conditions, both required. Presence: at least half the games her team has played, never fewer than 5 — so the rule holds in June as well as in September, and in every league we cover. Volume: a per-game floor that depends on the stat. Nothing extra for counting stats like points or rebounds; 12 minutes for anything built on possessions (ratings, USG%, AST%); 5 field-goal attempts for FG% and TS%, 1.5 three-point attempts for 3P%, 1.5 free throws for FT%.

Those shooting floors are the official WNBA qualification minimums converted to a per-game basis — 100 made field goals over a season is almost exactly 5 attempts a game.

An unqualified player is never hidden. Her row stays in the table and her numbers are shown; what she loses is the ranking — no percentile badge, no place in the chart, and she sorts to the bottom of the column. The Qualified button in the chart toolbar turns the whole thing off if you want to see everyone.

Off is what the subject produced. Def and Opp are two names for the same thing : what the opponent produced against them. OffTS% is your true shooting ; DefTS% and oTS% are the true shooting you allowed.

Net is the signed gap, Off minus Def. Positive is always better, which means two of them are deliberately flipped : NetTOV% is Def minus Off, because forcing turnovers is good and committing them isn't, and NetRB% compares your offensive rebounding to the offensive rebounding you conceded.

One asymmetry is worth knowing on player pages. A player's Off stats are her own box score. Her Def stats are what the opposing team did while she was on the floor — a five-player result, not an individual one. So a player's Net figure mixes an individual number with a lineup number. It's still the best available read on two-way impact, but it isn't a like-for-like subtraction.

Wherever you see Freq%, it's a share of attempts, not a rate of success. Rim Freq% 32% means a third of her shots come at the rim — it says nothing about whether she makes them. The FG% column right next to it answers that.

Frequencies within one family always total 100%, which is what makes them readable as a diet : six shot zones, or catch-and-shoot versus pull-up on threes.

A single shooting-efficiency number that combines 2-pointers, 3-pointers, and free throws. Unlike FG%, it gives 3PT shots their proper 50% bonus and accounts for how many free throws the player draws.

TS% = PTS / (2 × (FGA + 0.44 × FTA))

FG% adjusted for the fact a 3-pointer is worth 50% more than a 2-pointer. Lighter than TS% (it ignores free throws) but more honest than raw FG%.

eFG% = (FGM + 0.5 × 3PM) / FGA

How often a player gets to the line relative to their field goal attempts. A proxy for foul-drawing skill, paint pressure, and physicality.

FTr = FTA / FGA

Share of field goal attempts taken from beyond the arc. Tells you the shot diet — a guard at 0.65 lives behind the line, a center at 0.05 stays inside.

3PAr = 3PA / FGA

Every field goal attempt is filed into one of six locations, from the play-by-play shot coordinates :

Rim        2PT,  0–3 ft
Short Mid  2PT,  4–10 ft   (SMR)
Mid        2PT, 11–16 ft
Long Mid   2PT, 17 ft to the arc   (LMR)
Corner 3   3PT from either corner
Top 3      3PT everywhere else (above the break)

Distances are measured from the shot's court coordinates and rounded to the nearest foot, not read from the feed's own distance field — the two disagree by half a foot or more on the same shot. The rim cutoff of 3 ft was calibrated against Basketball-Reference : an earlier version cut at 4 ft and ran 15 points low on centers.

Each zone reports three things. FG% is accuracy inside the zone. Freq% is the share of all the player's attempts taken there — the six add up to 100%, so it describes a shot diet. AST% is the share of the makes in that zone that came off a teammate's pass : high at the rim means cuts and rolls, low means self-created.

The tables labelled 0-3 / 3-10 / 10-16 / 16-3P are the same six zones under Basketball-Reference's naming, not a second measurement. Zone AST% is only computed for a player's own shots — the opponent version always reads zero.

Splits three-point attempts into shots taken off the pass and shots the player created herself. Freq% is the split of her 3PA between the two ; FG% is accuracy within each.

Read this one with care. It is not optical tracking. The feed tags a shot with a descriptor — pullup, step back, fadeaway, turnaround — on roughly 23% of threes. A shot carrying one of those tags is filed as a pull-up ; everything else, tag or no tag, defaults to catch-and-shoot. So catch-and-shoot is the residual bucket and will be slightly overstated.

A cross-check on 200 games supports the split : 87% of the shots we call pull-ups have no assist attached, and 75% of the ones we call catch-and-shoot do. Directionally sound, not shot-by-shot exact.

Mean distance of all field goal attempts, in feet. A blunt one-number summary of shot selection : useful for spotting a big who has moved out to the arc, or a guard who has stopped settling.

AvgD = sum of shot distances / FGA

Attempts arriving without a distance still count in the denominator, so the figure runs slightly low. Opp AvgD is the same measure for the shots an opponent took — a defence that pushes it up is keeping people out of the paint.

« Layup » here means a shot from 0 to 3 feet — it is the Rim zone under another label, not a detection of the shot's mechanics. A dunk, a tip-in and a floater from three feet all count.

Layup %FGA is the share of attempts taken there. Layups Md is the number made : a season total on player pages, a per-game figure on team pages.

F2P% and F3P% are the share of attempts taken from two and from three — they add to 100%. F3P% is the same number as 3PAr, written as a percentage. 2P% is accuracy inside the arc, the counterpart to 3P%.

The share of a team's two-pointers and three-pointers, teammates only, that this player assisted. It separates the guard who feeds shooters from the one who feeds cutters.

The numerator only counts passes thrown while she was on the floor, while the denominator covers every game the team played. A player who missed games will read low.

Points scored in the paint, on the fast break, on second chances after an offensive rebound, and by players off the bench. Same points, sorted by how they were created — two teams can score 85 and get there in opposite ways.

Opp PtsOffTOV is the mirror : points the opponent scored off your turnovers. The three categories overlap by design — a fast-break layup off a steal counts in all three.

Points scored per 100 possessions. Pace-neutral, so a slow team can still have an elite ORtg. Team-level ORtg above 115 is excellent in the modern WNBA / NBA / NCAA contexts. At the player level, Metrics shows the individual Dean Oliver rating : points produced per 100 possessions the player uses (not the team's score while they're on court).

ORtg = 100 × PTS / Possessions

Points allowed per 100 possessions. Same logic as ORtg, lower is better. Combined with ORtg, gives the cleanest snapshot of a team's two-way quality. Player-level DRtg is the individual Dean Oliver estimate of points allowed per 100 defensive possessions.

DRtg = 100 × PTS allowed / Possessions

Simply ORtg − DRtg. A positive number means the team scores more than it allows per 100 possessions. The single best one-number team summary.

Net Rtg = ORtg − DRtg

Same idea as ORtg, but expressed per single possession (so ORtg / 100). Often used in lineup and play-type contexts because individual possessions are the natural unit there.

Estimated possessions a team plays per 40 / 48 minutes. High pace = lots of possessions, fast tempo. Pace doesn't make a team better — it just inflates the box score. ORtg / DRtg strip pace out.

The denominator is minutes actually played, not games, so an overtime night doesn't inflate the number.

Each of these is one of the Four Factors, measured for you and for your opponent, then subtracted. They answer « did we win this particular battle ? » rather than « how good were we at it ? ». A team can shoot poorly and still post a positive NetTS% if it made the other side shoot worse.

NetTS%  = OffTS%  − DefTS%
NetAST% = OffAST% − DefAST%
NetTOV% = DefTOV% − OffTOV%   (flipped : forcing them is good)
NetRB%  = OffORB% − the ORB% you conceded
NetFTR  = OffFTR  − DefFTR

Zero is average, positive is better, and the unit is percentage points — a NetTS% of +4 means four points of true shooting above what you allow. NetEff is the same number as NetTS%, kept under a second name on the league tables.

Combines the three ways a team wins extra trips — offensive rebounding, forcing turnovers, defensive rebounding — against the one way it loses them, its own turnovers. Positive means you finish the night having played more possessions than the opponent.

NetPoss = OffORB% + DefTOV% + DefDRB% − OffTOV% − 100

The −100 is what puts average at zero : a rebound always goes to one side or the other, so OffORB% and DefDRB% add up to about 100 before anything else is counted.

The figure is centred on zero everywhere : +5 means you played five percentage points more possessions than the opponent, −3 means the reverse.

How much better or worse than league average opponents have shot from three while this player or team was on the floor. Positive means they have missed more than expected.

3PLuck = league average opponent 3P% − opponent 3P% against you

Contesting a three-pointer moves its odds a little ; whether it drops is mostly out of anyone's hands. Treat a large 3PLuck as a warning that a defensive rating is about to regress, not as a skill.

Dean Oliver's four levers of winning : shooting (eFG%), turnovers (TOV%), offensive rebounding (ORB%), and getting to the line (FT/FGA). Each side of the ball has the same four — Metrics shows both for every team.

Dean Oliver's "how often a possession the player uses ends in at least one point". It rewards efficiency and ball security in one number : a possession that ends in a turnover, or in a miss with no offensive rebound / free throw, does not count. Higher = fewer wasted possessions.

Floor% = Scoring Possessions / Total Possessions

Share of a player's points that came off a teammate's assist — i.e. scored without creating the shot herself. High for cutters, spot-up shooters and screen-runners ; low for isolation / pick-and-roll creators. Complements Astd% (which is about made shots, not points).

OffBallScoring% = 100 × (PTS via assist) / PTS

Share of team possessions a player "uses" by shooting, getting fouled, or turning the ball over while on the floor. League average is 20% (five players → 100%). Stars sit around 28–32%, role players 12–15%.

Estimated share of teammate field goals a player assisted while on the floor (Dean Oliver). Better than raw AST/G because it adjusts for pace and minutes. Do not confuse with Astd% below : AST% measures what she creates for others, Astd% measures how often she is set up.

Share of a player's own made field goals that came off a teammate's assist. A shot-creation signal, not a playmaking one : self-creating guards run low (they make their own looks), spot-up shooters and rim- runners run high. Shown on the Offense tab — distinct from AST% (Dean Oliver) on the Playmaking tab.

Astd% = 100 × (assisted FGM) / FGM

AST% divided by USG%. A quick playmaker-vs-scorer profile : above 1.0 the player creates more for teammates than she uses possessions herself (pure point guards sit well above 1) ; well below 1 signals a finisher / scorer profile.

AST:USG = AST% / USG%

Assists per turnover. The oldest ball-security number there is, and still the most readable : above 2 is careful, below 1 is loose. It says nothing about volume — a player who never passes posts a fine ratio.

AST/TO = AST / TOV

A player with zero turnovers shows a dash rather than infinity.

Of everything a player does with the ball — shooting, drawing fouls, passing, losing it — the share that ends in an assist. Unlike AST/TO it accounts for volume, so a high-usage guard and a bench passer can be compared directly.

AstRatio = 100 × AST / (FGA + 0.44 × FTA + AST + TOV)

The share of her team's made field goals that she assisted. Close cousin of AST%, with one difference that matters : AST% adjusts for minutes played, this one doesn't. Read AST% for a rate, read this for a raw share of the team's offence.

%TmFGM AST = 100 × AST / team FGM

Of the possessions her team played while she was on the floor, the share in which she is visibly involved — a shot, a free throw, an assist, a turnover, an offensive rebound, or a foul drawn. OffBall% is the remainder ; Touch/Poss counts the involvements rather than the possessions.

OnBall% = 100 × possessions with at least one involvement
                / possessions played on court

This is a proxy, and a rough one — around 60 to 70% accurate. The play-by-play only records events that end or mark a possession. A player who catches the ball, swings it and doesn't get an assist leaves no trace, so that possession counts as off-ball. Dribbles, post entries and simple passes are invisible.

The bias is the same for everyone, so comparing players works even though the absolute figure doesn't. A fifteen-point gap between a guard and a wing is real ; two points is noise.

Turnovers per 100 plays (shooting plus FT trips plus turnovers). A high-usage guard at 12% is excellent; over 18% is a problem.

TOV% = 100 × TOV / (FGA + 0.44 × FTA + TOV)

Share of available offensive rebounds a player grabs while on the floor. More signal than raw ORB/G because it controls for minutes and missed shots.

Share of available defensive rebounds grabbed. Closing out possessions on the glass is one of the four winning factors (Four Factors).

Combined ORB% + DRB%, weighted by opportunities. A clean one-number rebounding rate.

Share of opponent possessions ended by the player's steal. Pace-neutral equivalent of STL/G.

Share of opponent 2-point attempts blocked while on the floor. The cleanest individual rim-protection signal in the box score.

Blocks divided by personal fouls. A discipline read on rim protectors : two players can block the same number of shots, but the one doing it without fouling stays on the floor in the fourth quarter.

BLK/PF = BLK / PF

Charges counts offensive fouls she drew — the willingness to step in front of a driver, which shows up nowhere else in a box score. PFD counts every foul drawn, on either end : a scorer's ability to get to the line, mostly.

Both are per game. Charges depend on the feed tagging the fouled player, so treat a zero as « none recorded » rather than a certainty.

Field goal attempts the opponent took per game while she was on the floor. A volume, not a rate — a starter will always show more than a reserve. Read it next to the opponent shooting percentages, where it tells you how big the sample behind them is.

A lineup's offensive PPP minus defensive PPP. Positive = the 5-player combination outscores the opponent per possession when together. Sample size matters — Metrics shows minutes played alongside the rate.

Team's Net Rtg when player X is on the court minus Net Rtg when off. Strong positive signal that the player elevates the team — though it conflates lineup quality with the player themselves.

Point differential while the player is on the floor. Noisy at small samples but useful as a context check on box-score stats.

Each axis blends several stats : the axis value is the average of the player's league percentiles for those stats, computed within her position group (guards vs guards, etc.). Composition — Scoring : USG%, Off PPP, FGA, PTS. Playmaking : AST%, AST:USG, AST/TO, Touches/Poss, On-ball %, TOV% (inverted), Assist Ratio. Rebounding : DRB%, ORB. Defense : STL, BLK, DREB, Charges/G, BLK/PF. Efficiency : USG%, TS%, eFG%, Off PPP. Volume : USG%, AST%, TOV% (inverted). TOV% enters inverted so that a high value always reads as "good" (protects the ball).

axis = mean(percentile(stat₁) … percentile(statₙ))

Shown when a player has 2+ seasons. Same six axes, but each underlying percentile is averaged across seasons, weighted by playing time — so a 60-minute rookie year barely moves the career shape.

career percentile = Σ (pctᵢ × MINᵢ × GPᵢ) / Σ (MINᵢ × GPᵢ)

One offensive trip ending with a made shot, defensive rebound, or turnover. Offensive rebounds extend the same possession. Estimated possessions = FGA + 0.44 × FTA − ORB + TOV.

Points per possession on a specific play type (transition, pick-and-roll ball-handler, post-up, spot-up, etc.). Surfaces which actions a player or team actually wins on.

Why you won't find it here: play types are hand- or model-tagged per possession by a proprietary provider. Our event log doesn't label them. The closest thing on Metrics is the possession-level efficiency split (OffRtg / DefRtg / PPP on-court) plus the fast-break and second-chance context flags.

Expected eFG% on a shot given location, defender distance, shot clock, and shooter movement. Tells you whether a shot was open or contested — not just whether it went in.

Why you won't find it here: defender distance and shot clock come from optical tracking (every player's position, 25× per second) — a proprietary feed we don't have. Our play-by-play records events, not positions, so it carries the shot location but never the defender's. What Metrics does give you is shot selection: attempt frequency and accuracy by zone (corner 3, above the break, mid-range, at the rim).