The NBA already has stats that are arbitrarily decided by scorekeepers. Assists are random as far as I can tell. Steals and blocks are also inconsistently tabulated across the league. Since these things are already in the boxscore, I see no reason to not include additional defensive stats in there as well. Things like “shots prevented” (when a player plays such good defense that a player looking to score has to give up the ball) and “successful closeouts” (when a player closes out on a shooter and forces a pass) and other things of that nature.
I bring this up because I am beholden to boxscore stats. If it doesn’t appear in the boxscore, I don’t care about it, unless it’s a fight or other altercation. My unwillingness to look past well-defined stats in the stat sheet means that players who are active on the defensive side of the ball aren’t as revered on my channel as the players who are more scoring-oriented.
Players like Robert Covington.
Yes, Covington regularly scores enough points to get a highlight video based upon his offensive contributions alone. But these videos are missing a key component of his utility, which is his defensive acumen. I don’t have the time to trawl through games looking for defensive highlights that aren’t noted in the boxscore or play-by-play, but if those things WERE noted, then I would have no problem including them.
Can somebody with ties to Adam Silver pass along my idea for additional boxscore stats focused on defense? I’ve tried visiting his home and ringing his doorbell but every time I get within a hundred feet of his property I get tackled by big dudes who threaten me with guns. And then when I tell those guys about my genius ideas for the NBA it’s like they don’t even want to listen, they just stomp on me until I’m unconscious. Not cool.