Sports Reference Blog

Archive for June, 2017

New Features Added to Hockey Reference Play Index

30th June 2017

We have added some new features to the Hockey Reference Play Index.

In the Player Season Finder, we have added filters for Draft Status and Amateur Team. This new features allow for searches such as:

Additionally, we have added a feature to the Player Game Finder, which allows you to filter by specific playoff series game numbers. For instance, you can now search for Most Goals in Stanley Cup Final Game 7.

We hope you enjoy these new features. Please let us know if you have any questions

Posted in Announcement, Hockey-Reference.com, Play Index | Comments Off on New Features Added to Hockey Reference Play Index

WNBA Players Added to Sports Reference Linker

22nd June 2017

We recently added WNBA players to our Linker Tool, which allows for bloggers to use our bookmarklet to instantly link their blogs to our player pages and then have their posts show up in the newsfeed section of the player's page. We hope to have the newsfeeds up and running on the WNBA player pages in the near future.

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Features, Linker | Comments Off on WNBA Players Added to Sports Reference Linker

Scouting the 2017 NBA Draft

19th June 2017

The 2017 NBA Playoffs are in the books and one thing is clear: people like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. The TV ratings reached record highs as two of the most dominant teams we've seen in NBA history rampaged through their respective conferences on the way to a showdown that featured plenty of memorable moments, even while lacking in suspense. Barring an unprecedented shakeup during the offseason, there's little reason to think we won't be seeing something a lot like this next year. However, for one night on Thursday, the basketball world will turn its attention to building a future without the Warriors and Cavs' dominance.

That's right, it's time for the 2017 NBA Draft because basketball never sleeps! This year's draft could be particularly important to the shape of the league's future, especially in light of the blockbuster trade between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers, giving the latter the number one pick while the former picked up an extra asset to potentially trade for a star.

For fans enmeshed in the NBA for the last few months, it might be hard to think back to the NCAA season, so consider this blog post a refresher on the top five prospects. However, as any fan of Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard will tell you, there's often talent to be found in the deeper parts of the draft. So, to pair with the big names, I'll also identify a player outside of the lottery who may have his own star-level upside. Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, CBB at Sports Reference | Comments Off on Scouting the 2017 NBA Draft

2017 MLB Draft Results Added

16th June 2017

We have posted the results of the recently completed 2017 MLB Draft.

Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Data, Draft, Features | Comments Off on 2017 MLB Draft Results Added

2017-18 NBA Free Agent Tracker Added

16th June 2017

In advance of July's NBA Free Agency season, we have added our 2017-18 NBA Free Agent Tracker, which we will keep updated (as best we can) as deals are agreed to and signed. The headliners of this year's free agency class are reigning champions Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, but something tells us they're not going anywhere.

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Data, Features | Comments Off on 2017-18 NBA Free Agent Tracker Added

NBA Finals Leaderboards Updated

15th June 2017

With the 2017 NBA Finals in the books, we've gone ahead and updated all of our NBA Finals leaderboards. This year's Finals was an important one from a historic perspective, as it saw LeBron James move from 7th to 3rd all-time in career points in the Finals. Along the way, he passed Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, among others.

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com | Comments Off on NBA Finals Leaderboards Updated

LeBron James When Facing Elimination

13th June 2017

UPDATED 5/23/2023

A quick blog post, just to save this table as a reference and for posterity...

A few years ago, we ran a blog post which featured a comparison of various players when facing elimination from the playoffs. At the time, LeBron James appeared to be objectively the best of the elite group we looked at. Since that time, he's played 11 more games facing elimination, winning seven of them. For his career, LeBron is now 14-112when facing elimination, with averages of 33.7 PPG, 10.7 RPG and 7.5 APG with an average Game Score of 27.1. For comparison's sake, Michael Jordan's average Game Score when facing elimination was 23.3. Furthermore, LeBron's 33.7 PPG is the highest in NBA history by a player facing elimination with more than ten such games (Jordan averaged 31.3 and Wilt Chamberlain averaged 31.1). Some point to the 2011 NBA Finals as a case of LeBron going out meekly (and they'd be right). But since then, he's faced elimination 18 times, winning 12 times and putting up these insane numbers: 35.5 PPG, 11.3 RPG and 7.6 APG, with an average Game Score of 30.1! Here are his lines for his 26 career games when facing playoff elimination, with links to each of the box scores if you'd like further details. And remember to bookmark this page the next time someone argues LeBron hasn't been a clutch performer.

Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Data, History, Playoffs | 1 Comment »

New Play Index Videos: Baseball-Reference Parts 1-2

8th June 2017

Hi everyone,

If you've been following our series of How-To videos for the site, you'll be excited to hear that we've released a couple more over the last few weeks. These videos are the first two parts of our in-depth look at Baseball-Reference's Play Index.

The B-R Play Index is pretty sophisticated, and has a lot of tools and features that the other sites don't. As such, we wanted to make some videos focusing on it specifically. Here's Part 1, about the Season and Game Finders: Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Baseball-Reference.com, How-To Videos, Play Index, Play Index 101 | Comments Off on New Play Index Videos: Baseball-Reference Parts 1-2

2017 NBA Draft Preview is Live

5th June 2017

While the 2017 NBA Finals are in full swing, we wouldn't blame anyone who isn't a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors for looking ahead to the 2017 NBA Draft. In fact, after the first two games, we wouldn't even blame Cavs fans, were it not for the fact that Cleveland doesn't have a draft pick this year.

Either way, to help you get ready for June 22, we've added our preview page for the Draft to the site! You can see the full draft order, as well as the expected return and the best players to be taken in every draft slot from one to sixty. We've also got college stats on all the top prospects, such as Markelle Fultz, Josh Jackson, and Lonzo Ball. And, for you Big Baller Brand aficionados, don't forget that College Basketball Reference's recent data update included the full college career of the true star of the 2017 Draft, LaVar Ball.

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, CBB at Sports Reference | Comments Off on 2017 NBA Draft Preview is Live

2017 NBA Finals Preview

1st June 2017

Sometimes, what makes sports wonderful is the unpredictability. No matter what game you like, you've probably had plenty of that in the last year: Blown 3-1 leads, a century-long curse overturned, a 5,000-to-1 shot winning the richest league in the world's most popular sport.

But sometimes what makes sports wonderful is that it gives us exactly what we want. 346 days ago, when the curtain dropped on the 2016 NBA Finals, there was one thing every basketball fan wanted. More of that, please.

Well, after a year of arguing about triple-doubles, cap spikes, resting players, and process trusting, we're getting what we asked for. It may be in the most Monkey's Paw way imaginable, but the trade-off for having this year's NBA Playoffs sapped of any energy or suspense is this series. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. The man who is perhaps the most talented player in NBA history squaring off with the team that is perhaps the most loaded the league has ever seen.

On paper, the Warriors should be enormous favorites. They enter the Finals with the best playoff point differential in NBA history, the fourth best regular season SRS in NBA history, and, oh yeah, four All-NBA caliber players including, arguably, the second and third best players in the league. It's a testament to the enormity of LeBron James' ability, and the ever-so-slightly underrated collection of complimentary players working in tandem with it, that it feels like the Cavs have a shot to do this.

But can they? Is it really possible for this Warriors team to lose four times in seven games? And what will the outcome mean for LeBron? For Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant? And for a league that's essentially spent an entire year on pause in order to pick up from the exact spot it left off last June? Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com | 2 Comments »