Evaluating NBA player performance using bounded integer data envelopment analysis

ABSTRACT

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) assumes that data are continuous. However, there are situations where data are integers and bounded. For example, in basketball games, the total number of points that a player has scored is an integer and cannot exceed three times of the number of point field goals that a player has attempted. Without modelling the correct data type, the DEA results can be biased and erroneous. The current paper applies a bounded integer DEA model to evaluating the performance of National Basketball Association (NBA) players when bounded integer data exist. As a result, we correctly capture the data type. The current study also develops a super-efficiency measure under the bounded integer data. The bounded integer data problem is illustrated with data involving a set of NBA shooting guards in the 2013–2014 season.

KEYWORDS:

• Data envelopment analysis (DEA)
• efficiency
• performance
• bounded
• integer
• NBA

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants (Nos. 71271196, 71471053, 71601064), the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71121061), the Fund for International Cooperation and Exchange of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71110107024), and the Foundation of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education (No. 13YJC790081). This paper was finished when Ya Chen was visiting Worcester Polytechnic Institute with financial support from the China Scholarship Council.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71271196], [grant number 71471053]; Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71121061]; International Cooperation and Exchange of the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71110107024]; Foundation of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education [grant number 13YJC790081]; China Scholarship Council.