Global Sport Business Journal
Abstract
Dean Oliver’s Basketball Beyond Paper is a thoughtful and in-depth follow-up to his paradigm-shifting work in 2004, Basketball on Paper. Twenty years after Basketball on Paper laid the groundwork for possession-based efficiency metrics, Oliver returns with a deeper focus: incorporating the human side of the game. Rather than simply refining statistical models, Oliver argues that understanding motivation, emotional ups and downs, distractions, and team dynamics is just as critical to winning as traditional data analysis. Written with a direct and technical style, Oliver not only advocates for the importance of analytics in the transformation of how basketball is played, but also does so with engaging storytelling utilizing real-world examples. Basketball Beyond Paper offers a clear expansion of the field while remaining grounded in high-level practical basketball experience.
Recommended Citation
Goebert, Chad
(2025)
"Book Review: Basketball Beyond Paper,"
Global Sport Business Journal: Vol. 10:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/gsbj/vol10/iss1/7
Included in
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons, Sports Management Commons, Sports Studies Commons
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