This monthly article contains the best 10 short researches that our Research Analysts publish on Statathlon’s Social Media every day. This month’s wrap up contains various topics: NBA statistics, EFL financial indexes, Neuroathletic techniques, Serie A records and more.
Data Analysis
30/10/2017: Lonzo Ball is one of the players to watch this year. The 20 – year old rookie had already made a name for himself before making his official NBA debut. Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, expecting him to become their next franchise player.
Ball was named MVP of Las Vegas Summer League, and on October 20 against the Suns he was one assist away from a triple double, missing therefore the chance to become the youngest player with that achievement. After 6 appearances he is averaging 10 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game. Only one player in history finished the season with at least 10 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists and won the Rookie of the Year award : Oscar Robertson.
23/10/2017: Benevento has lost all 9 games in Italian Serie A this year. It is the only team in Europe playing in the top division of its country that hasn’t managed to secure any point so far. After their latest lose against Fiorentina, now they hold the record for the most consecutive losses to start a Serie A season.
Among the top 5 divisions in Europe (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France), Sunderland from England holds the record for the most consecutive losses ever. During the 2002 – 2003 season, it lost 15 games in a row, as well as the first 5 games upon their return to Premier League.
22/10/2017: If Giannis Antetokounmpo takes the MVP trophy, he will be the first ever to achieve it with 115 points in the first 3 regular season games and only 1 three-pointer. MVPs scored more than “Greek Freak” were Westrbrook last year (116 pts/ 8 3PM) and Curry (118 pts/ 17 3PM, season 2015-16). The last MVP without a 3 pointer in his first three games was LeBron James back in 2011.
25/10/2017: The NBA season started with a lot of injuries. The current injury report includes 62 players (basketball-reference) and according to 2016-2017 season they average 10,18 points, 2,29 assists and 4,33 rebounds.
Celtics’ injured players have 15,5 points, 3,36 assists and 4,63 rebounds and Hornets’ injured players have 10,3 points, 2,85 assists and 5,77 rebounds.
A possible starting line-up with injured players would be:
PG: Isaiah Thomas (28,9 pts/ 5,9 ast/ 2,7 rb)
SG: Chris Paul (18,1 pts/ 9,2 ast/ 5 rb)
SF: Kawhi Leonard (25,5 pts/ 3,5 ast/ 5,8 rb)
PF: Jabari Parker (20,1 pts/ 2,8 ast/ 6,2 rb)
C: Hassan Whiteside (17 pts/ 0,7 ast/ 14,1 rb)
24/10/2017: Neymar’s transfer is the most expensive in football’s history. It is possible for Neymar to be announced as the most expensive transfer of the decade. No other Brazilian player has succeeded this achievement, so far.
Italy is the country with the most expensive players per decade (Pietro Anastasi, Paulo Rossi & Christian Vieri). It is followed by Argentina in 50s (Enrique Omar Sivori), Netherlands in 80s (Ruud Gullit) and Portugal in 00s (Cristiano Ronaldo).
Neymar’s transfer cost almost 70 million euros more than all the previous highest transfers per decade. It also cost 212642.58% more than the most expensive transfer after the World War II decade.
However the percentage difference of the most expensive transfers per decade is being reduced steadily.
31/10/2017: After the first 10 matchdays in Premier League, the goal average per game is 2.53. This is the 6th worse performance for more than 20 years. Some large scores (e.g. City-Stoke 7-2, Everton-Arsenal 2-5) averted the breaking of the worst goal average record in Premier League’s history. The best goal production record, took place during 2009-10, with 3.01 goals per game.
Meanwhile, the matchday 8 constitute the most productive day among the first 10, since 1997-98, with 612 goals in total (2.91 per game). The most goals that were scored in any of the first 10 matchdays are 41 (Matchday 7, season 2015-16).
Contrariwise, the matchday 3 constitute the less productive day, with only 511 goals overall (2.43 per game). The least goals that were scored are 15 (Matchday 7, season 2002-03).
16/10/2017: The 2017-18 NBA season will differ for two reasons. The first is the reduction of back-to-back games and the second is the tougher Western Conference. In the Eastern Conference there are two candidates for this season’s MVP, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Last season when they had back-to-back games “the King” had 28,3 points and “the Greek Freak” had 21,3. Despite what fans thinking about the age factor, as the days of rest were increasing LeBron’s points were decreasing. So when he had 3+ days to rest, he had 24,4 points and for the same days of rest the Bucks’ player had 20,1(his lowest). Clearly, the absence of consecutive games is a negative situation for Cleveland’s superstar.
Concerning the games against the Western teams, James had 24,3 points and Antetokounmpo 22,1. In their Conference, which is easier, the first had 27,7 and the second 23,4. The contrast between these numbers may be more obvious this upcoming season than the previous, with so many all-star level players leaving East. Besides, this probably will help these two players getting more chances in the race for the MVP.
Bioathletics
26/10/2017: What makes the difference between winning a medal and not winning a medal is the small, very small, marginal gains.
“Neuroprime” is a new mothod developed to increase brain’s ability to learn new skills. It basically creates brain plasticity and increases the athlete’s learning and breathing ability.
An American sports science company, called HALO in collaboration with US Ski & Snowboard Association, has created a headset that uses pulses of energy to improve the brain’s response to training. When paired with athletic training, this object causes stronger, more direct connections to be formed between neurons and muscles, i.e. strengthened neural drive.
According the results that US Ski & Snowboard Association recently published, Neuroprime equipment applied 13% gain in propulsion force and 11% gain in jump smoothness over control in 4 weeks for Ski jumping national athletes.
Business
29/10/2017: Australia’s financial system regarding the soccer industry is based on the revenue that the country earns from its participation to the World Cup every four years.
All national teams that are getting to the World Cup get $US2 million from FIFA to prepare for the tournament, and a further $US10 million for competing in the group stage.
Since 2006 in Australia this money is the exclusive income to support kid’s and women’s national soccer teams according to Government’s law. This law was implemented firstly to support the autonomy of FFA and to increase the transparency of the area.
According to the Australian government’s AusPlay study, if the national team fails to qualify for the World Cup 2018 then the whole soccer industry of the country is at great danger facing losses of $130.5 million in total for the next four years. This money according to FFA boss David Gallop, is impossible to be provided by the government and the austerity measures for the whole football industry of the country are going to be inevitable.
19/10/2017: The prize money for the winner of Euroleague Basketball is €1m, plus €40k for each win during regular season and €70k during play-offs. Therefore, winner would probably earn between €2m and €2.2m approximately.
The above amount is quite low compared to the UEFA Champions League prize money. For example, each team playing in the group stage earns at least €12.7m .
The difference between champions of those two competitions last year was chaotic. Real Madrid (Champions League) made around €89.5m, while Fenerbahce Ulker (Euroleague Basketball) made €1.93m!
17/10/2017: EFL Championship teams have one and only one goal each year: to get promoted to the Premier League. In order to meet this ultimate goal most of the teams sacrifice their financial balance.
According to 2015/2016 season stats, EFL Championship was the only competition in European football that the wage costs of more than the 50% of the clubs were above their revenue. More specifically it was estimated that 13 out of 24 clubs were having revenue/wage ratio that exceeded 100%. The average revenue for every club in the league was £23.2k. and the wage cost number was £23.4k..
This fact takes place in EFL Championship since 2011/2012 season. In other words, teams prefer to sacrifice their financial stability in order to increase their chances to participate in the Premier League the next season. It’s a very serious stimulus taking into consideration that the clubs that are getting promoted to the Premier League they multiply their revenue by 200-250% in average.
Another very interesting fact regarding the 2015/2016 season is that the two out of three clubs that got promoted in the Premier League did not exceeded the 100% ratio. These clubs were Burnley FC (78%) and Middlesbrough FC (91%). In contrary the clubs that were having more than 120% revenue/wage ratio finished the season below the 10th place. These clubs were Fulham FC (125% – 20th), Nottingham Forest FC (131% – 16th), Queens Park Rangers FC (138% – 12th). The last fact shows that even though the EFL Championship clubs prefer to spend more than what they earn, the promotion is not guaranteed at all.
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