This project aims to give an accurate projection of the future NBA champions in this current NBA season. I plan on performing multivariate analysis consolidating over twenty statistics into five or six overarching statistics that encapsulate the key characteristics of championship teams through every season from 1979 - 2016. Using several key characteristics, I plan on creating a visualization that animates with the years, showcasing the trending teams, and how they compare to the current NBA season.
I plan on using statistics from nba-reference to map related statistics, such as field goals attempted, field goals made, and field goal percentage to one key statistic, which will be highlighted in a certain attribute in my visualization. Attributes that can be utilized include size, shape, color, position according to x/y axis, etc. The final product should animate through the past NBA seasons, giving you a visual comparison of the current season with respect to previous seasons. A draft of this would look like:
The end goal should be a visualization combining several key statistics visualized through five or six attributes of the graph. These key statistics will be formed using a weighting system either formulated through principal component analysis or through other means. A stretch goal would be to implement some probability through various unknowns ranking each team by their likelihood of becoming the NBA champions.