README.md

NBA Player Performance Analysis (1990–2024)

This project analyzes NBA player performance trends from 1990 to 2024 using season-level data. The goal was to clean, explore, visualize, and interpret long-term changes in scoring, assists, 3-point shooting, and player height. The dataset was filtered to include only NBA players, and the selected features were Season_Year, PTS, AST, 3PM, and height_cm. After cleaning, the final dataset contained 7,633 rows and 6 columns.

Dataset Overview  
Source: players_stats_by_season_full_details.csv  
Filtered to NBA players only  
Years included: 1990–2024  
Final shape: 7,633 rows × 6 columns  
Selected features: Season_Year, PTS, AST, 3PM, height_cm  

Data Cleaning  
- Removed non-NBA rows  
- Dropped missing values  
- Extracted numeric year from season strings  
- Converted selected columns to numeric types  
- Filtered dataset to valid timeline (1990–2024)  
- Calculated yearly averages  
- Validated summary statistics  

Research Questions  
1. How have points and assists per player changed over time?  
2. How did 3-point shooting evolve between 1990 and 2024?  
3. Did the average height of NBA players change over time?  
4. What is the relationship between scoring, assists, height, and 3PM?  
5. Does the NBA rely more on isolation scoring or on teamwork over time?

Visualizations and Insights

### Visualizations and Insights

#### Average Points and Assists per Player (1990–2024)
![Average Points and Assists](./img1.png)

#### Average 3-Point Shots Made per Player
![3PM Trend](./img2.png)

#### Average Player Height Over Time
![Height Trend](./img3.png)

#### Points vs Assists Over Time
![Points vs Assists](./img4.png)

#### Points-to-Assists Ratio
![PTS/AST Ratio](./img5.png)

#### Correlation Matrix
![Correlation Matrix](./img6.png)


Summary of Findings  
1. Average points per player increased slightly over time.  
2. Assists per player grew steadily, indicating improved teamwork and spacing.  
3. Three-point shooting increased significantly after 2010.  
4. Player height remained stable, suggesting strategy and spacing mattered more than size.  
5. The points-to-assists ratio reveals tactical differences across eras.  

Overall Result  
The NBA evolved from slower, isolation-heavy basketball into a modern, fast-paced, perimeter-oriented, analytics-driven style of play.

## Presentation Video

[![Watch the video](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8T6uZi3Evqc/0.jpg)](https://youtu.be/8T6uZi3Evqc)