IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jproda/v60y2023i3d10.1007_s11123-023-00695-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adjusting for teammate effects in evaluating college prospects for the NBA draft

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Kuehn

    (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)

Abstract

Evaluating amateur basketball players based on their college performances is challenging due to the impact of teammates on observed output. In this paper, I look at the effect that college teammates have on a player’s draft position and develop predictions for NBA player performance that account for these effects. I find that players that score more in college due to their teammates are drafted higher, indicating that college choice can significantly impact a prospect’s draft position. I then use the player predictions in a matching model to evaluate how effectively NBA teams account for complementarities between players when evaluating college talent. The results suggest that teams could improve the offensive value added of their draft picks by 20.33% by better taking into account teammate effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Kuehn, 2023. "Adjusting for teammate effects in evaluating college prospects for the NBA draft," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 295-314, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:60:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11123-023-00695-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-023-00695-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11123-023-00695-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11123-023-00695-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. List, John A. & Shah, Rohen, 2022. "The impact of team incentives on performance in graduate school: Evidence from two pilot RCTs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    2. Joseph Kuehn, 2017. "Accounting For Complementary Skill Sets: Evaluating Individual Marginal Value To A Team In The National Basketball Association," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1556-1578, July.
    3. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    4. Jeremy T. Fox, 2010. "Identification in matching games," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 1(2), pages 203-254, November.
    5. Jeremy T. Fox, 2018. "Estimating matching games with transfers," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 1-38, March.
    6. Ben Weidmann & David J. Deming, 2021. "Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Team Performance," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(6), pages 2637-2657, November.
    7. Hancock, Stacey A. & Hill, Andrew J., 2022. "The effect of teammate personality on team production," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Thomas Cornelissen & Christian Dustmann & Uta Schönberg, 2017. "Peer Effects in the Workplace," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 425-456, February.
    9. Sangyoon Park, 2019. "Socializing at Work: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Manufacturing Workers," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 424-455, July.
    10. David Berri & Stacey Brook & Aju Fenn, 2011. "From college to the pros: predicting the NBA amateur player draft," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 25-35, February.
    11. Peter Arcidiacono & Josh Kinsler & Joseph Price, 2017. "Productivity Spillovers in Team Production: Evidence from Professional Basketball," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 191-225.
    12. Brent A. Evans, 2018. "From college to the NBA: what determines a player’s success and what characteristics are NBA franchises overlooking?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 300-304, March.
    13. Jeremy T. Fox & Patrick Bajari, 2013. "Measuring the Efficiency of an FCC Spectrum Auction," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 100-146, February.
    14. David C. Chan, 2016. "Teamwork and Moral Hazard: Evidence from the Emergency Department," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 734-770.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ben Weidmann & David J. Deming, 2020. "Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Group Performance," NBER Working Papers 27071, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Joseph Kuehn & Filippo Rebessi, 2023. "The Importance of Team Fit for NBA Rookies’ Career Earnings," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(3), pages 285-309, April.
    3. Linde, Sebastian & Siebert, Ralph B., 2023. "Exploring the incremental merger value from multimarket and technology arguments," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Tat Chan & Yijun Chen & Chunhua Wu, 2023. "Collaborate to Compete: An Empirical Matching Game Under Incomplete Information in Rank-Order Tournaments," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(5), pages 1004-1026, September.
    5. Alfred Galichon & Bernard Salanié, 2023. "Structural Estimation of Matching Markets with Transferable Utility," Post-Print hal-03935865, HAL.
    6. Philipp Wegelin & Johannes Orlowski & Helmut M. Dietl, 2022. "The importance of high performing team members in complex team work: Results from quasi‐experiments in professional team sports," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1296-1310, July.
    7. Freund, L. B., 2022. "Superstar Teams: The Micro Origins and Macro Implications of Coworker Complementarities," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2276, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. Alfred Galichon & Bernard Salani'e, 2021. "Structural Estimation of Matching Markets with Transferable Utility," Papers 2109.07932, arXiv.org.
    9. Arai, Natsuki & 荒井, 夏來 & Nakazawa, Nobuhiko & 中澤, 伸彦, 2021. "Does Working with a Future Executive Make Junior Employees More Likely to Be Promoted ?," Discussion Papers 2021-01, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    10. Labanca, Claudio & Pozzoli, Dario, 2018. "Coordination of Hours within the Firm," Working Papers 7-2018, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    11. Sebastian Linde, 2019. "The formation of physician patient sharing networks in medicare: Exploring the effect of hospital affiliation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(12), pages 1435-1448, December.
    12. Guoli Chen & Sterling Huang & Philipp Meyer‐Doyle & Denisa Mindruta, 2021. "Generalist versus specialist CEOs and acquisitions: Two‐sided matching and the impact of CEO characteristics on firm outcomes," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1184-1214, June.
    13. Wang, Lu & Su, Zhong-qin & Fung, Hung-Gay & Jin, Hong-min & Xiao, Zuoping, 2021. "Do CEOs with academic experience add value to firms? Evidence on bank loans from Chinese firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Brox, Enzo & Krieger, Tommy, 2022. "Birthplace diversity and team performance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Battisti, Michele, 2017. "High wage workers and high wage peers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 47-63.
    16. Alistair Wilson & Mariagiovanna Baccara & Ayse Imrohoroglu & Leeat Yariv, 2009. "A Field Study on Matching with Network Externalities," Working Paper 486, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Sep 2011.
    17. Mo Xiao & Zhe Yuan, 2022. "License Complementarity and Package Bidding: US Spectrum Auctions," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 420-464, November.
    18. David J. Deming, 2022. "Four Facts about Human Capital," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 75-102, Summer.
    19. Nikhil Agarwal & Eric Budish, 2021. "Market Design," NBER Working Papers 29367, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Olivier Chatain & Denisa Mindruta, 2017. "Estimating Value Creation from Revealed Preferences: Application to Value-based Strategies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(10), pages 1964-1985, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:60:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s11123-023-00695-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.