Left vs. Right Layup Percentages

      In my last article, I analyzed shooting volume and efficiency in the final 2 minutes for ACC players. I included all shot types for that analysis (except free throws), so three-pointers, two-point jumpers, layups, and dunks were all factored in. Today I thought it would be interesting to narrow down the shot type scope to just focus on layups. I started off by comparing the number of layup attempts from the left versus the right side to see if certain players dramatically favored a certain side. 

     I initially intended to do so with the top 20 Power 5 conference (plus Big East) guards with the most made layups. I wanted to focus specifically on guards because a guard layup generally involves more driving to the basket, and a big man layup centers more around post moves. I didn't want to have to compare these different types. Unfortunately, ESPN's shot tracking data was only deployed for certain games, and I needed this data to distinguish between layups from the left side of the basket versus the right side. There wasn't enough data for mamy of the top 20 guards with the most makes, so I resorted to looking at the top 20 players in terms of made layups with associated shot position data. This meant that I had to include both big men and guards in my top 20. Furthermore, it's evident that the shot tracking data was heavily used for games involving blue bloods, so you'll notice a lot of Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, etc. in the following list. While not what I was looking for at first, there's still some interesting insight to be drawn from this data.

Here's a more readable list of the the players with their respective teams also included:

Ashton Hagans - Kentucky

Collin Gillespie - Villanova

Davion Mitchell - Baylor

Devon Dotson - Kansas

Garrison Brooks - North Carolina

Jared Butler - Baylor

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl - Villanova

Jermaine Haley - West Virginia

Keyontae Johnson - Florida

Luka Garza - Iowa

Marcus Garrett - Kansas

Nick Richards - Kentucky

Payton Pritchard - Oregon

Tre Jones - Duke

Tyrese Maxey - Kentucky

Udoka Azubuike - Kansas

Vernon Carey Jr. - Duke

Will Richardson - Oregon

Xavier Tillman - Michigan State

Zavier Simpson - Michigan

   To reemphasize, this graph doesn't show who had the most layup attempts in the P5+BE this season, rather it shows the layup leaders for shots that actually had positioning data. Furthermore, these aren't even all of each player's layups because shot tracking data wasn't available for all of their games. Nevertheless, there's large enough samples to make at least some analysis.

    Devon Dotson, Marcus Garrett, and Vernon Carey Jr. stand out as the combined L/R volume leaders. Garrett's attempts were almost perfectly balanced at 63 from the left and 65 from the right. Dotson's 166 total layup attempts favored the right side slightly more, and we see that Vernon Carey Jr. clearly preferred the right with 79 attempts versus 59 from the left. Carey Jr. definitely had the biggest disparity between left and right, as most players were pretty balanced. We see this balance continued in the fact that there was a relatively even amount of players who preferred one side over the other. Overall, there wasn't as much disparity as I anticipated.

    Now that we discussed volume, it's time to dive deeper into just how efficient each player was on each side. First we'll start with the layup percentage from the left side:

     Florida forward Keyontae Johnson leads the way from the left having shot a blistering 28/32 (87.50%). We see him joined by fellow big men like Nick Richards (70.83%) and Xavier Tillman (71.88%) who also shot well from the left. From the guards, Collin Gillespie (65.00%) and Tyrese Maxey (70.59%) stand out. Maxey's Kentucky teammate, Ashton Hagans, struggled at 34.15% along with Baylor's Davion Mitchell (40.00%). Overall, the 20 players averaged 60.04% from the left.

Now, moving on to the right:

    Udoka Azubuike was the most efficient from the right and shot just slightly worse (84.62%) than Keyontae Johnson's 87.50% from the left. Again, we see Xavier Tillman up there with 75.00%. There weren't any major standouts from an inefficiency standpoint with Baylor's Jared Butler shooting the worst at just under 50%. Overall, the players were slightly more accurate from the right with an average of 62.32%.

    While it was interesting to look at each side in isolation, it's more useful to compare the difference between the two sides. This tells us if a player is dramatically more efficient from a specific side.

    This graph was created by taking the left-side layup shooting percentage minus the right-side percentage. Thus, players with a negative difference shoot better from the right, and those with a positive difference shoot better from the left.

    Ashton Hagans stood out in the left-side layup graph regarding how low his shooting percentage was, and this graph emphasizes how much more accurate he was from the right. Hagans' defense is what will get him drafted, but this left vs. right layup inconsistency could be something that teams look into and will be something he'll want to work at minimizing. Azubuike's left-side weakness is less of a concern because it's more of a product of how ridiculously high his right-side percentage was. Furthermore, he was a dunking machine throughout his college career which helped him lead the nation in field goal percentage this past season. A slightly below average left-side percentage (53.57%) helps illuminate just how efficient he was shooting elsewhere. The next two most significant players in terms of being better from the right are Davion Mitchell and Garrison Brooks, both of whom will be returning to school and will look to improve from the left.

    Moving to players vastly more efficient from the left, Keyontae Johnson's apparent right-side weakness is driven by his extremely high left-side percentage of 87.50% and is essentially the opposite of Azubuike in that regard. Unlike Hagans and Azubuike who are hoping to be drafted in mid-October, Johnson will be returning to Florida in the fall. This means that this disparity could be something for opponents to pay attention to in trying to force him to go right, unless they're willing to test their luck with someone who shot over 85% from the left this past season (at least from the sample we have).

    The last notable player to discuss is Iowa's Luka Garza. While the focus previously has been on players who shot much better on one side versus the other, Garza did the opposite and shot exactly the same from both sides at 66.67%. He even did so with different volumes from each side with 42 attempts coming from the left and 48 from the right. Many Hawkeye fans were angry that Garza was beat out by Obi Toppin for most of the major awards this season. Yet, he may get a shot at redemption if he chooses to come back for his senior year and will look to repeat this well above average layup efficiency from both sides en route to another dominant season. Again, these are not his total season numbers so it's very likely he didn't actually shoot this equally for the whole season, but it's still an interesting quirk from the sample we have.

    Overall, this left versus right layup analysis could've been done in a much more complete and accurate way via studying film. Of course, this method would avoid the issue of not having complete data for any of the players. Also, it's very likely that some of these layups were recorded incorrectly (such as for the wrong side) with the shot tracker data, and this questionable accuracy would've been reduced by manually compiling the data. However, this obviously would take a very long time, and so this quick and slightly more inaccurate method works well enough. This analysis showed us a little cause for concern for players with a large efficiency disparity like Hagans (and slightly less so for Azubuike) as they begin their NBA journeys. It also highlighted players such as Davion Mitchell, Garrison Brooks, and Keyontae Johnson who could really benefit with extra practice from their weaker side to avoid their inconsistencies being further exposed this coming college hoops season.