Per-Fan Stats

Which team's season-ticket holders are most appreciated? Team rankings for last year look a whole lot different when divided by average fan turnout.

Let's look at some of the differences for last season. As an example, points per average fan for Dallas is calculated as 105.2 points per game times 82 games per season divided by the average fan attendance of 20,136 people per game. In other words, assume it is the exact same fans attending each game. Looking at these sorts of statistics across a variety of measures answer the question: which team could stand to get more point, rebounds, etc., for the marginal additional season-ticket holder? Where would one extra fan be most appreciated?

Points Scored
Leaders in Total: Dallas 105.2, Sacramento 102.8, Lakers 98.2, Milwaukee 98, Denver 97.2.
Leaders in Points Per Fan: Atlanta 0.552, Orlando 0.537, Memphis 0.526, New Orleans 0.525, Seattle 0.522.

Rebounds
Leaders in Total: Cleveland 45.6, Dallas 45.3, San Antonio 45.1, Chicago 43.5, Clippers 43.5
Leaders in Boards per Fan: Atlanta 0.254, New Orleans 0.245, Orlando 0.233, Memphis 0.227, Houston 0.224

Assists
Leaders in Total: Sacramento 26.2, New Jersey 24.5, Dallas 23.9, Lakers 23.8, Memphis 23.4
Leaders in Assists per Fan: New Jersey 0.134, Memphis 0.127, Sacramento 0.124, New Orleans 0.120, Atlanta 0.120

Steals
Leaders in Total: Memphis 9.7, Boston 9.4, Denver 9.1, Phoenix 9.0, Indiana 8.9
Leaders in Steals per Fan: Memphis 0.053, New Orleans 0.049, Boston 0.048, New Jersey 0.047, Washington 0.046

Blocks
Leaders in Total: Detroit 7.0, Memphis 6.9, San Antonio 6.5, Cleveland 6.5, Denver 6.3
Leaders in Blocks per Fan: Memphis 0.038, Atlanta 0.030, San Antonio 0.030, Denver 0.029, Cleveland 0.029

Those teams that have the lowest attendance obviously benefit by having a smaller number in the denominator. Those teams are Atlanta, New Orleans, Orlando, New Jersey, and Memphis. Similarly, those teams that are among the leaders overall obviously benefit by having a larger number in the numerator. So I have bolded above in each per-fan line those teams that are not in the bottom-five of overall attendance and not in the overall total leader board.

Only three teams pop out in bold. Seattle scored a lot of points on a per fan basis. Houston got a lot of rebounds on a per fan basis. And Washington got a lot of steals on a per fan basis.

Hence, if you are a fan looking to relocate to the city that needs you most, and what you'd like to see more of is scoring, then if you believe even for a moment that there is a causal relationship here, you would be moving to Seattle in a heartbeat. If watching rebounds is your thing, go to Houston. If you like to see quality steals for your attendance, Washington will be happy to oblige.

It would be interesting next to consider wins and scoring statistics on a per-revenue basis, or perhaps on a per-salary basis, or perhaps on a per-season-ticket-cost basis. Any other ideas? Feel free to email me at pmaymin@hoopsworld.com.