I was assuming the purpose of such a visualization was to understand the offense, which can't be done without including free throws.
This is an accurate assertion -- teams like the Heat live and die by their free throw attempts -- but the article isn't looking at offense. It examines how well players shoot around the court (as the title states).
Realistically, heatmaps with free throws will just have orange-to-dark red circles at the free throw line. That's boring.
This is an accurate assertion -- teams like the Heat live and die by their free throw attempts -- but the article isn't looking at offense. It examines how well players shoot around the court (as the title states).
Realistically, heatmaps with free throws will just have orange-to-dark red circles at the free throw line. That's boring.