DataBaller

Sports intelligence for the everyday baller.
Your questions. On-demand NBA, NFL, and MLB analysis. Know the game.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

We're getting better at this.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

The five-season table, his true shooting against the elite tier, and what next season projects to. https://t.co/HTnpoN1k0k

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

"How good is Austin Reaves, really?"

Top-25 good, with an asterisk. He averaged 23.3 points last season, 22nd in the league, and the Sustainability Score reads it as process-supported rather than a lucky stretch. He also played 51 of 82 games.

Five seasons: 61, 64, 83, 73, 51 games. The 83-game year is the outlier, not the 51. His scoring has risen every year. His availability never has.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

@NBAMemes Is this the game where Angel Reese got 26 rebounds?

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

@fuzzyfromyt Did someone say analytics?

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

The per-opponent splits, the schedule-adjusted pitching numbers, and where the Power Rating puts them against Milwaukee and the Dodgers are all in the story: https://t.co/jvAC2ElO9w

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

"Nine straight wins, so are the Phillies one of baseball's best now?"

Not yet. The bats are elite even after adjusting for the schedule: 7.11 runs a game, up from 4.22. But every opponent was .511 or below, and the full-season Power Rating still says above average, not top tier.

The pitching is the modest half: 3.33 runs allowed a game, about one run better than those lineups usually manage. Seattle, Arizona and Atlanta are the next test.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Also in there: where he actually lands in the top five, and why a .174 BABIP over his last 8 starts says the hottest part of this run is borrowed.
https://t.co/YOyvZlEVRV

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

"Cease nearly threw another no-hitter. Is he the most dominant starter in baseball?"

No, and the walks are why. He misses bats like Jacob Misiorowski does, 13.03 per nine to 13.41. He walks nearly twice as many hitters, 3.99 to 2.05.

Saturday's near-no-hitter came with 5 walks in 6.2 innings. Even in his best start of the season, the thing between him and the top of the list was still there.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Also in there: the 0-for-12 against Tampa Bay that dragged the number down, and why the model's own confidence grade says to read the direction rather than the score.

https://t.co/SfO4jEIBkl

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

"Is Arozarena actually playing better, or is it just highlights?"

Neither. He has been playing worse than his contact deserved. His BABIP is .270 against a .321 baseline, five or six hits short. The Cubs games are that gap closing.

What held his line up in the meantime was power: 6 home runs in 20 games, which is why the OPS reads .850 while the luck reads worse.

[Darryl Kanouse @djk]

Someone's been using Claude Code, working on a side project lol. That's me. That's @TheDataBaller .

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Jumped in and gave it our web address. Looks like it picked up an old description of the domain that was a placeholder for a very different business model (we used to do customer engagement tech, now we do sport analytics), so not giving us the right leads that way.

Also, my 2 cents, the stuff below the fold on the home page where you list out "Learns what you sell, Figures out who buys it, etc." I saw too late because I just jumped in with my domain. And the UI is very slick but not intuitive. I would love to have seen those 6 or 7 things listed act as way-finding/on-boarding guides as the app was walking through each of those steps.

One last thing, looks like your target is B2B, maybe? Would be good to lock in on that angle up front.

Anyway- good luck! Let me know if I should try again and it will pick up the proper business model.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Our content strategy here on X is still very much a work in progress. Trying to find that sweet spot where the content is informative and valuable in its own right, and that also encourages folks to check out DataBaller and the great features we have on the web app. We'll get there.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

@LegionHoops @BannedMacMahon Don't need an insider to tell you teams are monitoring the situation with Jokic and Wemby too. That's what team executives do.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Spencer Jones's Power Surge Is Real, but the Role Change Is Half the Story

Jones has posted a .772 OPS and .246 ISO over his last 20 games, but a jump from 2.4 to 3.45 at-bats per game explains much of the counting-stat rise. The power is genuine; the sustainability question stays open.

https://t.co/4beTmr4Aag

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Wrapping up the beta! We might just be releasing a little early. Not our first product rodeo lol.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Sports data nerds/Beta testers wanted 🏀🏈⚾

DataBaller is a conversational sports analyst for the NFL, NBA, and MLB. It provides on-demand evidence and insight fans can use to compete, debate, anticipate, and deepen their experience of the sports they follow.

Reply or send me a DM/chat for an invite code.

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Read more: https://t.co/3SAGPoAhXh

[DataBaller @AskDataBaller]

Klay Thompson's Fifth Ring Is Giannis's to Give, Not His to Earn

Thompson's move to Miami brings real floor-spacing value, but the Heat's championship ceiling hinges entirely on Giannis Antetokounmpo's availability — not on a 38.3% shooter averaging 11.7 points in a rotation role.

What Klay actually brings

In last season's 2025-26 campaign with Dallas, Thompson played 69 games at 21.7 minutes per game, averaging 11.7 points on 38.3% from three. That three-point rate sits above the league's 36.0% pooled average, so the shooting is still real — 202 threes made on 527 attempts is a legitimate volume. The efficiency picture is more complicated: his 54.1% true shooting came in below the league's pooled 58.1%, driven by a low free-throw rate and declining off-the-dribble creation. He is a rotation-caliber wing who spaces the floor and defends when engaged. He is not a third star.

That actually fits well. Miami's current core — Bam Adebayo (20.1 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 3.2 APG last season) and Giannis — does not need Thompson to create. They need shooters who punish the help defense those two generate. In that context, a 38.3% shooter on 527 attempts a season is a genuine asset, not a luxury.

The Giannis variable dwarfs everything else

When healthy, Giannis last season was putting up 27.6 PPG, 9.8 RPG, and 5.4 APG at 65.8% true shooting — well above the 58.1% league rate — in 28.9 minutes a game. That line is one of the most dominant in the league. The problem: he played only 36 of Milwaukee's 82 games, with four separate absence stretches including a 15-game run in January and another 15-game run ending in April. A Giannis-Bam frontcourt, with Klay and Wiggins as perimeter shooters, is a legitimate contender. A team waiting to see if Giannis can play is roughly what Miami was last year — a 43-39 group that missed the playoffs.

The roster turnover is sharp

Miami shed a lot of scoring to get here. Norman Powell (21.7 PPG), Tyler Herro (20.5 PPG in 33 games), and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (15.4 PPG) are all gone. Kel'el Ware, who gave them 11.1 PPG and 9.0 RPG as a developing center, departed too. The arrivals — Giannis, Portis from Milwaukee, Hardaway Jr. from Denver, and now Klay — are a very different roster in shape: more top-heavy, older at the wing spots, with far less positional depth if Giannis misses time.

The championship case

The argument for Miami contending rests on two conditions being true simultaneously: Giannis staying healthy for 60-plus games, and Adebayo maintaining his level next to a player who dominates the same areas (paint touches, mid-range pull-ups, transition opportunities). Neither is guaranteed. The argument against rests on exactly those two risks, plus the age profile at the wing — Thompson and Hardaway Jr. are both veterans well into their 30s.

What Klay adds is real but bounded: above-average floor spacing, credible perimeter defense in spot minutes, and four championship pedigree in a system that runs through bigs. What he does not add is the creation, size, or two-way versatility Miami is missing if Giannis sits. His fifth ring is available here — but it's Giannis's to give, not his to earn.

@KlayThompson @MiamiHEAT