As many of you already know from having read "Baseball Unraveled" by Clifton Neeley--Basketball is also affected by air resistance.
Since the NBA season is right around the corner, VMI is introducing "BasketballVMI." Within a few days of the opening of the regular NBA Season in 2018, we should be able to present the schedule ahead of game time and track the ADI and VMI for all the teams.
What will be the "Real World" focus for Basketball as it relates to NBA teams?
For Basketball, the issue is not the trajectory, but the distance of flight of the three point shot. Most everyone knows that golf balls, footballs, and other projectiles fly further in higher altitude locations than at sea level venues. Taking this concept a step further, we know that every venue between high altitudes and sea level, such as Oklahoma, Arizona, Atlanta, Texas, Minnesota and others are affected by air resistance differently. Can this be affecting 3 point shooting around the league when teams transition between those venues? How does good or bad 3 point shooting affect the other aspects of the game, such as rebounding and put-backs?
For the three point shot, the sensitive touch of the shooter is highly affected if what the shooter sees and muscle memory remembers as the amount of wrist and finger snap changes due to air resistance either holding the ball back a few inches, or freeing the ball to fly further than he/she is used to.
Since most, if not all, NBA and College basketball is played indoors, then temperature and humidity are not significant factors under normal playing conditions. However, "Actual" barometric pressure is a significant factor verified by Dr. Robert Adair, Professor Emeritus in Physics and author of The Physics of Baseball, Yale University.
We at Air Resistance Technologies will present for you a VMI based on a formula by Clifton Neeley which identifies when a team of players will be used to a shot flying 1 to 6 inches further or shorter than they are used to feeling and therefore affecting the overall shooting percentages, rebounding opportunities and put-back opportunities.
Stay tuned...
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