4Faktoren
The Four Factors, or 4Faktoren, is a framework in basketball analytics used to describe the main determinants of a team’s scoring efficiency. Introduced by Dean Oliver in his work on Basketball on Paper, the concept identifies four measurable elements that together explain a large portion of offensive performance and provide a basis for comparing teams across seasons and leagues.
The four factors are defined as follows:
- Effective field goal percentage (eFG%): (FG + 0.5 × 3P) / FGA, which gives extra weight to made
- Turnover percentage (TO%): Turnovers / (FGA + 0.44 × FTA + Turnovers), representing how often a team turns the
- Offensive rebound percentage (ORB%): ORB / (ORB + DRB), the share of available offensive rebounds secured by the
- Free throw rate (FTR): FTA / FGA, indicating how frequently a team earns free throws relative to
In practice, these factors are used to estimate offensive efficiency, typically measured as points per possession,
Limitations include reliance on box-score data and omission of shot quality beyond the eFG adjustment, pace
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