In the age of analytics everything can and will be quantified to attempt to optimize performance, and according to new research new studies via uproxx.com show that getting off those Tweets after dark is causing a decline in player performance in the NBA, take a look at the numbers.
Stony Brook’s research is the first of its kind to present time-dependent findings, providing the clearest evidence of a performance penalty following nocturnal tweeting activity, between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. local time. The study analyzed 112 players’ tweets from 2009-2016, filtering 581,190 posts into a dataset of 37,073 late-night messages. After scraping in-game statistics from Yahoo Sports’ website, Stony Brook’s evaluation determined players score 1.14 fewer points and play 2 fewer minutes in games following late-night tweeting, as opposed to games not following late-night tweeting.
The most important part is in regard to shooting efficiency.
The biggest effect appears in shooting efficiency. On average, the 112 players shooting percentages tickets 1.7% points lower in games following late-night Twitter activity, a decline from 45.35% to 43.65%. Even worse, when players tweeted between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., shooting success rate dropped a staggering 3.6% overall.
I read this and kinda of scratched my head, along with Clippers PG Patrick Beverly who had this to say about the study.
“Hey man, next thing you know, if you don’t jump over a cat three days before the game, you ain’t gonna make two layups,” he said according to Sports Illustrated.
I’m not one to deny science or data, but I’m sure the 82 game schedule and travel players endure might factor into this equation as well, but as a Twitter addict at times myself it’s good to log off and get a solid 8 hours of sleep. Also i’m curious how accurate this is considering players like Kevin Durant who have burner accounts or players that don’t actually run their Twitters. Shout out to MJ who allegedly would go out and drink and gamble all night and drop 60 points in games.