{"id":2670,"date":"2015-06-11T01:38:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T05:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockx.com\/sneaker-blog\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2015-12-17T13:09:51","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T18:09:51","slug":"nba-sneakerheads-sole-collector-rankings-vs-campless-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stockx.com\/news\/nba-sneakerheads-sole-collector-rankings-vs-campless-data\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Sneakerheads: Sole Collector Rankings vs. Campless Data"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our last few posts have been pretty deep . . . quantifying the Instagram resell market<\/a>, introducing the Hypebeast Hierarchy<\/a>, explaining eBay sales decline<\/a> . . . it felt like time for something lighter.\u00a0 And, it doesn’t get any lighter than Swaggy P . . .<\/p>\n

Obvious statement of the year:<\/strong>\u00a0 Many NBA players are sneakerheads; many rock heat on the court.<\/p>\n

Sneaker blogs track what players are wearing what kicks like The Fun Police<\/a> tracks kids who haven’t learned how to pass. (“Man, you ain’t even lettin’ the ground<\/em> touch the ball!”).<\/p>\n

Nice Kicks was perhaps the first with Kicks on Court<\/a>.\u00a0 Sole Collector has recently gotten in on the action with #SoleWatch<\/a>.\u00a0 Both sites have developed a ranking system which, as far as we can tell, is not scientifically based.\u00a0 While we certainly respect the editorial opinions of the writers at Nice Kicks and Sole Collector, whenever we see any<\/span> subjective analysis we are reminded of the famous John F. Kennedy quote, “Ask not what you can do for your rankings, but what your data can do for rankings.”\u00a0 Pretty sure that’s how it goes . . . yup.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

So when we saw #SoleWatch Power Rankings: The Best of the Season<\/a> back in April, we immediately starting working on this post, eager to see how the quantitative would compare to the qualitative.\u00a0 (Interesting side note, “quantity vs. quality” is also the topic of every conversation between Nick Young and his shooting coach.)<\/p>\n

Methodology<\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sole Collector article lists all sneakers worn by each each player during the season.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we don’t have data on every pair, so our rankings are only based on the 1508 sneakers<\/a> currently on our site.\u00a0 This led to removing LeBron, Westbrook, Kyrie and Steph from the analysis altogether, as their rotations were heavy on Player Exclusives, which we don’t track.\u00a0 Plus, while having a signature shoe is powerful in its own right, it doesn’t quite equate to legitimate on-court sneakerhead status. \u00a0Case in point:\u00a0 there’s more blog hype when LeBron is spotted wearing Air Max 95s<\/a>\u00a0off court than most of his in-game footwear.<\/p>\n

Here is the complete and culled list of players and sneakers included in this analysis:<\/p>\n

\"SoleWatch<\/a><\/p>\n

Using the sneakers in the shaded area of the above chart, we calculated a weighted average Campless Score and Average Deadstock Price for each player, and ranked them accordingly. (For a detailed explanation of these data points, see the Data page<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Campless Score:<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nAvg. DS Price:<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. P.J. Tucker<\/td>\n1. P.J. Tucker<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. James Johnson<\/td>\n2. Markeiff Morris<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Marcus Morris<\/td>\n3. Nick Young<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. Markeiff Morris<\/td>\n4. James Johnson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Nick Young<\/td>\n5. Terence Ross<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Terence Ross<\/td>\n6. Marcus Morris<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Analysis<\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next step is to compare the Campless rankings with the Sole Collector editorial list:<\/p>\n

\"Campless<\/a><\/p>\n

If the Campless and Sole Collector rankings were identical we would see all player heads line up on the “Equal Ranking Line” which runs diagonal from the lower left to the upper right of each chart.\u00a0 But as you can see, only two players line up on the Campless Score chart (left), and only one matches for the Average DS Price chart (right).<\/p>\n

What can we make from the differences?<\/p>\n

Key Insights<\/span><\/strong>:<\/p>\n