Pro Basketball Statistics Distributions (1946 - 2008)

The graph below shows a histogram of individual pro basketball statistics, such as field goal percentage. In a histogram, the possible values of the statistic are divided into intervals of numbers, called bins, shown along the x-axis. The height of the vertical bar above each bin shows the number of players for whom the value of the statistic lies in that bin.

As an illustration, suppose the statistic is field goal percentage, for which the possible values are fractions between 0 and 1. If the number of bins is 20, the interval from 0 to 1 is divided into 20 bins, each of which has length 1/20 = .05, as shown in the Interval column in the table to the left of the histogram. For example, bin 8 is the interval [0.35, 0.40]. If All years is selected in the box below, the count for bin 8 is the number of players whose career field goal percentage is between .35 and .40. The count is displayed graphically by the height of the bar above bin 8 in the histogram.