NBA Tier Level Record: What Is It and How Does It Work?

By Brian Draus February 22, 2021 0 Comment

Is there another aspect of NBA Tier Level Value?

For those of you who read my NBA Tier Level Value (TLV) article, there is still one more aspect of this concept that I am going to unveil. Just as with MLB’s TLV version, the NBA’s will also have an element that involves record. It has a similar name, NBA Tier Level Record (TLR); however, because there are only four tiers there will be different values placed on each tier.

Just as with MLB, NBA Tier Level Record’s win and loss value are adjusted based on where and what Tier Level they occurred in. While there is a lot of upkeep with this concept because teams change Tier Levels depending on winning percentage, an algorithm of some sort could help tremendously.

So here is NBA TLR!

Win Value

Tier 1 Level win: 5 road/4 home

Tier 2 Level win: 4 road/3 home

Tier 3 Level win: 3 road/2 home

Tier 4 Level win: 2 road/1 home

Loss Value

Tier 1 Level loss: 1 road/2 home

Tier 2 Level loss: 2 road/3 home

Tier 3 Level loss: 3 road/4 home

Tier 4 Level loss: 4 road/5 home

As you can see, wins and losses are valued differently depending on who and where a team plays them. For example, a Tier 3 home loss and a Tier 4 road loss are valued equally. Or if a club beats a Tier 1 team, it is valued higher than a Tier 4 win.

TLR Day of Versus Day After

If you want to calculate an NBA TLR record at the beginning of the day, just add up their wins and losses according to TLR at the beginning of that day. What Tier Level they belong to is dependent on the winning percentage assigned to teams in TLV. If a club is facing a Tier 2 team that day, they belong to Tier 2 regardless if that team knocks them into Tier 3. However, if a team drops or moves up or down a Tier Level it impacts the following opponent they play.

Here is my reasoning for judging victories by where they stand before the game. How a team is playing at different times of the season can change. A Tier 1 Level club can become a Tier 3 Level team. Even if a team changes Tier Levels after the game, it does change the overall TLR record. The overall TLR moves around based on where teams stand currently. But who they beat is judged depending on where they stood that morning.

Calculating a TLR Record

To give you an example of that, if a team had three Tier 4 Level home wins and one Tier 4 Level home loss, their TLR record would be 3-5. However, if those Tier Levels changed to Tier 1 that next morning, that club would have a TLR of 12-2. This scenario is basically impossible but is just an example.

All in all, this concept should mainly be used to evaluate who performs best against the top teams in the league. There also will not be as great of a difference between the top and bottom clubs in the league in NBA TLR in comparison to MLB TLR. Part of that is because MLB plays more games, and the other the fact that there are only four tiers. Four Tiers means less of a range between a top and bottom value win or loss. While this may be a bit confusing at times, I hope you can have fun with it; as the NBA is evolving in terms of analytics!

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