For the past year or so, one of my favorite toys on all of the internet has been FiveThirtyEight’s Complete History of the NBA, which is a compendium of ELO rankings for every franchise in NBA history across every game they’ve played since the NBA began. ELO is a relatively straightforward concept that FiveThirtyEight ported in from world class chess rankings; at the beginning of the NBA, every team opens up with an average ELO ranking (FiveThirtyEight uses ~1500 for their average baseline), and then their rankings change based on the outcome of games. As time moves on, expansion teams are dropped in at a below average baseline.
To do this afternoon: lose yourself in FiveThirtyEight’s ‘Complete History of Baseball’
