Okay, so I’ve been trying to get better at predicting NBA game outcomes, just for fun, you know? And I stumbled upon this idea of making my own lineup optimizer. Thought it’d be a cool little project to mess around with. So, here’s how I went about it – or at least, how I tried to go about it.
First, I needed data. Lots of it. I figured I’d need player stats, like points, rebounds, assists, all that good stuff. And I’d also need to factor in things like player salaries, because, you know, fantasy leagues have salary caps. I spent a good chunk of time just digging around for sources. It’s surprisingly hard to find everything in one neat package!
Then, I thought, “Okay, I need to figure out how to actually use this data.” I’m not a programmer, not really. I know a little bit of Python, just enough to be dangerous, I guess. So I started googling things like “NBA lineup optimization Python” and ended up in a rabbit hole of articles and forum posts. I found a couple of tools people were talking about, but most of it was, like, way over my head.
I did manage to cobble together some very basic code. It could basically read in a spreadsheet of player data (which I had to manually create, ugh) and pick a random lineup. That was it. No optimization, no salary cap consideration, nothing fancy. But hey, it was something.
The Hard Part (aka Reality Check)
The real challenge, obviously, was making it actually smart. That’s where things got tricky. I started reading about linear programming and optimization algorithms. I tried to understand the concepts, I really did. But honestly, it felt like learning a whole new language. My brain just started to melt.
- Data Gathering: Finding and cleaning up the data was a huge time sink.
- Coding Struggles: My limited Python skills were definitely a bottleneck.
- Optimization Complexity: The math behind actual optimization was…intense.
So, where am I now? Well, I haven’t exactly built a fully functional, game-predicting machine. I’ve got a very, very basic script that’s more of a proof-of-concept than anything else. It’s definitely a work in progress. But I learned a lot along the way. I learned how much data is out there, how complex this kind of optimization can be, and how much I don’t know about programming.
I’m thinking maybe I’ll try to find some pre-built tools and just tinker with those. Or maybe I’ll find some online courses to boost my coding skills. Either way, it’s been a fun, if slightly frustrating, experience. I am feeling that I need to put in more effort to learn.