The darker the tint, the worse a player’s performance in that said area. Amar’e may have the greatest variety of shots within the arc, having added a good midrange jumper in recent years. Ronnie Turiaf, meanwhile, remarkably shot 80 percent at the rim last year, blowing the other seven players out of the water.

Like above, the darker tint, the worse the player’s rebounding rate is. As it should seem, the map is arranged in ascending order of the best defensive rebounders, which generally corresponds to prowess on the offensive boards. One would hope a player of Gallinari’s size would post better rebounding numbers. Gallo actually posted a decent defensive rebound rate last season (14%), but was miserable on the other end (2.6%). Was this a result of how he was utilized, or indicative of a lack of talent rebounding skill? With him being integrated more than ever into the Knicks’ schemes this season, hopefully some answers will pop up.

The heat maps were made in R, a statistical software environment. For examples and tutorials on R use, check out the awesome blog at FlowingData.