Hey.

I have this idea in mind for an app. The app would allow its user the ability to track player data (shots made/missed, TOs, assists) as they watch a game - either while watching on TV or in person. Kind of a digital scorecard that is used in baseball, but for basketball.

The app would work on a tablet of some sort.

Is this a good idea? Would you be interested in trying to use an app like I described?

what would make yours unique?

following multiple players in different games on the same screen?

You're right that websites do something similar. My aim was to create something that allowed fans or people interested in learning more about the strategy of basketball to have a tool to track what players do in various regions on the court.

The app would look something similar to what you see on NBA.com but would simply be something the user would use at home to track player's and team's performance during gameplay.

you might need to flesh this out a bit more

I can check scores and stats at home already so that doesn’t excite
me.

I think the actual data would have to be unique and something that isn’t offered by espn or nba.com

is this for fantasy basketball?

Have you ever scored a baseball game on a scorecard? Making marks for a strikeout or writing in the position numbers to describe an out?

The app would be something similar but for basketball.

But you're right that whatever it does, it needs to add value relative to what is easily available on espn.com or nba.com. I'll do some more thinking about that.

** EDIT **

I came up with the idea because I struggle to follow the action and remember what takes place earlier in a game.

I thought by having a record of what a player does around the court may help me better understand strategy or at least what a player does best.

I didn't think about the app in terms of live-scoring fantasy sports. I guess that's something to consider.

fan might be interested in, like top 1% of fans. Most fans are casual fans and don't have the attention span or interest to log the type of data that you are talking about...especially if you are talking about things beyond the basic pts, reb assists, data etc that's readily available online in real time.

I'd think it be something more beneficial for youth leagues and coaches. I know there is a similar app for baseball/softball called gamechanger. You log the game in real time like a scorecard but can add extra info like pitch count, type of pitch thrown, where it was hit, etc....it compiles all the season stats, has spray charts etc.

but my issue is since users are putting in the data it means there will be a lot of errors..

at home tho.. I can’t really see the value of trying to score a basketball player at home. Seems like it would be difficult to do.

really see the value of doing that for NBA games when so many other apps/websites already do it for you.

There is too much that happens every play that you'd need to "score" and in the time it takes you to score everything in your phone, you've put your head down long enough to easily miss something completely.

With baseball this is possible because after every single moment that requires some kind of scoring there is a break in place for at least 10 seconds.

I cant imagine most fans having accurate cards by the start if the 4th quarter.

it would be like boxing judges.. all over the place.

a block is a block, missed shot and a rebound, steal is a steal and turnover etc.

Maybe as a game to see who could is scoree it the most accurate but not my idea of a fun friday night.

I have more information to base my decision to make this app on and that can only be a good thing.

You mentioned that the idea came from you struggling to follow and keep up with the game action. You also know now that you need to differentiate your app idea from what's already available.

With that use case in mind I'd recommend watching a couple games while using currently available apps. Follow the play be play on the ESPN app, along with the shot charts. Do the same with NBA.com. If the currently available apps solve for the initial problem you have then that use case isn't differentiated enough for there to be value in developing something new.

From that point think about the other potential use cases - fantasy sports along with parents of athletes and/or scouts. I'm not a fantasy sport person myself, but given how many millions of dollars are in that I'm sure there are plenty of available apps that people use. That being said, because there's so much money in it, you could potentially carve out a niche if you can find a gap in features that fills a need. In going that route I'd recommend getting feedback from people who play a lot of fantasy sports on what apps they are currently using, and figure out if there are potential pain points.

The last use case mentioned was parents of athletes and/or scouts...now THAT sounds unique - because stats for youth sports aren't nearly as available as pro sports (and definitely not live tracking.) Also there's potentially a good amount of untapped money in that market - parents of kids playing sports spent a good amount of money. They'd also be looking for ways to help them understand. I know that personally - my nephew plays football for Stanford, and coming up through youth football leagues and high school football it was funny watching my sister try to learn the game as she watched her son. I could definitely see parents of those athletes being willing to shell out some coin for a well-designed app that helps them both track their kid's stats and at the same time get a better understanding of the game.