Okay, so I wanted to mess around with some NBA data, specifically looking at the Suns’ depth chart. Here’s how I went about it, bumps and all.
Starting Out
First, I needed to figure out where to even get the information. I started with a simple web search. I typed in “Suns depth chart” and hoped for the best.
Finding a Source
The search results gave me a few options, some sports news sites, that kind of thing.I needed something I could easily work with, not just read.
Getting the Data
The data was right there on the webpage. I viewed the page source and find the relevent detail, copy and saved it.
Playing with the Depth Chart
Now that I have copied the data, and I can easily check the positions, who’s backing up who, and all that good stuff. It’s pretty basic, but it’s a start.
What I Learned
- Web scraping can be messy: Even for something seemingly simple, finding the right way to grab the data took a bit of trial and error.
- Raw data needs cleaning: The information is’t always in the perfect format straight away. I need to copy them manually.
- It’s a starting point:This simple depth chart check is just the beginning. I might want to compare it to other teams, track changes over time, or see how it relates to game performance.
It was a fun little project, and it gave me a better handle on the Suns’ current roster situation. It also reminded me that even seemingly simple data tasks can have a few unexpected twists!
