[washingtonismoney]

I'm sort of dubious about the effectiveness stat. Suppose you happen to put in your five minutes against the University of South Bend just as Skylar Diggins goes to the bench with four fouls.

Yeah, plus/minus--which is what it's sort of widely called, I guess--is a difficult stat to trust. There are effects from:
a) who you play against
b) who you play with
c) where you play (some players play much more at home than the road, or vice versa)

And so on. Various basketball statisticians throw various adjustments for stuff into it, but the consensus is that it takes several years for the noise to get filtered out and the signal to be heard. Of course, by that point, the data is not particularly helpful since your players have graduated, in this case.

[washingtonismoney]

I'm sort of dubious about the effectiveness stat. Suppose you happen to put in your five minutes against the University of South Bend just as Skylar Diggins goes to the bench with four fouls.

Yeah, plus/minus--which is what it's sort of widely called, I guess--is a difficult stat to trust. There are effects from:
a) who you play against
b) who you play with
c) where you play (some players play much more at home than the road, or vice versa)

And so on. Various basketball statisticians throw various adjustments for stuff into it, but the consensus is that it takes several years for the noise to get filtered out and the signal to be heard. Of course, by that point, the data is not particularly helpful since your players have graduated, in this case.