Latent structure of standard efficiency indicators of players at XVI world championship in basketball

The aim of this research is to establish the latent structure of the observed manifest parameters of basketball efficiency at XVI FIBA World Championship. Applying the method of main components by Hotelling and the method of rotation of the main components, i.e. Varimax rotations by Keiser, the latent structure of basketball efficiency was established. Our findings refer to the sample comprised of the game-winning teams. Factorization was performed on the entire sample of all game-winning teams that is 80. Seven factors have been isolated on the basis of 15 manifest parameters of efficiency. The extracted variance is 87.304% (criterion λ ≥ 1). Scree Plot indicates a clear elbow at the meeting point of the fourth and fifth component. That means that the first four components count for a much larger proportion of the variance than the remaining components. The factors have been defined as: the general offensive efficiency factor, three-points shot factor, free throw factor and offense rhythm factor. This confirmed the stable structure of latent factors appeared on this FIBA World Championship compared to the previous three (Greece, USA and Japan). Unlike the previous three World Championships, where five latent dimensions and three separate components were extracted, at the World Championship in Turkey was extracted seven latent dimensions and separated four components. Common components of the last four Championships are: general offensive efficiency factor, three-points shot factor and free throw factor. In this Championship appeared a new factor - offense rhythm.