The world of defensive analytics will soon be changing. This could benefit a lot of people, including Charlotte Hornets forward, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

In this ever-evolving world of analytics, fans and coaches alike are relying more and more on numbers to break down how good or bad a player is.

That’s worked out really well for those that love offensive players – there are a plethora of stats breaking down a player’s offensive contributions and efficiency. However, the same can’t be said for the defensive side of things.

It’s difficult to break down a player’s individual defensive contributions because the stats we have now are largely team-based. For the most part, the best we can do at this point is look at on/off court splits of numbers such as point differential.

That may be changing now, according to an article by Kirk Goldsberry on Grantland.com. The piece goes into detail about Alexander Franks’ and Andre Miller‘s presentation regarding a new method of defensive analytics. Their method takes advantage of the player tracking devices that have been in play for the past two years.

I’ll spare you the gritty details, but essentially the method goes back and looks at every play and analyzes how a player affects the guy he’s guarding. From there, a defensive shot chart can be made that displays not only the frequency that opponents shot, but the efficiency at which they shot when being guarded by a specific player.

Here’s an example of Chris Paul‘s chart compared to James Harden‘s:

The size of the dot determines frequency and the color determines efficiency. An average defender’s chart would be filled with normal sized, yellow dots.

Notice how Paul’s chart is full of tiny, blue dots. That means opponents were less likely to shoot and shot at a lower percentage when being guarded by him. On the opposite side of things, Harden’s chart is full of bigger, more red dots – players shot frequently and at a higher percentage when he was guarding them.

So what does all of this have to do with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist? Well for starters, it will give us a visual representation of his contributions.

If you were to look at his “normal” stats – 10.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, shooting 46.5 percent from the floor – you’d think he’s an average NBA player. However, anyone that watches the Charlotte Hornets can see that Kidd-Gilchrist’s contribution is far more than average.

As of right now, the best statistic we can use to determine how important he is to Charlotte is his on/off court stats. When Kidd-Gilchrist is not on the floor, the Hornets give up 10 more points per 100 possessions.

The problem here is numbers like that have to be taken with a grain of salt. A defensive shot chart, however, is far more convincing.

To this point, many have been quick to label him a bust because he’s mostly been a liability on the offensive end. What many people don’t realize, however, is that an elite defender is just as (if not more) impactful as a player that averages 20 points per game. That being said, elite defenders don’t show up in the box score, so impact can easily be misinterpreted.

Now that his offensive game is starting to come along, he’s finally getting closer to receiving the recognition he deserves. Once defensive analytics like this are worked into our everyday lives, we’ll truly be able to see just how dominant Michael Kidd-Gilchrist can be.