My brother Matt and I collaborated this morning to put together this visualization of shot frequency for the entire 07-08 NBA season. The graphic rotates when you click and drag the mouse and you can zoom in and out with the “S” and “T” keys. We currently have 2 versions, one with cubes and one with bars. The Bars version runs a little slower than the cubes.
I think this is a good example of how location data (where on the court?) lends itself to a 3D visualization. I think you may lose something by mapping this data in 2D. You can compare ours to a heat map version that appears to be constructed from the same data. Next step would be making it interactive so you could check by team or player. Thanks to BasketballGeek.com for the data.