● WOLVES · 2025–26 · INTERACTIVE
Shot
Forest
Shot Forest reimagines the industry-standard hex shot chart as a literal forest in a nod to the classic, beloved Timberwolves trees. Each tree grows where a player takes a shot: the bigger the tree, the more frequent the shot; the brighter the tree, the better that shot goes down versus the rest of the league. Every player's forest is unique to the shots they take and make. Sometimes you really do need to see the forest for the trees.
● HOW I DID THIS
A hex chart, planted as trees for Minnesota.
Hexbin shot charts are the modern standard for a reason: they bin space honestly. The forest is the same chart underneath — same hex centers, same totals — rendered as the classic Timberwolves trees, which inspired this whole project.
Size is volume. Color is value.
Tree height scales with attempts (square-root, so a few big trees don't drown out the smaller ones). Tree color compares the player's FG% from that hex against the league's FG% from the same hex — positive means they are out-shooting peers from that exact spot, not just from "the corner" or "the paint" in general.
Real shots, careful baselines.
Source is the NBA Stats ShotChartDetail endpoint via
nba_api. League baselines come from every NBA player's
shots in the same hex this season, so the comparison is spatial,
not zone-level. Hexes with fewer than 2 attempts are dropped to
keep the chart honest.