Hoop DossierHow to use Hoop Dossier
5 steps, two minutes. Each one opens the page it describes.
1 Check tonight
The home page is tonight's slate: tip time and TV, who is out or questionable, the lines and the newest news for every game. Each injury status shows its source and time. The Rundown adds what podcasts and beat reporters are saying, each item with who said it and when.
2 Open a game
Tap a game for its page: a Preview before tip, Live while it is on, a Recap with the box score once it ends. Tabs show only what exists. Numbers are this season only, so they fill in as games are played.
3 Follow your players and teams
Tap ☆ Follow on any player or team. ★ My then shows their next games and what changed since you last looked, each change with its source and time. Follows stay in this browser: no account needed.
4 Ask the Screener
Pick who, a stat and a situation from the menus, or type a question such as “Edwards on a back-to-back”. You get one sentence with the answer and every game behind it. Past games only, not predictions; every screen is a link you can share.
5 See who called it
The Analyst Analyzer lists the checkable calls of podcast hosts, beat writers and insiders, and whether each came true. The record comes first; a grade appears only after enough settled calls, so early on it is a start, not a verdict.
Reading the game page
- The top card is the game at a glance: time, TV and arena, then the win chance from the sportsbook odds before tip and the score once it starts, with the line score at the end.
- Tabs follow the game: Overview, Stats, Said, Injuries and News before tip; Stats, Said and Pregame while it is on (Plays too when the play-by-play is running); Stats, Plays, Story, Said and Pregame after. A tab appears only when it has something in it. On a wide screen what people are saying stays in a column beside the tab.
- The bars compare the two teams: each bar is a side's share of the total, and ▲ marks the better side (fewer is better for turnovers, fouls and points allowed).
- The box score switches teams with the buttons above it; starters first, then the bench and a team total. Plays are written in our own words from the play-by-play.
Live games: how it works and how far behind it is
- How far behind. Scores, the clock and plays come from ESPN’s public scoreboard and play-by-play, which run a little behind the arena themselves. When live updates are on we check the scoreboard every 10 s and the plays and box score every 30 s, so a live page is about 30 s behind the arena and says so: "live · about 30 s · updated 12 s ago". When live updates are paused the page says "scores refresh every 2 min" instead, and is 2 to 3 min behind. It is never real-time, and many TV streams run behind the arena too, so the page can be ahead of your screen.
- TV-safe delay. Under Scores at the top of any page, pick 30 s, 60 s, 2 min or your own number up to 5 min. Your browser keeps the recent live updates and shows the newest one that is at least that old, and the game page says "TV delay · showing the game 64 s behind our live updates". Right after a page opens it waits until it has one old enough ("catching up"). The delay needs live updates; when they are paused there is nothing to hold back. My Dossier’s "Playing now" and a player’s "Tonight, live" are not delayed, so they stay hidden while the delay is on.
- Hide scores. Scores and results stay hidden on the home cards, last night’s results, the Rundown, the storylines (a story about a game that has started folds away), My Dossier and game pages, live and final, until you tap Show score on that game; a reveal lasts until you close the tab. A started game’s page opens on its Pregame tab.
- What hide scores cannot do. It works in your browser, so it needs JavaScript: with scripts off the setting cannot be read and scores show. Team and player pages (schedules, game logs, averages) still show results. Link previews and search results are made by our server, which cannot know your setting. A headline that tells a result in words without naming the game can slip through.
- Announce scores. For screen readers: when it is on, the score of the live game you are on is read out each time it changes. Off by default; scores are otherwise not announced, so a busy game does not talk over you.
- Private. All three settings are saved in this browser only, never sent to us; clearing the site’s data resets them.
What “Prediction tools” means
Prediction tools are things we are still building: our predictions (projected scores, minutes and player stats), model leans, situational splits on player pages and the prop board. They can be wrong, our predictions have no proven record yet, and nothing here is betting advice. They are hidden until you switch on Prediction tools in the top bar; switch it off to hide them again. Everything else is open to everyone and uses real box scores and real records. The whole site is new and in testing, so layouts and wording may change.