NBA_Go/docs/notes/index_tips.md

DB Indexes

-- =========== Indexes for the 'player_advanced_stats' table ===========

-- This single composite index will make filtering by season AND playoff status extremely fast.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_season_playoff ON public.player_advanced_stats (season, is_playoff);

-- This index will make sorting by win_shares much faster.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_win_shares ON public.player_advanced_stats (win_shares DESC);

-- These are good to have for other potential queries.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_player_id ON public.player_advanced_stats (player_id);
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_team ON public.player_advanced_stats (team);


-- =========== Indexes for the 'player_total_stats' table ===========

-- A composite index for season and playoff status on the totals table.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_season_playoff ON public.player_total_stats (season, is_playoff);

-- This index will make sorting by points much faster.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_points ON public.player_total_stats (points DESC);

-- These are good to have for other potential queries.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_player_id ON public.player_total_stats (player_id);
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_team ON public.player_total_stats (team);



-- ======================================================= Indexes PART 2 =======================================================

-- =========== Indexes for the 'player_advanced_stats' table ===========

-- To make searching for a specific player by their name fast.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_player_name ON public.player_advanced_stats (player_name);

-- To allow fast sorting for leaderboards based on Player Efficiency Rating (PER).
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_per ON public.player_advanced_stats (per DESC);

-- To allow fast sorting by Value Over Replacement Player (VORP).
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_vorp ON public.player_advanced_stats (vorp DESC);

-- To allow fast sorting by Usage Percentage.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_usage_percent ON public.player_advanced_stats (usage_percent DESC);




-- =========== Indexes for the 'player_total_stats' table ===========

-- To make searching for a specific player by their name fast.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_player_name ON public.player_total_stats (player_name);

-- To allow fast sorting for leaderboards based on total rebounds.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_total_rb ON public.player_total_stats (total_rb DESC);

-- To allow fast sorting for leaderboards based on assists.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_assists ON public.player_total_stats (assists DESC);

-- To allow fast sorting for leaderboards based on blocks.
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_blocks ON public.player_total_stats (blocks DESC);

Advanced Tip: For Better Text Searches

The standard index on player_name is great for exact matches. If you ever want to implement a feature like "search for players whose name contains 'davis'", a standard index won't be very effective.

For that, PostgreSQL offers a powerful extension called pg_trgm for "trigram" matching.

Example (Optional, for future use):

-- Step 1: Enable the extension (only needs to be run once per database)
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pg_trgm;

-- Step 2: Create a GIN index on the player_name column
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_advanced_stats_player_name_trgm ON public.player_advanced_stats USING gin (player_name gin_trgm_ops);
CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_total_stats_player_name_trgm ON public.player_total_stats USING gin (player_name gin_trgm_ops);

With this type of index, queries using ILIKE '%davis%' become extremely fast. This is something to keep in mind as you add more features.

For now, running the standard CREATE INDEX commands listed above will give you excellent, comprehensive performance for a wide variety of common queries and sorting operations. You've built a truly robust and high-performance API.