Kings Looking to Hire a "Basketball Data Analyst" and a "Basketball Data Scientist"

xrzn

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Stumbled onto two separate posts on UCLA's career center website while looking for a job. Not sure if I'm allowed to post the description of each job (both appear identical) since the service is for UCLA students and alumni only. I did include a picture below to show the listing though.

Looks like Ranadive is committing to integrating analytics how the team will be built in the future.
 

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Wow, Basketball Scientist! Who would of ever thunk it?

The same great minds who brought you sanitation engineers. :)


A "basketball scientist" poses with a basketball player:
mars-and-mj1.jpg
 
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Wasnt that guy supposed to be PDA? Or have his early failures already been too much for the ambitious Vivek?
 
Wasnt that guy supposed to be PDA? Or have his early failures already been too much for the ambitious Vivek?

Being a GM who knows his way around statistics and being a data analyst are two different full time jobs. The second provides data to the first, who then makes decisions.
 
Stumbled onto two separate posts on UCLA's career center website while looking for a job. Not sure if I'm allowed to post the description of each job (both appear identical) since the service is for UCLA students and alumni only. I did include a picture below to show the listing though.

Looks like Ranadive is committing to integrating analytics how the team will be built in the future.

Perhaps Jason Jones (where ever the hell he is) should hire you as a researcher. He certainly needs help!
 
Wasnt that guy supposed to be PDA? Or have his early failures already been too much for the ambitious Vivek?

Are you really that negative about the Kings management? PDA is the man who makes the decisions. The people their attempting to hire are nothing more than tools to help him make that decision.
 
Are you really that negative about the Kings management? PDA is the man who makes the decisions. The people their attempting to hire are nothing more than tools to help him make that decision.

We just rid ourselves of three Maloof "tools" - hopefully these new tools will be more functional.
 
Are you really that negative about the Kings management? PDA is the man who makes the decisions. The people their attempting to hire are nothing more than tools to help him make that decision.

Only PDA. Vivek is the man, and I think his big ideas and ambition are going to take the team far. I just hate everything PDA has done thus far, but the fact that the org is hiring more and more minds to help run the show is a good thing. And if having all these cooks in the kitchen helps PDA to start making better decisions I will happily eat some tasty crow.

And if all of his iffy decisions are part of a bigger picture master plan (as has been hinted) that I just cant see yet I will happily eat crow when it starts to come together. Hell, maybe we're just going for a subtle tank (as opposed to Philly's blatant Tankpocolypse).

My sneery snideness drew a bunch of responses, didnt mean to Debby Downer Derail. :p
 
'Basketball Data Scientist' is comically absurd. I must have this title. It is my new purpose in life. 'Rocket Surgeon' isn't panning out like I had hoped.
 
Only PDA. Vivek is the man, and I think his big ideas and ambition are going to take the team far. I just hate everything PDA has done thus far, but the fact that the org is hiring more and more minds to help run the show is a good thing. And if having all these cooks in the kitchen helps PDA to start making better decisions I will happily eat some tasty crow.

And if all of his iffy decisions are part of a bigger picture master plan (as has been hinted) that I just cant see yet I will happily eat crow when it starts to come together. Hell, maybe we're just going for a subtle tank (as opposed to Philly's blatant Tankpocolypse).

My sneery snideness drew a bunch of responses, didnt mean to Debby Downer Derail. :p

Just chiming in here, but I also think a franchise that made the playoffs just a year ago and was looking to be promising has a lot more reason to try and rebuild and tank. In fact, they're doing a very good job containing mediocrity since their Bynum plan didn't pan out. We would be in a much better position had we done that once Webb got injured.
 
As long as they don't use it as a backbone to support the flawed logic of playing player A between the 2-3 minute mark for a 24 second stretch of the 3rd quarter pr why it makes sense to run a 12 man rotation where guys get subbed out every 3 minutes than fine. Otherwise, great way to over complicate a relatively simple sport to understand and control. It has it's place, but this game is one of the most natural around and the fact that superstars typically dominate as well as well balanced teams is why it is so natural. Baseball I can see the use of detailed analytics, basketball is just too rhythm oriented for it to be your first option strategy to success. Just please keep it a small part of the gameplan Vivek.
 
Only PDA. Vivek is the man, and I think his big ideas and ambition are going to take the team far. I just hate everything PDA has done thus far, but the fact that the org is hiring more and more minds to help run the show is a good thing. And if having all these cooks in the kitchen helps PDA to start making better decisions I will happily eat some tasty crow.

And if all of his iffy decisions are part of a bigger picture master plan (as has been hinted) that I just cant see yet I will happily eat crow when it starts to come together. Hell, maybe we're just going for a subtle tank (as opposed to Philly's blatant Tankpocolypse).

My sneery snideness drew a bunch of responses, didnt mean to Debby Downer Derail. :p

Didn't mean to imply that your were a, Debbie Downer, as you put it. I was just curious if your were really that down on the organization already. When the ownership change took place, I figured it would take a minimum of three years to turn this team back into a contender, maybe four. I know a lot of people don't want to hear that, and want it all done in one offseason. Truth is, you don't go in the wrong direction for 6 or 7 years, and then just magically reverse it all painlessly. I'm sure that if you were able to sit down with PDA, he wouldn't tell you that signing Landry and trading for Mbah a Moute is going to suddenly make the Kings a contender. But he would probably tell you that he's added two players that know their role, and are good locker room guys.

I subscribe to a college scouting organization, and the consensus choice among'st them, as to who will ultimately be the best player to come out of this last draft is Ben McLemore. That doesn't make it so, but its far better than all of them thinking he'll be a bust. The Kings have taken over the Reno D-League team, and they've devoted time and money into player development. Something the Maloofs never even thought about. The new organization is just starting to lay the foundation for the future, and they appear to have a long term plan. The fact that we as fans don't know all the particulars of that plan is what confuses us. If you do have a long term plan, then aside from speaking in general about it (which they have), you don't announce it to the rest of the league. And then therefore, you don't announce it to your fan base.

I'm going to remain positive about what they've done, until I have a good reason not to. And throwing in the towel on them before even one game has been played isn't logical to me. Am I happy that Tyreke's gone? Of course not! I was a big fan of Tyreke's months before he was drafted and said so. While at the same time the majority of the people on the forum were drooling over Ricky Rubio. So no, I'm not happy he's gone. But whats done is done, and obviously Tyreke didn't fit their long term plans. At least not at 11 or 12 mil a year. So its my hope that McLemore eventually makes me forget about Tyreke, and that the recent moves, and the future moves add up to a contending team. And by contending, I don't mean just making the playoffs. I mean a team that actually has a chance to win the west and a championship.
 
In the Berkely Psychic Institute weekly rag the Kings have placed an ad for a Diviner I and a Diviner II. Wonder if its the same jobs?
 
Didn't mean to imply that your were a, Debbie Downer, as you put it. I was just curious if your were really that down on the organization already. When the ownership change took place, I figured it would take a minimum of three years to turn this team back into a contender, maybe four. I know a lot of people don't want to hear that, and want it all done in one offseason. Truth is, you don't go in the wrong direction for 6 or 7 years, and then just magically reverse it all painlessly. I'm sure that if you were able to sit down with PDA, he wouldn't tell you that signing Landry and trading for Mbah a Moute is going to suddenly make the Kings a contender. But he would probably tell you that he's added two players that know their role, and are good locker room guys.

I subscribe to a college scouting organization, and the consensus choice among'st them, as to who will ultimately be the best player to come out of this last draft is Ben McLemore. That doesn't make it so, but its far better than all of them thinking he'll be a bust. The Kings have taken over the Reno D-League team, and they've devoted time and money into player development. Something the Maloofs never even thought about. The new organization is just starting to lay the foundation for the future, and they appear to have a long term plan. The fact that we as fans don't know all the particulars of that plan is what confuses us. If you do have a long term plan, then aside from speaking in general about it (which they have), you don't announce it to the rest of the league. And then therefore, you don't announce it to your fan base.

I'm going to remain positive about what they've done, until I have a good reason not to. And throwing in the towel on them before even one game has been played isn't logical to me. Am I happy that Tyreke's gone? Of course not! I was a big fan of Tyreke's months before he was drafted and said so. While at the same time the majority of the people on the forum were drooling over Ricky Rubio. So no, I'm not happy he's gone. But whats done is done, and obviously Tyreke didn't fit their long term plans. At least not at 11 or 12 mil a year. So its my hope that McLemore eventually makes me forget about Tyreke, and that the recent moves, and the future moves add up to a contending team. And by contending, I don't mean just making the playoffs. I mean a team that actually has a chance to win the west and a championship.


Great post. I don't agree with everything we've done this off-season either. I think we got a good player with Landry, but he's sort of a cart before the horse kind of signing. He'd be great with a defensive big to pair Cousins and him with, but we currently do not have one. If we could trade Ppat and JT for Asik, I'm sure we would have done so already. And who knows, perhaps our FO has on going after someone hard in the 2014 FA class. And that's sort of the point. We don't know what kind of coach Malone is. We don't know if McLemore will pan out. We don't know if letting Tyreke go was a stupid mistake or not. But these guys deserve time to put the product THEY want on the floor, rather than clean up the mess from the previous regime. Hell, 1/3rd of our salary is tied up in end of the bench players from the previous regime (Hayes, Salmons, Outlaw, Jimmer)

As far as the FO stuff, I don't think we could do much better than we've done already. We're placing a huge value on player development, which has probably been my biggest complaint over the past 4 years. I think Reno can be a huge tool for developing a few prospects we like and won't get any time with the NBA team. Just thinking about the past few years, but I would have loved to see Jimmer, Honeycutt, Whiteside, Robinson all spend time in the D-league, learning our system, and get a chance to breathe and learn the NBA game.
 
Didn't mean to imply that your were a, Debbie Downer, as you put it. I was just curious if your were really that down on the organization already. When the ownership change took place, I figured it would take a minimum of three years to turn this team back into a contender, maybe four. I know a lot of people don't want to hear that, and want it all done in one offseason. Truth is, you don't go in the wrong direction for 6 or 7 years, and then just magically reverse it all painlessly. I'm sure that if you were able to sit down with PDA, he wouldn't tell you that signing Landry and trading for Mbah a Moute is going to suddenly make the Kings a contender. But he would probably tell you that he's added two players that know their role, and are good locker room guys.

I subscribe to a college scouting organization, and the consensus choice among'st them, as to who will ultimately be the best player to come out of this last draft is Ben McLemore. That doesn't make it so, but its far better than all of them thinking he'll be a bust. The Kings have taken over the Reno D-League team, and they've devoted time and money into player development. Something the Maloofs never even thought about. The new organization is just starting to lay the foundation for the future, and they appear to have a long term plan. The fact that we as fans don't know all the particulars of that plan is what confuses us. If you do have a long term plan, then aside from speaking in general about it (which they have), you don't announce it to the rest of the league. And then therefore, you don't announce it to your fan base.

I'm going to remain positive about what they've done, until I have a good reason not to. And throwing in the towel on them before even one game has been played isn't logical to me. Am I happy that Tyreke's gone? Of course not! I was a big fan of Tyreke's months before he was drafted and said so. While at the same time the majority of the people on the forum were drooling over Ricky Rubio. So no, I'm not happy he's gone. But whats done is done, and obviously Tyreke didn't fit their long term plans. At least not at 11 or 12 mil a year. So its my hope that McLemore eventually makes me forget about Tyreke, and that the recent moves, and the future moves add up to a contending team. And by contending, I don't mean just making the playoffs. I mean a team that actually has a chance to win the west and a championship.

wow Great Post +2

We've had our differences over the years Baja (probably mostly because I can be a hell of a sarcastic jerk sometimes)... but I really like this post and it sums up my sentiment!
 
wow Great Post +2

We've had our differences over the years Baja (probably mostly because I can be a hell of a sarcastic jerk sometimes)... but I really like this post and it sums up my sentiment!

Ahhhhh, I believe I can be a bit of a sarcastic jerk as well. The good thing is that we both know it. I just love common ground! :D
 
The two job postings make sense to me given the new Kings landscape. Ranadive owns a company that makes analytical software for human performance evaluations. Moneyball the movie exposed analytics in base ball more than 10 years ago and two basketball analytics firms have been selling their data to NBA teams for the past 5 years. Writing the algorithms for BB analytics is quite separate from the "scientific" task of figuring out what you have and does it make sense. The the giant elephant in the room becomes how to interpret the data with respect to one player and more difficult yet, how to relate one players analytics to 1, 2, 3 or 4 teammates who may not have played together. Then knowing way more than one coach can possibly implement, it all gets down to good ole one-on-one interface. So maybe where Mullins comes in for now. Its gonna be an interesting two-year start up for the new dynasty in the making. ................ or not.
 
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