Well, I like his statement. He said he's not there to tell them what to think, but to help them. What do they need? Can he answer any questions for them. The article I posted was fairly informative. Wanting to set up a system of not only facts/numbers on paper, but also video that's accessible to not only management and scouting, but to the players, trainers etc. Apparently it's a system that's currently used by the Spurs. Seems to have worked fairly well for them. Analytics isn't just about how many times a player bounces a basketball, but what is the players history of injury in relationship to minutes played.
Basketball players, like poker players have shows. Sometimes analytics can find those and break them down. Does Chris Paul twitch his left eye right before he goes left with the ball? Yeah, that's an exaggeration, but there are tell tale signs that players give off that can be helpful when trying to defend those players. Anyway, there are many uses for analytics. They can be extremely helpful if used properly.
It all sounds so very vague. Like one very large black box, that miraculously tells one that Chris Paul is a better defensive player than James Harden. Who would have known? As far as the "tells" of basketball players, one would think that there was no such thing as scouting departments before there was such a thing as "analytics." Or is analytics just another fancy term for scouting with some computer data thrown in? Whatever. As anybody who has spent any time with data and computers, it's all garbage in garbage out, or gold in, gold out, depending on the judgment of those who do it.
Really not sure what your point is. Do you think analytics are worthless? Are you for analytics, or against analytics? Or are you just against anything the Kings do? Your a smart guy Kingster, and I think you know that analytics are not the same as a scouting dept, although, the analytics dept may come up with the same results as the scouting dept. As I said in a previous post. He plans to build an analytics dept very similar to the one used by the Spurs. Not sure, but I think the Spurs have been a tad successful of late, so maybe that's not such a bad idea.
I just thinks it's over-hyped. I think its very common to have an abundance of data; very uncommon to have individuals with excellent judgment throughout the organization. Given that there is a finite amount of resources in any organization, if I were an owner I would spend much more time and money on how to evaluate people for the key positions of judgment in the organization than on fancy data analytic tools for evaluating players. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that data analytics is used to rationalize the poor judgment of those in positions of responsibility: But, but, but, the computer said X, and I said X, how can I be blamed if it turned out Y?
So, you want Vivek to hire people to evaluate people, that are going to be making judgement's on evaluations? Having run a business, you hire the best people you can find, and then, you don't look over their shoulder. You get out of the way, and let them do their job. If you don't get the results you want, then you fire them. It's not complicated. Analytics is just another tool you use to evaluate. But just as important is your scouting dept, which does more than scout college teams. It also scouts your next opponent, and the analytics dept tries to add important info on each player on the opposition team. Where does he like to shoot from. Is he more inclined to go left or right. Is he a poor shooter off the dribble but a good shooter when squared up. Does he have a quick release. Analytics is a great tool, if you use the info.
"You hire the best people you can find..." That statement is self-evident. But how do you determine "the best people"? Where are the reams and reams of articles and media conversation on THAT subject, which is far, far more important than the arrangement of data? If you want to go in deep, which apparently is what analytics does, then go in deep in THAT subject. And as far as your description of scouting, no duhh. Scouting looks at all of the above, and has for decades. That's my point. Does analytics (computer software) make scouting more refined, a tad more intelligible in some cases? Sure, it's a marginal improvement to the scouting that's been around for decades. But the volume of talk pertaining to analytics far outdistances the results, imo. Just the volume of verbiage in the link above comparing CP3's and Harden's defensive prowess speaks to that.
Coach Joerger was on with Carmichael Dave and crew this morning and was asked about analytics. He said he's totally into it and feels it helps a lot, but that it is 1 tool among many that should be used. He also mentioned that too much of it can be suffocating if it's not part of balance (I'm paraphrasing). His comments suggest a really healthy respect for the use of analytics while understanding that there can be too much.
As an aside I really enjoy listening to coach Joerger. I don't know if that makes him a good coach or not, but he seems like a really grounded guy who loves basketball but doesn't take himself too seriously. I like him more and more all the time.