Haiku's
Michael and Kobe
Could you disagree with them?
Greatness sets the rules
Then came D’Antoni
Nash let him speed the game up
Pace and space was set
Thibs came to rescue
Dropping back the pick and roll
The game changed for good
My Response to Charles Barkley
My Dearest Charles Barkley,
Thank you for insulting me and my way of life. Let me ask you a few questions in return. Have you ever heard of the San Antonio Spurs? According to ESPN’s research, the Spurs have one of the top five analytics departments in the league. On a side note, they have also won 5 NBA championships over the past two decades. They do have a lot of talent, but Tim Duncan playing at age 39 is not a fluke. The Spurs have sat him out and limited his minutes based on what the data tells them about injuries. They are consistently one of the healthiest teams in the NBA. They also get Tony Parker in the second round and Manu Ginobili with a pick in the 60s. This is a team that consistently finds talent where many people thought it did not exist. Danny Green’s career has been recreated by coming to San Antonio. Same with Patty Mills and Tiago Splitter. The Spurs offensive system allows players to not carry too much of the workload, and consequently stay healthier for long.
Enough about the Spurs though, you went on this rant because of a game that the Houston Rockets were playing in. This is the team with one of the most famous analytics departments in the game of Basketball. Daryl Morey has helped to pioneer the field and has pushed analytics forward light years. The idea that he just got lucky in his free agent acquisitions is absurd. Think about Josh Smith for a minute. He was WAIVED by the Pistons this year, they cut him and they didn’t save a dime. Nobody in the league wanted him. Daryl Morey though, with the help of his analytics department, decided that Josh Smith was a good enough defensive player to keep around. I’m not sure if you’ve watched the playoffs this year? He has been incredible.
Charles Barkley, it is clear that great players and great talent win championships. The problem is that every year five times have great players. The analytics are what gives teams an edge over their competition. It is what allows organizations to make moves that help them acquire better trade assets. They store up value until the right opportunity presents. Analytics is all about maximizing the probability of success. And interestingly enough, analytics favor your basketball career over traditional statistics, by a pretty wide margin.
Yours Truly,
Benedict Brady
The Character of Analytics
Analytics is teenage boy. There is a semblance of sense to what he says. It is not nearly defendable at this point though. He lives in the shadow of his parents who are stuck to their old ways. “Move on!” he yells, “You are stuck in a dying generation.” They will never listen though. People rarely change from the first way that they learn something. Instead, Analytics spends his free time with his younger friends, developing the ideas that will someday change the way that people think. Someday, but not today.
Analytics has a tough relationship with his best friend, Intuition. He creates many of his ideas around what makes sense. The only way that people will believe him is if he gets support from his friend. There is one problem with this. Analytics often time contradicts his friend. He thinks that his new ideas will revolutionize how people think. Instead, he is quickly dismissed, falling back into the shadows. Every night he goes to bed, dreaming of the day when he comes out of the shadows.
Still, despite constant criticism from the world, he holds his head high. Everything is calculated, trying to maximize every opportunity. If this means hurting someone else, so be it. All that matters is the math. All that matters in the end is winning.
My Picture
I will bring it to class
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