Shots Fired: Phil Jackson calls Jim Buss a trust fund baby

[LLcoleJ]

or they are incredibly smart quants from top business schools, while being pioneers in saber-metrics (Presti, Buford, Morey etc). Now which of that bunch does Jimmy belong to? In short what are his credentials other than being spawned from Jerry's testicles and hanging out with Mitch and West for a while?

I thought Presti got a degree in communication and politics while Buford graduated from a college called Friends University? ( after attending 2 other colleges to play limited basketball?)

Presti was the first Rhodes scholar nominee from his college as well and he also took law as one of his majors, not just communications and politics.

Not sure about Buford but dudes old.

Right. So they were not schooled statisticians like the exception/god that is Daryl Morey.

And Really they have their positions. ( Presti and Buford) because of their basketball background. ) Buford played some college ball and was hired as a scout by Pop. And Presti played division 3 ball and was hired as scout by Buford, who was later credited for discovering Tony Parker which then landed him a job with Seatlle/OKC. Who subsequently helped Pop get Kurt Thomas ..... and Brent Barry back ( who they traded Thomas for)

Point being, it's not what you know it's who you know.

[Slava]

I thought Presti got a degree in communication and politics while Buford graduated from a college called Friends University? ( after attending 2 other colleges to play limited basketball?)

Presti was the first Rhodes scholar nominee from his college as well and he also took law as one of his majors, not just communications and politics.

Not sure about Buford but dudes old.

Right. So they were not schooled statisticians like the exception/god that is Daryl Morey.

And Really they have their positions. ( Presti and Buford) because of their basketball background. ) Buford played some college ball and was hired as a scout by Pop. And Presti played division 3 ball and was hired as scout by Buford, who was later credited for discovering Tony Parker which then landed him a job with Seatlle/OKC. Who subsequently helped Pop get Kurt Thomas ..... and Brent Barry back ( who they traded Thomas for)

Point being, it's not what you know it's who you know.

Ofcourse NBA is a networking league, that doesn't change and there's only 30 franchises so the opportunity for an outsider is extremely limited to get noticed by a top GM who would hire you. To add to the academic stats wagon, Hinkie is another Stanford MBA. To be fair to the Lakers, Kupchak is presumed to be one of the best cap experts in the league alongside Buford and Presti.

[dockingsched]

I've never heard of Mitch thought of as a cap expert. I have heard of people really admiring his negotiating skills.

[Slava]

I've never heard of Mitch thought of as a cap expert. I have heard of people really admiring his negotiating skills.

Not sure if it was Jerry West or Jim Buss who said that Mitch was a genius with numbers and cap related issues. I can't seem to find the article after searching it for 15 mins.

[Kilroy]

I've never heard of Mitch thought of as a cap expert. I have heard of people really admiring his negotiating skills.

Not sure if it was Jerry West or Jim Buss who said that Mitch was a genius with numbers and cap related issues. I can't seem to find the article after searching it for 15 mins.

Jim was described as being a genius with numbers and statistics, I believe by Mitch... Could that be what you're thinking about?

[Slava]

I've never heard of Mitch thought of as a cap expert. I have heard of people really admiring his negotiating skills.

Not sure if it was Jerry West or Jim Buss who said that Mitch was a genius with numbers and cap related issues. I can't seem to find the article after searching it for 15 mins.

Jim was described as being a genius with numbers and statistics, I believe by Mitch... Could that be what you're thinking about?

No, that would have firmly stuck in my mind

[Sedale Threatt]

No, that would have firmly stuck in my mind

Believe it or not, I seem to remember seeing something along those lines about Buss.

There was an anecdote that sticks in my head from somewhere about Mitch defending Buss, telling how Jim would go "run the numbers" in his proprietary models about whether or not certain players would fit with the Lakers.

It made me chuckle. The Spurs have a small army of MIT types who manage their data processing department. We have Jimmy "running the numbers" he used to dominate at the track.

[Slava]

No, that would have firmly stuck in my mind

Believe it or not, I seem to remember seeing something along those lines about Buss.

There was an anecdote that sticks in my head from somewhere about Mitch defending Buss, telling how Jim would go "run the numbers" in his proprietary models about whether or not certain players would fit with the Lakers.

It made me chuckle. The Spurs have a small army of MIT types who manage their data processing department. We have Jimmy "running the numbers" he used to dominate at the track.

Yeah I remember that one, Buss admitted to having some proprietary software that he doesn't want to share in another interview too.

[dockingsched]

No, that would have firmly stuck in my mind

Believe it or not, I seem to remember seeing something along those lines about Buss.

There was an anecdote that sticks in my head from somewhere about Mitch defending Buss, telling how Jim would go "run the numbers" in his proprietary models about whether or not certain players would fit with the Lakers.

It made me chuckle. The Spurs have a small army of MIT types who manage their data processing department. We have Jimmy "running the numbers" he used to dominate at the track.

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/buss-3 ... s-jim.html

"It's a collective effort on every step," Jim Buss said. "Mitch might have his own thoughts. He might make some phone calls to see if it's even possible. And he'll introduce it to me, and I'll say, 'Give me a day to work out some numbers and see if I think it's a fit.' Basically it's the value part I do.

"I'm not going to question if he likes a guy. Maybe I'd say, 'Mitch, by my numbers, the guy's a $3 million player. Right now, the market's dictating he's getting six. We just can't do it.' "

Buss said he more often defers to Kupchak's feel for team building, though.

"That's the area that is gray for me," Buss said. "Mitch is fantastic at saying, 'Well, he's a good player, but he doesn't fit our team.' Breaking down a player, you can do so much number-wise. But you need that extra 'does he fit?' "

Kupchak describes Buss as "a student of the game."

"We collaborate on everything," Kupchak said. "Like his dad, he has his opinions on players. Like his dad, he's good with numbers. And he's got his own way of looking at the game and how he evaluates players."

Buss' numbers system is constantly tweaked and updated, he said, with separate breakdowns of offense and defense. He mentioned a player's plus-minus statistic (team points gained or lost while on the court) as an example of something that requires refinement into five-man units and game-situation context.

"To me, a ridiculous stat is plus-minus," he said. "I think it's just useless. I needed to weed out and understand what affects the game of basketball. In the past five years, those applications of numbers came into play where I believe them. It took me years to believe they do have an effect."