Sloan Sports Conference

[fishercob]

It's streaming live this year for free, you just have to register.

http://www.sloansportsconference.com/ne ... s/webcast/

Jeff Van Gundy with some really interesting comments so far.

[Nivek]

Apollo Anton Ono(sp?) is talking now. Probably interesting, but I haven't been able to make myself interested in speed skating. His events are fun to watch for a few minutes every 4 years, but that's about it.

[fishercob]

The panel with Russ Granik, et al was awesome.

[Nivek]

I was in a meeting and missed it. Summary?

[Nivek]

Why is Wilbon moderating? Grr.

[Nivek]

Kevin Pritchard just plugged ESPN Trade Checker. Why no love for RealGM? Why isn't he using RealGM's trade finder software?

[montestewart]

Kevin Pritchard just plugged ESPN Trade Checker. Why no love for RealGM? Why isn't he using RealGM's trade finder software?

If RealGM paid to broadcast NBA games...

[fishercob]

Kevin Pritchard just plugged ESPN Trade Checker. Why no love for RealGM? Why isn't he using RealGM's trade finder software?

Because Hollinger is on the panel and he was needling him. "If the trade machine says +2 wins, I make the deal," or something to that effect. Much laughter ensued. ESPN's also a presenting sponsor.

[Nivek]

I see the Internet's Sarcasm Detector is broken.

Henry Abbott's summary of Sandy Weil's presentation. Waaaaaaaay cool stuff.

The future of basketball analytics is underway and Sandy was providing some of the first results from it. This great new data is from Stats, LLC, as they have added multiple cameras (hence the optical in the title) to 3 NBA courts, with the sole intention of recording everything that occurs on the court. Players are tracked, with an exact location in x,y coordinates, as are referees and the ball. 25 times a second, software analyzes the video, and stores information about where everyone is and what is occurring. 1,000,000 entries per game with 60 some games added to their databases so far. Basic things like field goal attempts, blocks, rebounds, and assists are part of what is tracked. And that’s where it starts getting really cool – player position and defender proximity to a player are now available without having to chart and track a game by hand and eyeball estimates.

...

The focus of Weill’s research this time was on distance – from the rim and from defenders – and the impact on field goal percentage. Stats, LLC’s new tool provides exactly that, as Sandy was able to look at over 6,000 field goal attempts with the knowledge of where the shot was taken and the distance from defenders. Yes, plural defenders, as the range from all defenders is available, giving the ability to recognize double teams and an oncoming defender.

The three primary results of Weill’s poring through the data and accounting for things like historical player shooting percentages, distance, and shot type:
-Tight defense (within three feet) drops expected shooting 12% points (ie – a 50% shot becomes a 38% shot)
-FG% drops 1% point for every 1.5 feet from the rim
-There is something beneficial about the catch and shoot, beyond expectations

It’s that last one that is most fascinating to me: There is now empirical proof that crisp ball movement can result in a better outcome for the offense. Weill’s data showed that even when accounting for the defender’s proximity, the field goal percentage on catch and shoot plays was higher than expected for the distance of the shot. The new optical data is detailed enough to give the knowledge of how a player got the ball, how long he had it, what the last action was before a shot (dribble, pass, etc), and where the defense was a second before a player received the ball and then as he catches it.

[Nivek]

More detailed version of this post is a bit further down.

[dobrojim]

having that distance data sounds like it ought to be a VERY useful thing
for franchises smart enough to use is and use it properly.

[Nivek]

Summary from the Gladwell session (from True Hoop). The panel included Rockets GM Daryl Morey, Jeff Van Gundy, NY Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, and Athlete's Performance CEO Mark Verstegen.

Verstegen explicitly stated that above the physical baseline necessary to be a professional athlete in a given sport, nurture surpasses nature. The entire panel agreed on the twin necessity of a player's ability to be coached and a coach's ability to provide quality instruction. Morey and Van Gundy both expressed concerns about the potentially deleterious effect great talent and the early ease of domination can have on a player's development in that the early, true lesson can be that purposeful practice is not necessary for success.

Justin Tuck used two Alabama high school products -- Jamario Moon and Gerald Wallace -- as examples of this. Moon was the early bloomer, the player who could do anything he wanted to on a basketball court at an early age and, understandably, did not see the immediate need to work as hard for success as did Wallace, who had to put in work to be as good as he wanted to be and it was that Wallace developed the ability to put in work that allowed him ultimately to surpass the more immediately gifted Moon.

And from Tim Varner @ 48 Minutes of Hell:

Gladwell began by provocatively suggesting that one’s natural talent is often a hindrance to their development—that is, in the sense that one might coast on native ability and never take the time to adequately develop their skill sets. The discussion spilled over into subjects such as the necessity of coachability within a player and the coming benefit of more comprehensive psychological evaluations of players. Van Gundy stated that he’d rather see a complete psychological evaluation of a player rather than a comprehensive advanced statistical breakdown of him.

They could be talking about McGee and Blatche.

[montestewart]

^
I've even seen some speculation on the general board that LeBJ has a tad of this hinderance, being so great for so long that, even with a decent work ethic, he can choke when playing near equals or teams with strategies to neutralize his strengths. The new data on positioning could be amazingly helpful to a lot of players and teams, and speaks to many Wizards deficiencies (defense, ball movement). Thanks fishercob and Nivek for sharing.

[Nivek]

Geez, the "How Coaches Make Decisions" is a snoozer. Sounds like a pretty generic press conference. MIke Leach just droning on and on and on and on. Del Harris was interesting, but isn't getting to say much with Leach and Mangini dominating the mics.

[fishercob]

monte, you can't possibly thank me enough.

Kev, my sarcasm machine works fine. You're just wildly unfunny.



NERD!

[Ruzious]

I imagine Leach didn't talk much about how to deal with players who have suffered concussions (snarky sarcasm dedected). I'm so glad that blowhard isn't going to be coaching the Terps.