Mark Cuban Zig Zag Theory

[aaron_gray]

So for the uninitiated, the Cuban Zig Zag Theory basically states that one should always do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing. Basically what he is doing is exploiting market inefficiencies.

So what are the biggest market inefficiencies in the NBA today? I think the biggest one has to be overpaying shooting guards. The returns generated by these players are not worth what teams pay for them. However, the price is extremely high because there is very little supply. I think this form of market inefficiency can be circumvented by drafting NBA ready shooting guards out of college with mid-late 1sts. Most likely these will be seniors with lower upside, but you get them locked up in a rookie contract and ofc you'll be able to spend the money elsewhere.

Another 1 that is mentioned often is drafting with early seconds. Early second round picks basically give you late first value in their 1st/2nd year while not having to pay them the rookie scale (which, if the player is garbage, can turn out to be quite expensive). There have been numerous success stories. KJ McDaniels looks to be the latest one, with past examples including Parsons, NY Landry Fields, Nate Wolters, DeJuan Blair. That 2008 early second round draft is chock full of above average players. Idk how you'd be able to take advantage of this other then draft well.

So what are the biggest nba market inefficiencies you can think of? And how do you think Mitch can take advantage of them?

[ChokeFasncists]

Interesting, that's what I was thinking when the Spurs did their thing.

Just when the league was doing all those hero ball things, their did their team ball thing, great results.

Another example maybe Zeke's bad boys II in Indy. Would have worked fine if not for the frigging penalties for the Malice in the Palace brawl.

The new thing is probably get a dominant big man like Okafor, few teams have good bigs. Pair him up with Randle, OMG!

[Kilroy]

A paradigm shift would be a Shaq-like big, dominant on both ends of the floor... A half court, read/react offense like the triangle that slowed the game to a crawl, and a team that could play other-worldly man defense and didn't have to rely on zones too much.

I'm talking a team that scored 90pts a night tops, but was next to impossible to score 80pts on...

Like a weird mashup of the '01 Lakers and the '04 pistons.

That starts with a genetic freak at C... I'm not buying Okafor as that guy, but he's a start. And super athletic, young guys at all other positions... With a coach like Thibs or Pop that knew how to get the last drop of energy out of his guys every night.

[Slava]

I think overpaying for SGs and Cs is one of the bigger deficiencies in today's league. There's just so much quality depth at PF & PG positions that you could grab quality players relatively easily.You could essentially play 2 PGs and 2 PFs instead of paying for poor centers and SGs and likely get better production.

Another thing that pisses me off is teams not giving 3 year deals to 2nd round picks. You get bird rights on the player, the contract is cheap enough that if the player works out, you have great production for least salary and if he doesn't, you can cut him and move on with little to no effect on the cap. Morey got this right and hit gold with Parsons.

[TyCobb]

Keep from having a revolving door at the coaching position.
Scout players that fit a system.

[snaquille oatmeal]

well i guess the lakers shooting guard is over paid even though he is the only reason people are still watching the lakers and making the Busses millions.

[Mamba Venom]

Just about everything Cuban said makes sense. It's a biz approach. But it didn't make sense to break up the 2011 Mavs that were the Heat kryptonite.

Cuban tries to apply his SharkTank approach to basketball.

For our Lakers it really its all about the guy you pay you decide to have a long term contract with. His he a gym rat? Does he take care of his body? Does he want to imitate Kobe's work ethic? Will he get caught up in LA life or does he understand sacrifice fun during the season then retire a Lakers great and have fun in LA for the rest of your life.

The sample size is so small it really comes down to the intangibles and character of the signing. D-Fish is a great example of this. His intangibles allowed him to maximize his potential. When its right its right. A great strategy would be to have a player who is friends with many other players inform the GM who has the special blend of intangibles and who does not. Some guys like Ed Davis are going to work really hard on and off the court. That is who I want our Lakers to sign.

[D Nice]

I hope you know that this business ideology farrr predates Mark Cuban. How "Cuban" of him to pass it off as an original thought.

But yeah, it's good stuff, I tend to be a contrarian in nature due largely in part to elements of this "theory."

The problem with applying it to the NBA is talent trumps all. Kilroy described a situation that would fit this approach perfectly, but exactly how many bigs of that level come around? How many of them would we have a chance at acquiring? The answer is next to 0. It's extremely difficult to find good enough players at the "other" positions to make full use of this theory. The one actionable take-away, for me, is that we definitely shouldn't really pursue max $ tier-1 PGs in free agency if we can fill other positions effectively, but even in practice that's much easier said than done.

Scout players that fit a system.

This is exactly how we ended up with Luke Walton and Brian Cook. I'd prefer to just draft defense-1st players who have the potential to shoot the rock rather than focusing our picks on players perceived to be "developed talents" or "synergistic players," but I hardly think this would even set us apart at this point. Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler...teams are learning a jumper is the easiest thing to re-construct post-draft.

[TyCobb]

Scout players that fit a system.

This is exactly how we ended up with Luke Walton and Brian Cook. I'd prefer to just draft defense-1st players who have the potential to shoot the rock rather than focusing our picks on players perceived to be "developed talents" or "synergistic players," but I hardly think this would even set us apart at this point. Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler...teams are learning a jumper is the easiest thing to re-construct post-draft.

Say what you want about Luke, but he was great at keeping our offense moving the ball. Leonard and Butler were drafted because they are exactly the blue-collar type that fits the Spurs and Bulls system.

Both of those teams have great defensive systems that allows those players to shine. Both have coaches who have been there for years.

The first thing the Lakers need to do is find a coach and stick with him.

[Sofa King]

well i guess the lakers shooting guard is over paid even though he is the only reason people are still watching the lakers and making the Busses millions.

We also have a little under 10 million on a point guard who's out golfing, interviewing NBA players instead of contributing on the court.