colts18 wrote:Does ElGee still read this board?
If so, I want to know more about his film study methods. How confident is he in his ability to study film and determine a players greatness from it? He would rightfully blast coaches/players who use the eye test. But, Elgee is using the same methodology for his list. He is watching the same film. Why is he confident that he can interpret that same film better than a coach could?
From time to time he does. He was certainly paying attention toward the beginning of the Top 100 project.
ElGee has always been someone much more comfortable with the eye test than your average analytics guy. He's someone who back in high school would go watch his competitors play and scout them before he played against them so he's been scouting since before he had access to any of this data.
It's also worth noting his poker background. To really thrive in online poker you have to quickly form assessments of those you play against, and that's really damn hard when they don't have faces and you're playing in multiple tables at the same time. What it means is that in addition to being able to read people and do the probability, you also have to have an excellent memory.
This is something I take note of because it's something that really helps some athletes (LeBron's memory is said to be astonishing)...and I personally don't have it. So with ElGee you've got someone who knows what he's looking for, and who remembers how different players look in similar situations, or how the same player looks as he ages. So when he's watching Wilt's highlights, the fact that he's doing something different from the previous year just pops right out to him, which makes the video editing process much simpler.
As far as being confident he can see better than coaches can, I don't think he'd claim that in general. That's where the analytics and more nuanced chronological analysis comes in. A player's career is more than his skillset, much to Melo's chagrin, and so no matter how good of a scout you are, you can still have a crappy GOAT list.