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Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach

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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#41 » by GreatWhiteStiff » Mon Sep 9, 2019 3:49 am

#realMVPdonaldson
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Let's playin for 9th!

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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#42 » by raptorstime » Mon Sep 9, 2019 4:00 am

will wrote:Nice!

You gotta chill will
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#43 » by fbalmeida » Mon Sep 9, 2019 9:39 am

Mikistan wrote:
kwajo wrote:
Oakville_Raptor wrote:
Raps adding some eye candy to the bench lol



Uhhh, Big Cat was already taking care of that

But hey, she sings covers of Canadian legends, so I'm a fan


Nick Nurse low-key putting together a band, along with a coaching staff...

Also, that was a really good cover!


Nick Nurse and the Fabulous Flourneys? I love it already. :lol:
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#44 » by And1Skip » Mon Sep 9, 2019 1:03 pm

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27576018/the-unusual-path-new-raptors-assistant-coach-brittni-donaldson

Donaldson spent the last two seasons as a data analyst -- i.e., advanced stats guru -- in the Raptors' front office before Masai Ujiri, Toronto's president and alternate governor, and Nick Nurse, the head coach, picked her in mid-July to fill an opening on Toronto's bench.

"Losing someone so smart [from the front office] is tough," Ujiri says. "But she has coaching in her DNA."

Ujiri expects the NBA's first female head coach or general manager to emerge before anyone might have predicted even a few years ago. "One hundred percent, the time is coming," he says. "That is going to happen."

Donaldson had thought about moving to the bench before. She does not fit the caricature of a stats nerd. She was an all-state high school player at North High School in Sioux City -- the same school at which her dad, Jeff, was a star, in the early 1980s. Jeff Donaldson went on to play at what was then Briar Cliff College in the NAIA, and scored over 1,000 career points. In 2014, he was inducted into the Iowa High School Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Fame


Finally, Chicago-based STATS LLC hired Donaldson to work the graveyard shift monitoring data pouring in from motion-tracking cameras installed at NBA arenas. A supervisor soon pulled Donaldson into a more strategy-focused role. She began analyzing the data and producing specific reports for NBA teams. She made such a good impression on the Raptors that they hired her.


"Every rep I do, even if it's just passing and rebounding, I try to be really precise and show that I'm there to make them better," Donaldson says. "I don't mess around."

The players noticed. "They trust her," Ujiri says.

One highlight: The Raptors were on the road when they acquired Marc Gasol at the trade deadline, but Gasol had to visit Toronto to undergo a physical. He asked whether someone might run him through a workout. The team thought about calling one coach back in. Higher-ups decided Donaldson could handle it herself.

"That was special for me -- to be basically the first person he interacted with on the basketball side," she says.
Ujiri watched from his office and was impressed when Donaldson sat with Gasol after the workout, opened a laptop, and took him through some of Toronto's plays.

"We were confident Brittni could do it," Ujiri says. "But when you see her do it, it's different."

(Donaldson also traveled to Tanzania and South Sudan this summer as an instructor with Ujiri's Giants of Africa developmental program. "I watched her energy, and her skill development," Ujiri says. "She's going to be very good at that.")


Nurse made it clear Donaldson will not be "the analytics person" on the coaching staff, though she will take the lead translating such data for players and coaches. She will do everything the other coaches do: scout opponents, debate rotations and X's and O's, and pitch strategic ideas.

"The conversation with Nick was, 'I'm going to treat you like an assistant coach because that's what you are,'" Donaldson says. "That was great for me to hear."

(The Raptors had Eric Khoury in a similar role the past two seasons after Khoury jumped from a front-office analytics position onto the coaching staff; Khoury will be with the Raptors 905 in the G-League this season. "I must be doing something wrong because something about the front office is making them run," Ujiri says, laughing.)
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#45 » by siakamthemvp » Mon Sep 9, 2019 1:18 pm

2013 - Rudy Gay bans stats sheets from players in locker room
2019 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach

Imagine if she was on the team coaching staff in 2013
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#46 » by And1Skip » Mon Sep 9, 2019 1:27 pm

siakamthemvp wrote:2013 - Rudy Gay bans stats sheets from players in locker room
2019 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach

Imagine if she was on the team coaching staff in 2013


Eric Khoury (presumably her boss as Director of Analytics) was an assitant coach since 2 years ago. Eric is apparently going to the 905 (maybe he has a front-row bench role there) so that's why Brittini got hired. Stats guy on the bench hasn't been new so really, it should say "2017 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach"
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#47 » by siakamthemvp » Mon Sep 9, 2019 1:30 pm

And1Skip wrote:
siakamthemvp wrote:2013 - Rudy Gay bans stats sheets from players in locker room
2019 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach

Imagine if she was on the team coaching staff in 2013


Eric Khoury (presumably her boss as Director of Analytics) was an assitant coach since 2 years ago. Eric is apparently going to the 905 (maybe he has a front-row bench role there) so that's why Brittini got hired. Stats guy on the bench hasn't been new so really, it should say "2017 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach"


Oh interesting. I guess that means we have one more assistant coach slot open then?
Out - Phil Handy, Jeremy Castleberry, and Eric Khoury
In - FF, and Brittni Donaldson

or am i missing any other hires

EDIT: Remembered we hired Mark Tyndale as assistant as well
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#48 » by Pointgod » Mon Sep 9, 2019 1:58 pm

Lol I remember seeing her play basketball at a court near my place. Good for her, it’s good to see competence and hard work being rewarded.
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#49 » by Raps1103 » Mon Sep 9, 2019 2:27 pm

Mikistan wrote:
hankscorpioLA wrote:
Mikistan wrote:To be fair, the nba is a bit far behind on this.

They can easily go the route of the NFL, have offensive and defensive coordinators up top, with live statistics linked to IBM Watson and an earpiece to the head coach.
Everytime the opposing team makes a substitution you can have real time 3,4 man and 5man unit statistics updating, have offensive and defensive coordinators giving input on statistical best options or substitutions to counter, have live cameras mapping plays and comparing to catalogues of scouting videos of opponent offensive or defensive schemes.

Instead we just have a head coach yelling and walking up and down the sideline.

Dated.


Um....no.

The reason why that works in the NFL is that the game consists of a series of individual plays with breaks between them. And it uses separate personnel for offense and defense, so after each series, there is an opportunity to review and discuss.

Basketball consists of possessions that go back and forth in a continuous manner with minimal breaks. Players are constantly moving and making adjustments on the fly. You can't have 3 or 4 other people calling things out or it will devolve into chaos.

There are 53 players on an NFL team. There are three completely different units, each of which has a different mix of packages and personnel that they use, meaning there are hundreds of different potential combinations. You need multiple coaches just to keep track of it.

There are 12 players on an NBA team, 8 of which play the vast majority of the minutes. Most teams run variations on a dozen or so different plays and ideally use only about 10-15 different lineup combinations in any given game. It is easily something one person with two assistants can manage.


um... no.


I’m guessing that’s sarcasm, cuz this dude just beautifully destroyed your “dated” post!
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#50 » by Mikistan » Mon Sep 9, 2019 3:05 pm

Raps1103 wrote:
Mikistan wrote:
hankscorpioLA wrote:
Um....no.

The reason why that works in the NFL is that the game consists of a series of individual plays with breaks between them. And it uses separate personnel for offense and defense, so after each series, there is an opportunity to review and discuss.

Basketball consists of possessions that go back and forth in a continuous manner with minimal breaks. Players are constantly moving and making adjustments on the fly. You can't have 3 or 4 other people calling things out or it will devolve into chaos.

There are 53 players on an NFL team. There are three completely different units, each of which has a different mix of packages and personnel that they use, meaning there are hundreds of different potential combinations. You need multiple coaches just to keep track of it.

There are 12 players on an NBA team, 8 of which play the vast majority of the minutes. Most teams run variations on a dozen or so different plays and ideally use only about 10-15 different lineup combinations in any given game. It is easily something one person with two assistants can manage.


um... no.


I’m guessing that’s sarcasm, cuz this dude just beautifully destroyed your “dated” post!

Nope.

He can say whatever he wants but if he expects it to get a warm reception by prefacing it with a shutdown like "um.. No." to start his argument then screw it.

There are 13 choose 5 permeatations of each active rosters per game, and multiples more if you look at 3 man combinations of less than 5.

His argument is that there are enough coaches to handle it with the current system, by specifically countering with the size of NFL lineups.

I call bull because coaches consist tly don't make adjustments fast enough, no matter how "easily one or two assistants can manage"

The league is already behind analytically and even less so use iPads and other technology on the bench visibly during games.

Oh 3 or 4 people making calls will devolve into chaos?

That's the argument that "destroyed me"?

His argument is essentially that it's already easy enough. False.
You can automate everything with technology in real time. It's the next step logically.

It means you go from using analytics in your game planning pre game to using it during real time.

Give me a break.
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#51 » by ItsDanger » Mon Sep 9, 2019 3:28 pm

Hopefully she can teach everyone what 99th percentile actually means in regards to Matt Thomas. LOL
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#52 » by Raps1103 » Mon Sep 9, 2019 5:00 pm

Mikistan wrote:
Raps1103 wrote:
Mikistan wrote:
um... no.


I’m guessing that’s sarcasm, cuz this dude just beautifully destroyed your “dated” post!

Nope.

He can say whatever he wants but if he expects it to get a warm reception by prefacing it with a shutdown like "um.. No." to start his argument then screw it.

There are 13 choose 5 permeatations of each active rosters per game, and multiples more if you look at 3 man combinations of less than 5.

His argument is that there are enough coaches to handle it with the current system, by specifically countering with the size of NFL lineups.

I call bull because coaches consist tly don't make adjustments fast enough, no matter how "easily one or two assistants can manage"

The league is already behind analytically and even less so use iPads and other technology on the bench visibly during games.

Oh 3 or 4 people making calls will devolve into chaos?

That's the argument that "destroyed me"?

His argument is essentially that it's already easy enough. False.
You can automate everything with technology in real time. It's the next step logically.

It means you go from using analytics in your game planning pre game to using it during real time.

Give me a break.


Um no!
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#53 » by lolwut » Mon Sep 9, 2019 6:31 pm

siakamthemvp wrote:
And1Skip wrote:
siakamthemvp wrote:2013 - Rudy Gay bans stats sheets from players in locker room
2019 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach

Imagine if she was on the team coaching staff in 2013


Eric Khoury (presumably her boss as Director of Analytics) was an assitant coach since 2 years ago. Eric is apparently going to the 905 (maybe he has a front-row bench role there) so that's why Brittini got hired. Stats guy on the bench hasn't been new so really, it should say "2017 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach"


Oh interesting. I guess that means we have one more assistant coach slot open then?
Out - Phil Handy, Jeremy Castleberry, and Eric Khoury
In - FF, and Brittni Donaldson

or am i missing any other hires

EDIT: Remembered we hired Mark Tyndale as assistant as well

I don't think Castleberry actually took up an assistant coach slot.
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#54 » by And1Skip » Mon Sep 9, 2019 6:34 pm

lolwut wrote:
siakamthemvp wrote:
And1Skip wrote:
Eric Khoury (presumably her boss as Director of Analytics) was an assitant coach since 2 years ago. Eric is apparently going to the 905 (maybe he has a front-row bench role there) so that's why Brittini got hired. Stats guy on the bench hasn't been new so really, it should say "2017 - Raptors hire statistic guru as coach"


Oh interesting. I guess that means we have one more assistant coach slot open then?
Out - Phil Handy, Jeremy Castleberry, and Eric Khoury
In - FF, and Brittni Donaldson

or am i missing any other hires

EDIT: Remembered we hired Mark Tyndale as assistant as well

I don't think Castleberry actually took up an assistant coach slot.


He still does according to Raptors website https://www.nba.com/raptors/roster which needs updating.

He was an assistant coach along the same lines as Jamal Magloire was who some say was an AC and some say he wasn't. Basically, anyone who sits on the "back-row" was an assistant coach, including Alex McKechnie and John Goodwillie who was the video coordinator.
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#55 » by And1Skip » Mon Sep 9, 2019 7:51 pm

So yeah, technically Magloire is not an assistant coach.

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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#56 » by will » Mon Sep 9, 2019 9:10 pm

raptorstime wrote:
will wrote:Nice!

You gotta chill will


It was meant to actually reflect the hiring.

Not in the 15 year old tone :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#58 » by CoachJReturns » Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:17 pm

To join the staff of Masai's team she has to pretty good.
She's also just pretty, which I don't mind personally.
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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#59 » by niQ » Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:20 pm

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Re: Shams: Raptors promote Brittini Donaldson to assistant coach 

Post#60 » by Retro_Junkball » Wed Sep 11, 2019 12:48 am

Apparently, Canadian reporters are incompetent. I had to go through about five articles, until I found one from a US publication, indicating that Brittini played for four years at the college level. Important much? WTF are the local reporters just reposting Raptors' press releases?

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