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Here are some highlights from just concluded
MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Mar 4-5, Boston.
Gut vs. data in NBA decision making
In basketball, both R.C. Buford and Del Harris, were in agreement when it came to making decisions based on preparation and data vs. gut feeling. For Buford, he tends to shy away from gut decisions because it makes it harder to take a step back and analyze those decisions after the fact. If you get the decision wrong, you don't know why, but maybe more importantly, if you get it correct, you don't know how to duplicate it.
ESPN, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference bullets
Whoa! One of the new frontiers amongst stat geeks is optical tracking data. Who saw this coming? (See what I did there?) Brett Hainline of Queen City Hoops writes: "The three primary results of Weil's poring through the data and accounting for things like historical player shooting percentages, distance, and shot type: (1) Tight defense (within three feet) drops expected shooting 12 percentage points (a 50 percent shot becomes a 38 percent shot), (2) field goal percentage drops one percentage point for every 1.5 feet from the rim, and (3) there is something beneficial about the catch and shoot, beyond expectations."Devin Kharpertian introduces the world to hard data on undershooting and overshooting, two important considerations of a fascinating new metric called Dynamic Efficiency.
Malcolm Gladwell on the fundamental questions about player development, ESPN.
Is there any such thing as being a natural in sports or are today's athletes developed the old-fashioned way by putting in their time the same way a doctor or lawyer would to become proficient in their field?
Sports Analytics Conference: Seeing the Future, Forbes, Tom Van Riper, Mar 6.
Now in its fifth year, the conference drew over 1,500 people, up from 1,000 in 2010, with another 400 or so left on the waiting list, according to an organizer. On Friday, the conference ranked No. 10 globally as a trending topic on Twitter. Microsoft, ESPN, Ticketmaster, and Titleist were among the 15 sponsors.
On the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference and Adopting Advanced Stats , by Gian Casimiro, Mar 5, 2011
Acceptance is a dominant topic throughout the conference each year. Mike Zarren, Assistant Executive Director of Basketball Operations and stat evangelist for the Celtics, said that Moneyball created a dichotomy between those that believe in using numbers and those that don't. The problem, as with any belief, is that the polar extremes tend to dominate the conversation. Many stat supporters defend it staunchly with a "numbers don't lie" undertone on an already confusing topic. It turns people off. On the other extreme are those that don't trust data because it can be manipulated or believe so strongly in using their eyes that they dismiss the field altogether. From that comes this perception that advanced stat supporters don't "watch" the game enough. Stats are law, rather than complementary information. Attending Sloan gives you the proper perspective, though.