The Sports Business Conference was held at MIT last week, co-chaired by Rockets GM Daryl Morey. Here are some snippets from a recap of the proceedings, relating to the NBA: [rquoter] Grousbeck [Celtics owner], the keynote speaker, started his address with an intense, 60-second clip of the Celtics in action. He conceded that, while he had bought the team on 80 percent emotion and 20 percent objective data, the key to being successful is to find a balance between the two. "You should let analytics support and drive your decision making, but do not hide behind it; find a blend," said Grousbeck. He added that, while he is not a "data junkie" (he hires number crunchers), objective data is a useful tool in decision making, and that the Celtics use analytics "24-7." [/rquoter] [rquoter] Buford [Spurs GM] said that it is "eyes, ears, and the numbers"* that drive decisions, and if teams don't try to incorporate the numbers, they will be making a big mistake. [/rquoter] * for more on that phrase, read this Nothing really surprising here, but it does seem to suggest that there is an increasing trend in the use of "numbers" or "analytics" to inform decision making in NBA front offices.
Just don't let Gater know about this. He's from the old school, where men were men and data analysis was only a tally on a headboard compared to a buddies tally. Aside from the jokes, they all say the same thing which is the point I think Gater is really getting at: Data Analysis is not the only method and shouldn't be the primary qualifier, but it does have a place alongside more traditional methods as supplementary data to help keep from making poor decisions.
