APBRmetrics

Hey all, we have two new job openings for analysts in the Rockets' Basketball Operations department. One is a full-time analyst position while the other is a year-long internship.

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http://www.houstontoyotacenter.com/jobs/job_528.php

BASKETBALL OPERATIONS ANALYST, HOUSTON ROCKETS

DEPARTMENT: Basketball Operations
TYPE: Full Time

DESCRIPTION:

The Houston Rockets front office is looking to add a talented new member to the team. This person will work intimately with the entire front office, including GM Daryl Morey, to organize basketball data, build software tools, and analyze basketball games. People who hate coding need not apply, though the job could easily be a fit for talented data scientists, software engineers, forecasters, web developers, statisticians, DBAs, machine learning experts, etc. Experience in basketball is not required; learning easily is. Much of the work is in SQL, so interested applicants should have either tangible SQL experience or a deep understanding of programming combined with an appetite to learn SQL quickly. Nimbleness of mind is key, as is the candidate's ability to fit into an energetic, passionate work environment in Houston. The position reports to the EVP of Basketball Operations.

QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience with varied programming languages, particularly SQL.
- Interest in basketball and familiarity with basketball terminology.
- Experience with statistics and commonly used statistics packages, econometrics, data visualization, and basketball analytics are desirable.
- Background in mathematical or computational field are desirable but not required.
- Experience with large data sets is an advantage, as is experience with scripting languages.

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http://www.houstontoyotacenter.com/jobs/job_529.php

BASKETBALL OPERATIONS INTERN, HOUSTON ROCKETS

DEPARTMENT: Basketball Operations
TYPE: Internship

DESCRIPTION:

Assist the Houston Rockets front office in answering fundamental basketball questions using the best data sets in the game. Questions are approached using a variety of mathematical and computational tools combined with basketball knowledge and intuition. Premium is placed on actionable and timely analysis. Position is an excellent opportunity for those considering a career in the NBA, sports or data analysis. The position reports to the EVP of Basketball Operations.

QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience with varied programming languages, particularly SQL.
- Experience with data analysis, statistics and/or econometrics and familiarity with commonly used statistics packages or programming languages.
- Interest in basketball and familiarity with basketball terminology.
- Background in mathematical or computational field are desirable but not required.
- Experience with large data sets is an advantage, as is experience with scripting languages.
- Availability to serve a one-year internship.

Thanks for this, Eli.
Does the intern position require living in Houston?

Mike G wrote:Thanks for this, Eli.
Does the intern position require living in Houston?

Ideally, yes, the intern position would be in Houston.

Is the coding and analysis based on the coding paying off?

Looking year to year at team boxscore totals:

From 2009-2010 to 2010-11 10 own boxscore items improved, 2 declined. On opponent boxscore stats it was 6 improve, 6 worsen from the Rockets' standpoint.

From 2010-2011 to 2011-12 3 own boxscore items improved slightly, 9 declined. On opponent boxscore stats it was 8 improve, 4 worsen from the Rockets' standpoint.

Overall that is 27 improvements, 21 declines. That tilt is modestly in favor of improvement, with talent level of players and coaches of course not necessarily being the same of course. With a swing from offensive improvement to defensive improvement coinciding with the coaching change. And, of course, all these stats are not worth the same. A more rigorous analysis could weight them fairly and perhaps try to adjust for talent level based on career stats. Some unknown portion of these changes may be considered random or schedule based.

In the big picture perspective on wins, win % barely moved year to year. Perhaps it is harder to move wins than discrete stat totals. But wins are what really matter. Actual win performance vs expected performance went from more performance (+2) to under-performance (-4) / fire the coach (do the Rockets look at / value Actual win performance vs expected performance or is this unrelated / unimportant???) to even. Not a clearcut story there but food for thought about the coaches and maybe on the analysis. If the trend was positive and improving thorough out, one could be more confident in continuing the past approach. A longer study could be done, with time and interest.

(P.S. Of the first 20 coach firings I checked, in 15 cases the coach had a negative actual win% compared to expected win % in their final season. I think it is something worth checking. Whether the decisionmaker knows the metric results explicitly or not.)

Do the Rockets use RAPM? That is a big question, here is just a little data on point. The Rockets had 6 players with continuity from 2010-11 to 2011-12 (not counting Lowry)

3 Played well / had positive RAPM estimates in 2010-11 and then played the same minutes or less in 2011-12.
3 Played poorly / had negative RAPM estimates in 2010-11, 2 then played more minutes in 2011-12, 1 played less.

4 had positive year to year change in RAPM estimates and 1 played more minutes in 2011-12 while 3 played less.
2 had negative year to year change in RAPM estimates and then 1 played more minutes in 2011-12 and 1 played less.

Based on this, it does not appear that RAPM estimates are being used too much with regard to playing time this past season.

4 of these 6 with positive RAPM in 2011-12 were traded or waived.

Hi Eli, has this position been filled or still open for application?

Neither position has been filled, so please still apply if you are interested.

Great. I've done so. Thanks!

I just found a posting of this job that was dated in December.
Is it still open for applications?

macha wrote:I just found a posting of this job that was dated in December.
Is it still open for applications?

Yes, the positions are still open so please apply if you're interested.

I applied to the position using the NBA.com site. Is there any status update for the "basketball operations analyst" position?

This position was filled last fall I believe

Both positions are still open. If you've applied we'll try to get back to you soon.

d'oh! i could have learned SQL in that timeframe....

Hello,
I applied super long ago, and was given a scouting project for the rockets. does this mean anything in terms of the internship? Or was that just b/c the work needed to be completed. I'm fine either way, it was a fun project.