APBRmetrics

Hi folks - newbie here, basketball junkie, was intrigued when I started to learn more about this forum. What i'm curious about is what do you guys do with all the analysis that you do? Are you guys making money off of it? Don't get me wrong, I love looking at some of the work/analysis out there, but is it all just a hobby for most of you?

For example, there's a lot of discussion here around NBA data, mostly because the data is easily available - however, what about working with high school or college level data? If a team was willing to provide pbp data, would they be willing to pay for the analysis that can be done on it? Have folks worked with teams at that level?

Where I'm going with this is the idea that I have where teams can upload their play by play data and have analysis be done against it (charts/table, etc.). More data that the coach uploads as the season continues, the more insights that can be provided. Is there a potential to make a living in this space by working with non-NBA teams?

Thanks.

I don't make money off it, though I have been asked to interview for a number of NBA openings. I do fine doing my current job (engineering).

Many of the early members of this forum have been hired by NBA teams or work as writers now.

I don't know of many non-NBA teams that work with consultants like NBA teams do; more often, assistant coaches do research and analysis. I know that Ilardi did consulting for KU; I think someone else worked with UNC for a while (Oliver?).

I think that Ken Pomeroy has worked some with college teams; I know Brad Stevens had talked of always using KenPom.com to prepare for opponents. Ken has PbP data for all NCAA games and does some analysis of it behind his pay wall. I've heard many coaches use it.

For an idea like yours to be successful (and it does sound reasonable) there would first probably need to be demonstration publicly (perhaps with NBA data) and then some added value and NCAA-level custom work done for pay. So having a framework & system, but customizing based on what each team wanted to do. Different teams track different data tracked; hence the custom work required. Certain teams could perhaps like to have certain reports generated for each player for each game, or tracking changes in their game. PbP data alone probably wouldn't give much added value to an NCAA teams.

Thanks for the feedback, greatly appreciated. The added value you mention is spot on - Coming up with analysis based on data is something a lot of folks are already doing and are certainly capable of doing so at the college level. I'm thinking of providing insights that you would not get from stats alone - actually seeing the game and making observations to provide that added value. For example, boxout % per player to see which players are boxing out when a shot is attempted. Assistant coaches may already be doing things like this, but there are other facts like this that can be observed and tracked - if you can provide a scalable model (and I have some ideas on how to do so), these coaches can focus on teaching the players versus spending time on coming up with the facts.

Thanks again - looking forward to sharing my findings with this community in the future.

I have made small amounts doing work here and there for NBA teams, but nothing in recent years. Like Daniel, I make a living doing something else (public relations in my case) and with wife, kids, house, etc., I'm kinda priced out of taking analyst jobs for NBA teams. Plus, most of the openings in recent years are looking for folks who know programming, and that ain't me.

I'd be happy to consult with a college or high school team, time permitting.