The return of Sloan means the nation's basketball geeks will gather in Boston again. Hooray!
As I have every year since the very first year of Sloan, I'll be glad to welcome our community to grab a drink Thursday night before the conference. Unfortunately (it still makes me sick to my stomach to type it), the longtime home for this gathering, The Fours, once recognized as the #1 sports bar in America by SI, is closed forever.
And there's a Bruins game Thursday so we can't use Banners like we did last year, due to capacity issues. But there will be a Thursday gathering - still working on the venue. PM me Tuesday or later and I'll send it to you.
Much like previous years, we'll also have a geeks pickup basketball game Sunday morning - PM me for the info on that too.
Thanks everyone for your support for this community over the years, and can't wait to see you all here in Boston.
-Mike Z.
APBeerMetrics & Sunday Basketball
Re: APBeerMetrics & Sunday Basketball
Fwiw, here are some questions that come to mind, whether you take them here or not:
Do you think looking at player synergies of similar players in the past can yield "interesting to at least consider" information about future player synergies, more than that, or less to no value?
Do you think pre-NBA data (of any / all kinds) can be reasonably useful in predicting second NBA contract salary levels (for what that is worth in draft decisions in current cap situations)?
Should play calls (and reads within them) by heavily influenced by player assist data or is a good play design / read "enough" if the assist opportunities are pretty obvious / clear / not that hard?
Do you think defenses are giving up higher at the rim fg% mainly because of choice to clamp on 3s or declining interior effort, both or other?
What is generally the most valuable second skill of strong offensive rebounders?
Do you think there is more or less uncertainty within teams about the value / cost of player personal fouls than in public (with metrics or in general)? Is there significant difference in handling this question for perimeter and interior players?
Do lower ranked play-in game teams tend to be high, middle, low variance in overall play quality?
Is it common for teams to profile player agent / agency behavior as a significant part of prep for negotiations or is the negotiation largely seen as with the player and their direct personal priorities / style / past contract behavior (to extent known)?
If there is near-term league expansion, with possible expansion selections off current teams, how massively does it change roster management and how many months or years in advance would front offices "like" to know of its implementation?
Would you support current 19 year minimum draft eligibility standard, 18, or lower? Stay 2 rounds or go to 3? More 2 way contracts or the same?
Anything you are willing to say about select "luck adjustment" of metrics or any stat or "the padding method"?
Do teams generally have current analytic staff acquisition big boards / seek out contract end dates / talk to agents or lawyers or the analytic staff themselves? Do contracts with analytic staff generally preclude discussing future employment opportunities with outside parties while under their current contract? If an analytic staffer wanted to resign before contract end date are they generally precluded from entering a new contract until the original end date? Has any team, to your known, ever asked for or gotten any compensation for releasing an analytic staffer to another team? How big a bump in title or pay is enough to allow a staffer to take it as permitted "career advancement? Is there a years of service to current team rule of thumb? You probably can't / won't say, but within the team ecosystem of influence / "value", do you think analytic staff (or other middle level staff including assistant coaches) can be "worth" into 7 figures annually?
Is there a team job description that is currently rare or non-existent today that you think will be much more common in 3-5 plus years?
Is roster size was open for discussion in the CBA (and expansion talks), what size do you think makes the most basketball sense outright or that you would lobby your owner and the league to support?
Who do you consider the best strong and weak side offenses and defenses? Is there any appreciable difference in side utilization between regular season and playoffs and team preferences for & against?
What topics would you most be interested in reading about in a future Sloan research paper (or any other venue)?
How many off the court NBA spies do teams consult and is the currency money or mostly just quid pro quo access to information / status? Would it be fair to say some "spies" are in the media?
Do you have much use for player pair data (raw or adjusted)?
What is the biggest question or issue to you never raised / addressed on all the Sloan panels you've been on or the Conference in general?
Yes or no, is it a common element of defensive strategy to do things where potential next own possession advantages exceed current defensive possession "cost"?
Bigger implementation hurdle for analytic input influence- communication of or reception / understanding? When people say the former is that honest or b.s.?
Do you think looking at player synergies of similar players in the past can yield "interesting to at least consider" information about future player synergies, more than that, or less to no value?
Do you think pre-NBA data (of any / all kinds) can be reasonably useful in predicting second NBA contract salary levels (for what that is worth in draft decisions in current cap situations)?
Should play calls (and reads within them) by heavily influenced by player assist data or is a good play design / read "enough" if the assist opportunities are pretty obvious / clear / not that hard?
Do you think defenses are giving up higher at the rim fg% mainly because of choice to clamp on 3s or declining interior effort, both or other?
What is generally the most valuable second skill of strong offensive rebounders?
Do you think there is more or less uncertainty within teams about the value / cost of player personal fouls than in public (with metrics or in general)? Is there significant difference in handling this question for perimeter and interior players?
Do lower ranked play-in game teams tend to be high, middle, low variance in overall play quality?
Is it common for teams to profile player agent / agency behavior as a significant part of prep for negotiations or is the negotiation largely seen as with the player and their direct personal priorities / style / past contract behavior (to extent known)?
If there is near-term league expansion, with possible expansion selections off current teams, how massively does it change roster management and how many months or years in advance would front offices "like" to know of its implementation?
Would you support current 19 year minimum draft eligibility standard, 18, or lower? Stay 2 rounds or go to 3? More 2 way contracts or the same?
Anything you are willing to say about select "luck adjustment" of metrics or any stat or "the padding method"?
Do teams generally have current analytic staff acquisition big boards / seek out contract end dates / talk to agents or lawyers or the analytic staff themselves? Do contracts with analytic staff generally preclude discussing future employment opportunities with outside parties while under their current contract? If an analytic staffer wanted to resign before contract end date are they generally precluded from entering a new contract until the original end date? Has any team, to your known, ever asked for or gotten any compensation for releasing an analytic staffer to another team? How big a bump in title or pay is enough to allow a staffer to take it as permitted "career advancement? Is there a years of service to current team rule of thumb? You probably can't / won't say, but within the team ecosystem of influence / "value", do you think analytic staff (or other middle level staff including assistant coaches) can be "worth" into 7 figures annually?
Is there a team job description that is currently rare or non-existent today that you think will be much more common in 3-5 plus years?
Is roster size was open for discussion in the CBA (and expansion talks), what size do you think makes the most basketball sense outright or that you would lobby your owner and the league to support?
Who do you consider the best strong and weak side offenses and defenses? Is there any appreciable difference in side utilization between regular season and playoffs and team preferences for & against?
What topics would you most be interested in reading about in a future Sloan research paper (or any other venue)?
How many off the court NBA spies do teams consult and is the currency money or mostly just quid pro quo access to information / status? Would it be fair to say some "spies" are in the media?
Do you have much use for player pair data (raw or adjusted)?
What is the biggest question or issue to you never raised / addressed on all the Sloan panels you've been on or the Conference in general?
Yes or no, is it a common element of defensive strategy to do things where potential next own possession advantages exceed current defensive possession "cost"?
Bigger implementation hurdle for analytic input influence- communication of or reception / understanding? When people say the former is that honest or b.s.?
Re: APBeerMetrics & Sunday Basketball
Mostly it's just seeing people/friends I havent seen in a long time and catching up with them! Great community but we all rarely see each other. Occasionally some discussion of how to improve vendor relationships, etc., but mostly it's non-work stuff.
Sorry - no time for this. Have been asked by lots of media outlets - if i ever do it wouldn't be here; audience here is a much smaller subset of the relevant community than it used to be. I mostly just post this announcement here for historical reasons.
-MZ (next post probably a year from now)