Lakers plan staff move to beef up analytics operationJuly 14, 2015
|Updated 5:58 p.m.
BY BILL ORAM / STAFF WRITER
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LAS VEGAS – Lakers executives have long defended their use of advanced statistics, disputing the public perception that the 16-time NBA champions are behind the times.
The organization, however, is taking steps to strengthen the analytics side of things, with plans to create a position for a staff member to facilitate better communication between the basketball staff and those crunching the numbers.
Assistant coach and advance scout Clay Moser is expected to transition from the bench to the front office in a sort of liaison position, which previously did not exist within the organization. A team spokesman confirmed Monday that the move is in the works.
The responsibilities of the role have been among those heaped upon assistant coach Mark Madsen. The plan with Moser, however, is to facilitate a pipeline of ideas with a basketball person in the front office.
Moser has been with the Lakers since 2011, when Mike Brown hired him as an advance scout. Before that, he was an assistant coach for the D-Fenders and Reno Bighorns of the Development League, as well as an advance scout for Cleveland, Orlando, Sacramento and Golden State.
Team officials felt that statistical analysis got lost in translation between the two branches of the organization, with statistics employees sometimes failing to understand the practical complications of making certain adjustments based on numbers, and the coaches not appreciating the value of the stats.
In February, ESPN.com ranked the Lakers 113th out of 122 professional sports franchises for their use of analytics, and grouped the organization among just three “nonbelievers” league-wide, along with the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks.
Around that time the website published a story with a headline that asked, “Are the Lakers stuck in the stone age?”
ESPN reported that the Lakers employed six full-time analytics staffers, including four who focused on data from the in-arena SportVU cameras.
The external view of the Lakers analytics operation was only made worse when free agent LaMarcus Aldridge was reportedly underwhelmed by the Lakers' basketball presentation, and subsequently wowed by Houston’s use of analytics in its pitch.
Coach Byron Scott has been especially resistant to analytics.
Madsen provided Scott with a weekly breakdown of advanced statistics, but in the middle of last season Scott said those numbers had never influenced a basketball decision.
He said he listens to the information when its brought to him, but that he is "still just old school."
The disconnect became apparent in February when Mitch Kupchak told KSPN/710 that analytics are “of most use to a coaching staff.” Scott, however, said he had no use for them.
“I think we’ve got a few guys who believe in them,” he said. “I’m not one of them.”
BROWN, EYES RETURN
Jabari Brown acknowledged feeling a little “out of sync” in his Summer League debut Monday against the New York Knicks. Still, the guard was at times the Lakers’ best offensive option despite missing most of the last week after getting poked in the eye by Jordan Clarkson.
Outfitted with goggles, Brown led the Lakers with 20 points, despite hitting only 5-of-14 shots.
Brown joined the Lakers for the final 19 games of the 21-61 season that wrapped up in April. He averaged 11.9 points per game, that on the heels of averaging 24.4 points with the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
He has a contract that will likely keep him with the Lakers through training camp, but the Lakers could look elsewhere for perimeter help if they don’t see enough from Brown. That’s why the eye injury, incurred when Clarkson poked him on the first day of summer league practices, was a big deal to Brown.
“He’s trying to take that away from me, man,” Brown joked. “Summer league’s big for me. But I’m happy to be back out there.”
I bolded the part about Scott because there are stories about his assistants making scouting tapes for him and fast forwarding them to a certain spot and checking later to see if he watched. He didn't. The guy was also famous for his naps in NJ and his substitutions were based on time in the game not what was happening in the game. Old School?
7/15/2015 10:40 AM