Sitting down to write this story — literally within seconds of opening the laptop — a video came across my feed of Brian Cashman forcefully and profanely distancing his team from analytics. So here I am, trying to think of how to present Synergy Sports’ new technology as a game changer for NBA teams, and there’s the GM of the friggin’ Yankees saying “bulls–t” twice and boasting that he owns the smallest analytics department in the division.
Which led me to the No. 1 rule in sports: It’s only a good idea if it works (hint: the Yankees stunk last season).
And then to the point of this story: I agree with Cashman that analytics should be used as a tool rather than gospel (as reinforced by Tom Thibodeau later in this story), but there’s no reason — other than price, of course — that tool shouldn’t be the highest quality.
To that end, the bar continues to rise. And the Knicks are among those at the forefront.
