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Analytics in Sports - The Bonus Not the Replacement

After receiving numerous emails and tweets from the sports industry naysayers regarding last month's blog on using analytics in the sports industry, here are the answers to the top 3 questions posed regarding analytics as a bonus not a replacement of any processes in place.

 Question:  How can analytics determine when a player is going to have a stress fracture or tear an ACL?  Athletes can step or land the wrong way at any time in soccer, rugby, basketball and especially football.

 Answer:  It's all about the data. If the player's injury history, the maximum levels the player can perform and his functional movement patterns and limitations are tracked over time, the length of time specific body parts will function at high levels can be forecasted.  Of course, some athletes are freaks of nature and outlast more than others but if the Chicago Bulls had this information upfront about Derrick Rose, they could have adjusted their roster and payouts accordingly.

 Question:  Most sports like the NBA, NFL, MLS and MLB have scouts that travel to watch practices and games all the time to evaluate players and watch film.  Does analytics replace these jobs in the future?

 Answer:  Absolutely not.  You can never replace the skilled eye and intuition for talent, especially from people who have either played the sport on a professional level or have studied the sport and what it takes to be successful on the professional level.  Analytics, however, can be used to determine which types of players (build/physical makeup, speed, reach/span, age) are more likely to be successful based on a team's dynamic and the blending of other players on the team - again based on well-defined history of data tracked.

 Question: NBA teams seem to use analytics for their coaching as well to determine what are the most successful plays given certain scenarios.  Analytics seems to take the art from coaching and makes it a science created by algorithmic nerds.

 Answer:  Always an engineering and systems supporter but never a fan of using analytics to devalue the competition and athleticism during games, it is, however, a good extra piece of information that coaches can use to augment their decisions based on match-ups, team members in foul trouble, PPG of key players at a point of time and opponent history during the same quarter in similar situations.  Mark Cuban and Rick Carlisle are huge supporters of analytics in how it coaches up from the data to give the competitive advantage to increase the team's chances of winning the game.  Keep in mind if every team uses analytics, it turns into which Ivy League analyst and data developer is the smartest - definitely not what any sports fan wants to hear about when it comes to the love of the sport.
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Analytics - The Big Score for IT in Sports

For over three decades IT departments hired report analysts and database developers to churn out data in voluminous spreadsheets that could be consumed and repackaged in pretty pie charts for key decisions to be made regarding the health and competitiveness of the company or department.

Business Intelligence that tracked metrics as key performance indicators and analytical formulas still remain the trend across Fortune 500 companies. Now the good news for database administrators, statisticians, database developers, and report analysts is that the sports industry has caught onto what has been the fundamental premise on how successful companies have maintained their longevity and competitive stand for years.



 Data that can be downloaded by wearable devices to track calorie intake, high performance exertion, muscle over usage, functional movement, heart rates, and speed can help lessen injuries, identify when athletes have reached their maximum potential, notify coaches when players should be rested, provide data to trainers to help correct incorrect form or create stabilization programs and help decision-making concerning performance incentive bonuses.

 This can ultimately lead to determining when a player is at his prime based on physical limitations and contribute to trade and contract negotiations regarding how large his next contract should be given his positional longevity and personal standings. It can further reduce the side effects of losing a key player during a season like having to quickly develop inexperienced players to take the spot, risk losses due to the adjustments needed because of losing a star player, overexerting other players that would need to fill in the slack and worse - ending a season with no playoffs.

 The power the data provides to the purview for the Coach and General Manager can strengthen the team. Now we will see which sports will follow suit like the NBA and its teams did with SAP Hana, specialized algorithms, and Big Data to score big on quality team restructuring.
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Reality Check - Why Your Team Isn't Winning

Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, identifies the five fundamental reasons why teams do not perform well as absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, absence of accountability, and inattention to results. The Golden State Warriors experienced dysfunction but made multiple corrections to become a winning team in June. With a dedicated but frustrated fan base, the Warriors went from a team that changed front office personnel, ownership, and coaching staff to remove the dysfunctions absence of trust and lack of commitment to become an NBA Championship Team within two years.

In order for a team to win, it must be governed by a leader who has the following:

  • Clear vision on what it takes to create a championship caliber team
  • Commitment to excellence with combined willingness and power to destruct and construct as necessary until the mission is accomplished
  • Authority to make bold decisions to put the right people in position who have solid track records and foster change that can bring about the desired results
  • Professionalism to admit questionable and unfavorable player deals made with a plan of corrective action to garner great draft picks, trades, and free agent signings
  • Insight into how each department can help with earned trust for others to share information
  • Respect of subordinates to not undermine decisions and abilities to higher level executives
  • Identification and announcement of individuals to be held accountable for missing the mark in any areas of the organization that impacts the team makeup

A breakdown in any of the aforementioned categories screams dysfunction in which a team can barely exist let alone win.  Let's hope the people with the authority for your team have read this blog post to start making changes.
Published August 21, 2015
Photo by Caleb Wellington 

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Dispelling the Fairy Tale of Collaboration



When employees depend upon the workplace to be a meeting place to meet new friends, the boundary between career and personal life becomes blurry. While there will be a few individuals that relate on a personal level, there is a level of professionalism required to meet goals, create synergies and eloquently agree to disagree for optimal results. This requires effective communication, negotiation, and fact-finding - not forced collaboration.


Webster defines "collaboration" as the state of having shared interests or efforts. In environments where people are trying to be noticed and get promoted, there is a thin line between collaboration and competition. The collaboration will motivate a person to ask others for help to get what is needed for a joint project. However, competition will drive a person to hide the information he has to use as a bargaining tool for his promotion.

Collaboration cannot be forced with team gatherings.  

If people neither like nor trust each other, there is no exercise or facilitated offsite meeting that can change that. Smart individuals focus on the existing needs and handle the tasks accordingly. Wise individuals don't forget what has been done to others and protect themselves from having it done to them. In an organization that should be based on employing more individuals with wisdom than brilliance, respect of others with regards to work (not character) is all that is necessary to get the optimal results.


People will eventually learn to work with each other organically.  

Closed office doors and private hallway whispers prevent collaboration from happening. Before promoting and directing everyone to collaborate, make sure you have not been the leader who has inadvertently set an example where a disparate lack of cohesiveness and blatant divide is a normal function of the organization.

Photo by Alejandro Escamilla 
Published on August 8, 2015

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If You Are Not Doing These Things, You Are Not An Effective Leader

There is a stark difference between a leader and a manager.  


Leaders are expected to set the organization's direction and align people accordingly. Managers plan, staff, and budget and coordinate activities to achieve a goal that moves in the organization's direction. Leaders motivate people; managers control and solve problems. If there is a lack of direction in an organization short-term managerial duties waste time and energy; the leader must take control and identify what information is missing in order to make impactful long-term decisions for the good of the organization.


In order to set a strategy for the organization...

A leader must understand every department that can directly or indirectly affect the success of the company as a whole. Leaders instill cross-departmental trust that motivates individuals to help solve problems by acknowledging weaknesses, exposing vulnerabilities and highlighting strengths. Leaders create an environment which supports sharing data across departments to help others for the common goal of moving towards the company direction.


In a crisis... 

A leader must be able to swiftly investigate, involve the correct resources, solicit information and engage in evidential discussions to make sound well-informed decisions. This can only be done when the people in the organization are onboard with the leader's vision and completely support where he is trying to take the organization. Leaders who handle crisis well set the direction on how the organization will be governed in the future - thereby engaging the right people to ensure the company does not suffer by getting ahead of problems before they become issues.

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