Sloan Sports Analytics Conference shows influence of statistics on US sport
The stupidly long Sloan roundup is on its way. In the meantime, a column from the 2015 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference for the Irish Times. Decent Irish turnout but a serious lack of European soccer presence. Published in the print edition of Wednesday, March 4th 2015.
“That’s some unique s**t, man”. That’s what Kirk Goldsberry says basketball great LeBron James told him when presented with a chart of every shot the NBA star had taken over the previous five seasons.
Goldsberry, Harvard professor and NBA analyst, was speaking at the 2015 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Two days of sports data, technology and insight attended by 3,100 people in frigid, snow-piled Boston. The sports-nerd Super Bowl.
Baseball is widely regarded as a stat-friendly sport but Sloan is truly basketball country. Recently retired NBA player Shane Battier was a big draw. “It was his destiny to be here” said Daryl Morey, general manager of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. Battier was the subject of “The No-Stats All-Star” written by Michael Lewis for the New York Times in 2009, a seminal composition in the sports analytics songbook.
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