Barkley Rips Rockets GM For Being Stats 'Idiot' - Charles Barkley's Take On Analytics

I'm not in agreement with Charles Barkley here at all.

To start with his basic premise is flawed: The Rockets are bad defensively because they were put together through analytics.

OK, that then presupposes that analytics can not be used to measure defensive effectiveness. The only problem is there are analytics that can be used to measure defensive effectiveness.

Dean Smith (skypoint) was one of the early pioneers of analytics. He measure points per possession to measure individual and team effectiveness on both offense and defense. He used it as one tool to measure what he was seeing on the court in a dispassionate way.

As the costs of doing business in the NBA continue to go up, NBA teams have a growing vested interest in developing an understanding of what measures:
1. A good basketball player
2. A good basketball team

Analytics is a continuing dialogue about how to quantify productivity in sport. It is a debate that still goes on in baseball and it is a growing trend in basketball.

The focus on this grows as the NBA luxury tax has become more punitive. The contracts are guaranteed. Look at some of the really good players (and some not so good) who received "max money". Who produced? Who actually had an impact? There is a difference.

A NBA General Manager will now have to look at Kevin Love and ask: we know he can produce, but can he have an impact?

Chris Bosh was an integral part of the Miami Heat's run to 4 straight NBA Finals. But people called him a bust (the little one to Wade and James big two), because he didn't put up the numbers he did in Toronto. Can his value be measured via analytics?

These are the questions that need answers, especially in the NBA where bad contracts and mistakes can have a long term and expensive impact on a teams future.

Just some thoughts.

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R. David says: 2/11/2015 at 11:34:07 PM Good point on the Analytics and turnovers. ie: Where on the floor, who and what situation caused the turnovers. Barkley is just Barkley - No surprise on his thoughts and comments on this subject or just about anything that comes out of his mouth... Like     login   register

Analytics measure Character

Stats measure Skill

Both mean nothing if you never play the game

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Rather than debate the general merits of Analystics, the real question is whether the Rockets' defense is the worse among playoff teams as Barkley says, or whether they are a top 5 defensive team as Morey claims.

Probably neither is exactly right, but I am just guessing here as I would not be qualified to make that judgment.

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I think Charles is making a distinction between analytics and statistics. Joe's examples from above appear to be statistical.

Analystics would be the the trends of the data mapped into the model you are trying to fit into.

Example:
Analystics would be used to determine that a championship team averages 60 points, 12 assists and forces 6 turnovers per game. The model is now to meet those goals through the course of the season.

The statistics are the end result.

Just a thought.

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It's funny because he mentions the Spurs and Heat and Bulls, who are use analytics but focus on different things. If you want to know why the Heat and Bulls have successful defensive schemes and how the Spurs found undervalued players to fit their system, they used analytics, though not solely. Nobody is saying people should judge people solely by numbers, but to ignore them completely and say "I'm going completely on gut" is foolish at any level, let alone pro.

And funny how he criticizes all these "analytics" guys because they never played the game, yet the three teams he references have coaches that never played NBA basketball.

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Barkley is the real idiot here. I don't know why people even listen to him anymore. Stats are important for basketball and most other sport and non-sports disciplines. If it were not for stats, how would we know a 'high-percentage shot' versus something else. Yes, you need great players to be relevant and win championships, but its not the great players that make the difference for a team. It's the role players who are making all of the hustle plays that help teams win championships.

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Barkley's comments are silly. Just because he had tremendous ability to play basketball does not mean someone who wasn't born with those same gifts can't understand the game. That is just plain silly. Analytics are very useful as they take away a lot of the biases that take place in evaluations. Let's try to be smarter, I bet if you look at the analytics for the teams he mentioned, they would be at the top of the charts.

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