Morey has said from the beginning that the NBA is a star driven league. In the NBA it doesn't take tenuous to see who excels in the style of play. What analytics was meant to do is find talented players who aren't stars but are under valued. Barkley caters to the checker players. Though I'm sure it's just an act. I've met people like him before, they know how hey are full of **** and get a laugh when people believe them.
^^ its the nba. the draft only has 2 rds. there were gems in the dust at times, but in general, any gm would feel somewhat lucky if a 2nd rounder isnt a bust and turns out decent. as fans, we shall not put up too much hope on a 2nd rounder.
thunder offered 4 years $55 million, rockets offered 5 years $80 million. also okc expected him to sacrifice minutes and be their 6th man
First of all Morey never "marketed" his analytics that way. Second of all analytics is a tool, not the end all be all. I don't understand what's so hard to understand about that Morey says so himself. There are gonna be players everyone goes after. Analytics isn't the reason he went after Harden it's because Harden's f'n good. Analytics did however help him to try to foresee how good Harden would be. Morey has said a million times he watches games and uses the eye test. Again analytics is just a tool. There are some people that think it's a joke but they understand it. Barkley doesn't understand it... that's my issue
OKC was allowed to offer Harden a max of 4 years/$58M. They ended up offering 4 years/$54 million. By trading for Harden, Houston had the ability to offer Harden a 5 year deal so they ended up giving him 5 years/$80M. There was much debate about whether Harden was worth the $80M contract and if he could be the main guy to carry a team. You can google plenty of those articles.
Analytics is not the only tool Morey uses. Analytics helps us fine value contracts, value players to accompany star players. Star players acquired via free agency usually pass the eye test, therefore no need for analytics. Barkley is always so salty.
GS team also uses the Morey approach, but that team just has the correct players who can play within the system. Did Barkley say something that GS team can not win a championship because it is a jump shooting team? When was last time that Barkley got something to be right?
barkley is an entertainer, and his show is pretty damn good. i liked when kenny shoved shaq into a christmas tree and when chuck interupted the show to give a shout out to "whats the name of houstons coach." that stuff cracks me up. thankfully they usually keep the obligatory basketball analysis part of the show brief
Just highlighted some of your key points. Great post by the way! You should post moar grin upside down 66er! ....... ....... .......
Barkley doesn't understand analytics or how they're applied because he's dumb. It appears you have the same issue. Analytics are a tool. One. They are not the only tool. There isn't a single decision Morey makes that is made based strictly off of analytical data. It is just one tool that allows him to make better informed decisions (They also gather medical data, combine measurements and results, look at traditional statistics and scouting reports and sometimes they even just talk to people that know the players, and who knows what else). Does Morey need analytics to determine that Dwight is an NBA Superstar? Absolutely not, but I bet he was looking at analytical data on the probability of players with an injury history similar to Dwight's (and at a similar age with similar miles on the tread) returning to form. As for Harden, when Morey acquired Harden even Charles Barkley said he was a good third wheel but not a superstar. Morey's decision to go all in on Harden and hand Harden a max contract right out of the gate was, at least in part, a result of him having more tools available to him to make the correct decision. But if none of that makes sense to you, just think of it this way: What if scouting was a brand new concept? Does a team actually need professional scouts on the payroll to know that Lebron James is good and that you should do everything in your power to sign him if he is available in free agency? Absolutely not. DOES THAT MEAN IT IS DUMB TO USE SCOUTS?
Here's how I'd suggest thinking about analytics: They give you an advantage. They don't guarantee that you'll always be successful, but they do give you the best chance over the long run. Like any other advantage, the more people that use it, the less of an advantage it will be. When Billy Beane was the only GM that knew to value on base percentage over batting average then he was able to find lots of players that were greatly under valued. Once other teams started using analytics, other teams also started to value those guys so their cost went up. Having an advantage doesn't guarantee anything, it just gives you a better chance to maximize your success. Billy Beane did an unbelievable job of building a team based on Oakland's resources, but at the end of the day a team with a $160 million dollar payroll beat his team with a $10M payroll. Analytics helped him to be able to compete but it certainly can't make up for everything. Theo Epstein, took Beane's moneyball philosophy and he combined it with a $100m payroll in Boston and did win a World Series title. Today's NBA, like most businesses, is extremely competitive. In that type of environment, even the smallest advantage can make a huge difference. It help to give you a chance. Will that overcome GS's stacked roster or Lebron? Maybe not, but unless you have a way to go get LBJ or Durant, then it gives you your best chance.
Another thread to further prove the failure of education in this country, and also people are doing nothing but weeds, alcohol and unprotected sex in colleges.
Because this needs to be on every page of this 'thread' yea. . a point on the top of his head!! [page three .. someone had to say it] Rocket River
Do you have a clue what analytics even means?? It has nothing to do with going after players nobody else knows about.....in fact, it's quite the opposite. And please don't bring up stocks or investing.....it just exemplifies how out of your realm you are.
I don't know if it has been mentioned in this thread but DO NOT EVER forget that Barkley thought OKC won the Harden trade when it happened.
Charles Barkley would give his left nut to win an NBA championship. He is an analyst with TNT not because it is an easy job, or that the pay is better than an NBA coach/GM/President of Basketball operations gig, but because he offers little to no value to the field at large. He was (and much like Shaq) an athlete who had a lot of God given talent, but somewhat bone headed. A lot of big men are idiots. Dream and McHale are obvious exceptions to that, but big men aren't brought in because they have a particularly amazing grasp of the game. Heck, even Dream and McHale have their limits on what they can contribute in a coaching context. Charles exists because he is an agitator, an idiot, a shock jock of sorts. Watching Charles is like watching the WWE. When you understand that they are there to entertain it's great, but if you think it's real we might have a problem.
Great stuff AElliott. When folks are searching so hard for answers that they start looking to Barkley for answers you know you've hit a rough patch in our fan mentality consensus. -Look every team in the NBA is heavily invested in analytics. Should the Rockets not be? -Every team in the NBA values if not heavily values the three ball over long twos. -The best team by far right now in the NBA plays the same read and react three point reliant offense. Is this offense really that bizzare to invest in running? Debating analytics vs traditional is so tired especially when talking about the Rockets and Morey. Criticizing Morey because he was a geek in high school (essentially Barkleys main critique) has nothing to do with how he evaluates and collects talent and hires coaches. The only thing that separates Morey from anyone else is how he chose and pursued Harden and Howard over the alternatives. Now you can criticize his coaching hires based on future results which I'm sure he will say is fair. Again... Looking to Barkley for reason and answers is about the last thing a rational basketball fan should ever do. The guy is funny but a complete ignorant moron and self admitting bully.
