Spurs Hire Kirk Goldsberry, former Grantland & 538 Annalyst

[TheDoctor]

Goldsberry is very well known for his shot charts. These are pretty awesome.

677255172477718528

674321190840700929

671446266564485120

667033703449673728

664507623379628032

666776223637307392


I can easily seeing where this is going!

[apalisoc_9]

Amazing! Great addition to the organization.

[lilbthebasedgod]

Pretty cool news tbh. Ive always liked him.

[gambit1990]

nice get.

[coachmac87]

Good Hire..

[K...]

Better pg than Parker


-spurs raider making a joke

[apalisoc_9]

More analytics guys would work for Kawhi

[spursistan]

Dude got PHD. in Geography from Santa Barbara University and has been a visting scholar at Harvard with expertise in "spatial and visual analytics".. not just fashionable online Basketball nerd..

[Mal]

Nice, never a bad idea to get another great basketball mind on staff

[Slime Baller]

Yeah, Spursistan. Most anyone from 538's stable isn't just a media personality or a hack--this is a good get.

[All Mighty Janitor]

This Organisation definitely knows how to identify talent. Hopefully we keep getting these kinds of shot charts and the spurs don't horde them all to themselves.

[Mnky]

Pop really going C.I.A. mode..

[Splits]

We

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Pallets_stacked_high.jpg

[benefactor]

Awesome hire indeed.:tu

[ceperez]

Spurs will need all the analytics to beat the Dubs.

Glad to see this guy hired.

[RGMCSE]

I can see pop taking these charts and incorporating them into the defense by funneling a player to shoot from his weakest part of the floor. Then exploiting everyone's hot point on offense.

[All Mighty Janitor]

We

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Pallets_stacked_high.jpg
:lol :bobo

[lil'mo]

I can see pop taking these charts and incorporating them into the defense by funneling a player to shoot from his weakest part of the floor. Then exploiting everyone's hot point on offense.

What else would he do with them?

[ElNono]

What else would he do with them?

try to break Curry's leg by beating him repeatedly with a chart?

[ceperez]

I can see pop taking these charts and incorporating them into the defense by funneling a player to shoot from his weakest part of the floor. Then exploiting everyone's hot point on offense.

The weakest spot is obviously Curry's ankles.

[TheDoctor]

It's known teams (at least Spurs, Mavs, Worriers) develop defensive sets and plays taking into consideration the player's shooting trends, the effectiveness of such players in different positions on the court, among other things. So having Kirk aboard with that kind of knowledge and expertise is pure amazing.

[K...]

Wait, was there a source? So we know a position?

[FromWayDowntown]

What else would he do with them?

You could certainly use the same sorts of charts to ferret out inconsistency in your own offense -- finding spots where you shoot frequently but not well, and finding spots where you shoot it well but infrequently -- and work on tailoring your offense to avoid those things.

I think it's likely to be useful to coaches in deciding how to defend late game situations out of timeouts and things like that.

And while I don't suspect there's much to be done about making Steph Curry a more inefficient player, I would think that having this sort of information could help a defense in the effort to make an already inefficient player (cough, cough, Russell Westbrook) an even more inefficient player and to push that player to the most inefficient places possible.

I'm also intrigued by the idea of quantifying where rebounds go most often on missed shots. I suspect that good rebounders already have a sense of that, but if you can use that sort of information to limit offensive rebounds (or increase your own) even by a couple of boards a game, it could make a huge difference in a tight game.

[cjw]

Wait, was there a source? So we know a position?

Appears he broke news on Bill Simmons' podcast.

[Silver&Black]

Kirk Goldsberry...

My nigga.

[turb0time]

Mahhh niggggas

[UZER]

I want Currys threes going right vs going left, attempts and percentages.

[littlecoyotecoin]

What else would he do with them?

Rorschach tests?

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Those charts are gonna stop curry from making 40 footers

[MI21]

I want Currys threes going right vs going left, attempts and percentages.

100%

[TheGreatYacht]

NBA = cucked :lol

[Spur|n|Austin]

Wow, out of the blue. Awesome pick up.

[SAGirl]

I can see pop taking these charts and incorporating them into the defense by funneling a player to shoot from his weakest part of the floor. Then exploiting everyone's hot point on offense.
:tu
Good point! What a great get!

[Sec24Row7]

:tu
Good point! What a great get!

We've been doing that for years...

Teaching players where rebounds go by statistics is pretty cool... allowing you to fight for position as you see the play develop rather than once the ball is let go... so you are ahead of the game the majority of the time... or can work off of trajectory to go to the right spot once released and still get some of them from the "right" spot if it is wrong.

[k_nguyen93]

He's been living in Austin and teaching at UT so pretty cool to see the Spurs get him after Grantland shut down. Like someone mentioned he broke the news on Bill Simmons' podcast: https://soundcloud.com/the-bill-simmons-podcast/ep-70-nba-w-joe-house-and-kirk-goldsberry

Starts at about 34:30. He doesn't really go into too much detail. They mainly discuss the three point line and potentially changing it. Quick mention about how well Parker has been shooting from 3 this year. I believe Simmons originally met Goldsberry at the Sloan Conference which he'll be appearing at this upcoming weekend.

Found this gem on Reddit ha: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/38tpq5/im_kirk_goldsberry_from_grantland_ask_me_anything/crxqsbl

[LongtimeSpursFan]

I don't need no statisticians to tell me Ray Allen likes them corner shots

[cutewizard]

Spurs hire a MENTAT

Pop is going DUNE!!!!!!!!

[cutewizard]

War of the Mentats

Spurs against Warriors

[spursistan]

He is going to be a speaker at the Sloan analytics conference..his official job title is "Vice President of Strategic Research, San Antonio Spurs"..

http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=6154

[spursistan]

Mike Brown is also attending, probably to provide the "antiquated/old school Basketball" point of view :lol..

[TheDoctor]

:lol