Los Angeles Lakers Finally Embracing Data Analytics

Data Analytics in the NBA is not a new phenomenon, but for the Los Angeles Lakers, it just may be.

NBA teams have been using data analytics and statistics to fine tune various strategies within their organizations for quite some time now. For the Lakers, the organization is just starting to publicize that they actually have an analytics team.

Did you know such a team existed? Do you know why this team is needed? Today, these questions will be dissected.

Earlier this year, Jeremey Lin spoke about what his former team, the Houston Rockets, delivered to him after the season, as far as analytics reports. The analysis showed him his stats and what he was best and worst at doing on the court. This in turn helped him focus on what to improve in the off-season, something that has obviously payed dividends.

At the time, the Houston Rockets seemed years ahead of their time while the Lakers looked to be stuck in the Stone Age.

Flash forward to the embarrassing first attempt from the Lakers organization to lure free agent LaMarcus Aldridge to the Purple and Gold.

Reportedly, Aldridge was not impressed and wanted the Lakers to present their basketball analytics according to Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times:

"He [Aldridge] met with them the moment free agency began, considered them part of a “two-horse race” with the San Antonio Spurs and “wanted to be wowed” but was actually turned off by the lack of analytics on the basketball side of their pitch, the person added.Aldridge also sat down with Houston, San Antonio and Phoenix, and was notably impressed by the analytics part of the Rockets’ plans. It didn’t necessarily mean he would sign with Houston but symbolized another example of what he wanted and didn’t get with the Lakers."

You have to wonder why Aldridge gave the Lakers a second chance, but the second meeting did not woo him either. You can bet the organization as a whole got a huge wake-up call when Aldridge spurned them, then signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

The second embarrassment, though less public, happened back in February, when ESPN’s Jeff Biggs and Baxter Holmes hosted ‘The Great Analytics Rankings‘ on their show The Forum.

The Lakers have often been kind of a running joke when you talk about analytics

The rankings were based on the strength of each teams analytics staff , the buy-in from the executives and coaches. Embarrassingly, the Lakers finished 29th, only ahead of Phil Jackson’s New York Knicks.

"The Lakers were the only NBA team without a representative at the 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, symbolic of their disregard for advanced stats.Two years later, they say they have begun to take steps toward adopting a new approach, but the progress is invisible so far."

Baxter Holmes continued, saying:

"The Lakers have often been kind of a running joke when you talk about analytics, this week is actually the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference in Boston.The only reference really between the Lakers and analytics has often been that they have been for years the only team that didn’t send a basketball representative to the conference"

That means the Lakers hadn’t been in the discussion on the latest and greatest regarding basketball analytics for the last six years. Count on a Lakers representative attending next year’s conference in Boston.

Kevin Pelton went on to say that despite Los Angeles’ efforts, Coach Byron Scott is hindering the Lakers’ analytic infusion. “Still, coach Byron Scott’s open hostility toward the 3 — the team ranks 25th in 3-point attempt rate — demonstrates the Lakers’ disbelief in implementing metrics on the court.”

But wait, there’s more! Holmes explained how low on the totem pole the Lakers were. “They have been kind of late to the party…essentially they have been behind the curve and there’s a lot of teams which have been way more aggressive than them which has put them back even further in that category.”

Dec 5, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott during the first half of a game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

After all analytics is not just about stats and measurements of each player’s performance. It can be used for the team as a whole, to help with contract negotiations, or even with draft analysis.

The newest use of analytics is in predictive analytics. Wouldn’t it be great if the coach had a strategy that could predict, within a margin of error, a high level of success of winning based on certain execution of defensive schemes and offensive plays against a specific team at his disposal?

Los Angeles has had so many injury issues and line-up changes that having new reporting tools and dashboards with information to help Coach Byron Scott do his job couldn’t hurt.

Times they are a changing, and the Lakers are just beginning to adjust. Just take a look at the members of the Lakers new analytics team who the world is finally hearing about.

Seth Partnow, writer for Nylon Calculus, interviewed the new Lakers Associate Director of Analytics, Aaron Danielson who has worked for the Lakers for a little over two years.

Danielson, who’s earned five degrees, works for the Lakers Director of Analytics Yuju Lee. In his interview with Partnow, Danielson explained:

"Prior to joining the Lakers, I primarily worked in academics. While earning degrees in philosophy (BA, MA), public policy (MPP), economics (MA) and statistics (PhD), I’ve had research roles at the NYU-Stern, UCLA’s law school and UCLA Anderson. Aside from research, I taught for the JET program near Nagasaki, Japan and worked as a teaching fellow at UCLA."

Moreover, Yuju Lee has been with the Lakers for a little over three and a half years. Lee is also a UCLA graduate and UCLA graduate researcher who earned four degrees himself in Statistics (BS/MS) and Mathematics (BS/MS).

Okay, they’re smart, extremely smart.

Though the analytics team works with the coaching staff, the training staff, and the front office, it would seem there would be a need for an expert who understands the analytics and can translate it for those who need the information.