Tanking NBA teams are reportedly using “inverse analytics” to find the least successful lineups.
According to ESPN‘s Brian Windhorst, organizations like the Dallas Mavericks are purposely blowing games under the “guise of player development.”
Are we seeing a new way to tank in the @NBA? pic.twitter.com/dQTsyuajqe
— Outside The Lines (@OTLonESPN) February 26, 2018
Tank-a-palooza 2018 is well under way.
Per “Outside the Lines” :
“There are entire analytics departments that are established out there to find the best five players you can get out on the court in any situation,” Windhorst said. “And the coaches are given reams of data about this to help them prepare. And what NBA executives have detailed to me is that there is some inverse analytics going on where coaches are potentially being given data on what lineups to play that may not be successful.”
“And we’re certainly seeing that with the Dallas Mavericks. It’s being hidden under the guise of ‘player development,’ which is another way of saying we’re gonna put our young, less good players out there as opposed to our better older players, and that is more active tanking than we’ve seen before.”
