Daryl Morey was one of the leading influencers for the modern era of NBA analytics. He would also be the perfect candidate to help commissioner Adam Silver put the genie back in the bottle, similar to what Theo Epstein and Rob Manfred have done with MLB.
Morey was relieved of his duties as president of basketball operations for the 76ers earlier this week. As the co-founder of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference 20 years ago and through his work in the 76ers and Rockets front offices, he has been at the vanguard of transforming how the sport has been played. The entire league is shooting three-pointers at exponentially higher levels than two decades ago and the game is now being played at a much faster pace.
While these and other changes certainly make basketball sense for the franchises deploying them, they have also posed aesthetic challenges and injury concerns for the league, making it less enjoyable to watch for many. Particularly in the regular season.
In many ways, the situation mirrors how MLB puzzles got solved after the popularity of Michael Lewis’s Money Ball book and movie showcasing how A’s general manager Billy Beane found statistical inefficiencies to help his team contend despite possessing a smaller budget.
