Miami Heat executive Shane Battier explains his analytics background
It has taken Shane Battier just three years to develop into one of the NBA's top upcoming front-office executives.
Battier is already the Miami Heat's vice president of basketball development and he owes a lot of the success to his strong knowledge of analytics.
Earlier this week, he credited his time with Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and assistant Sam Hinkie for acquiring the skill. Battier played with the Rockets from 2006-11.
"I was lucky to play for Daryl Morey and Sam Hinkie, who taught me how to look at the data," Battier told The Athletic. "Analytics is like blackjack. When the dealer has a five showing, what do you do? You double down. Why? Because the book tells you that is the best play at the time and gives you the most chance to win the hand and win money."
Battier was known his analytics knowledge as player when he helped the Heat win consecutive championships in 2012 and 2013. He would often lead discussions with teammates about player data and it was common to see him having long conversations in the locker room with writers who had an analytical background.
"Analytics has a lot of the same aspects as [blackjack]," Battier said. "When you make Kobe Bryant go to his left hand, he'll score 44 percent of the time. When he goes to his right hand, he's gonna score 56 percent of the day. So you don't need to be a math genius to understand that the defender should take Kobe to his left hand."
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