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Sitting down to write this story — literally within seconds of opening the laptop — a video came across my feed of Brian Cashman forcefully and profanely distancing his team from analytics. So here I am, trying to think of how to present Synergy Sports’ new technology as a game changer for NBA teams, and there’s the GM of the friggin’ Yankees saying “bulls–t” twice and boasting that he owns the smallest analytics department in the division.
Which led me to the No. 1 rule in sports: It’s only a good idea if it works (hint: the Yankees stunk last season).
And then to the point of this story: I agree with Cashman that analytics should be used as a tool rather than gospel (as reinforced by Tom Thibodeau later in this story), but there’s no reason — other than price, of course — that tool shouldn’t be the highest quality.
To that end, the bar continues to rise. And the Knicks are among those at the forefront.
Thibodeau’s squad, along with a little more than half the NBA teams, are taking advantage of the latest development in player tracking, which utilizes 16 cameras in each NBA arena that follows the ball and every player at 60 frames per second. It was launched this year via Synergy Sports, accessible to NBA teams, college teams and the NBA’s media partners with an enhanced subscription (all 30 NBA teams are Synergy Sports customers, but just 17 subscribed to the new product).
The videos are fed into a data platform, which runs it through a computer formula that I couldn’t possibly explain, and voila! Within seconds, statistics are produced that would normally require sleepless nights of film work to uncover.
“It allows us to collect much more richer, deeper data than a human could possibly collect,” said Bryan Spangler, the Director of Engineering, Player Optimization & Insights at Sportradar, the parent company of Synergy Sports.
So first, how the heck does Sportradar have access to 16 cameras in every NBA arena? That’s through Hawk-Eye, which you may know through its work determining line calls in tennis, goals in soccer and enhancing NFL replay reviews.
Yes, machines are replacing humans everywhere. Not just at check-out counters or security reconnaissance at James Dolan’s venues. For all you know, this article was written by ChatGPT.
Hawk-Eye is the NBA’s service provider, as announced in a multi-year deal in March. And Sportradar, which also has a deal with the NBA, works with Hawk-Eye to get their data.
Call it synergy.
“Those cameras also have fairly massive server processing power behind them and that data gets fed out to the NBA and to us,” said Mark Silver, Sportradar’s Executive VP of Sports Performance.
A Sportradar spokesperson declined to reveal the cost of the subscription to the new Synergy Sports system, which left the impression that it’s pricey. Like the ‘M.P.’ seafood option.
Now, for the good stuff: What kind of analytics does this produce for the Knicks and other NBA teams?
Todd Whitehead, an analyst for Sportradar, walked me through examples of how they might assist different areas of an organization. I’ll go through two of them.
First, advance scouting:
Let’s say, for instance, the Knicks are preparing for the Pacers and devising a plan to stop Tyrese Haliburton.
By going to the new Synergy Sports tabs — which include drive tendencies — they can see, based on information from last season, Haliburton ranked in the 78th percentile in driving right and just the 18th percentile going left.
The Pacers scored 1.2 points per chance when Haliburton drove right, which rates in the 85th percentile and is considered “excellent.” When the point guard went left, the Pacers scored less and the outcome was just “good.”
Also, when Haliburton drove right, he got to the rim at a much greater frequency and relied on his floater, whereas the pull-up jumper — an analytically better outcome for the defense — was used more when the Pacers guard drove left.
The best outcome for Indiana was when Haliburton drove right and got into the paint. In that scenario, the Pacers scored at 1.67 points per chance for a 91% rating.
So what’s the Knicks’ strategy? Force Haliburton to his off-hand and keep him away from the rim. Not exactly groundbreaking, but it’s good to see the eye test backed by numbers.
Example No. 2: The front office is deciding whether to re-sign Immanuel Quickley, or determining what might be their “walk away” number in free agency.
We all saw Quickley’s tremendous leap in defense last season, but how can that be quantified beyond the standard ratings? Let’s take a look at Quickley’s success defending the most common play in the NBA: the ball screen.
According to the Synergy stats, Quickley was unique in the frequency (at the 95th percentile) with which he went over the screen — rather than under — last season. He was also successful in preventing the ballhandler from scoring when he goes over screens, and forcing midrange shots (the best analytical outcome for the defense).
The numbers suggest Quickley was elite defending ball screens. However, the Knicks and the 24-year-old didn’t come to terms on an extension this offseason.
He’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer.
“I was doing a demo where we were going over Jrue Holiday’s numbers, and he’s almost a second version of Jrue Holiday in a lot of these pick stats,” Whitehead said. “That’s a good compliment, right? Some people were pushing for him to be on All-Defense team last year. He has a similar kind of profile as Holiday in terms of outcomes.”
Now that we’ve nerded out with numbers, it’s worth remembering Cashman’s rant at the top. The Knicks clearly have embraced technology and analytics (they also installed cameras and facial recognition in their training facility to track practice shots), but they’re just supplements to scores of coaches, scouts and trainers employed to create victories.
And as Thibodeau said, analytics isn’t new. It’s just better because of technological advances like 16 cameras providing new kinds of data.
“When Pat Riley came here, he brought that many, many years ago, and now it’s gone to a different level,” Thibodeau said. “Like most things, they keep getting better and better at it, and when you add in technology along with the analytics, you’re getting information a lot quicker.
“But still it’s a combination of all the things. If you follow the analytics blindly, you’d be making a mistake. It’s, ‘OK, what is, what do you, what [does] your experience teach you and tell you?’ What do the experts say that are coaches, and then you’re using the numbers to either confirm or to make you look at something differently. So I think it’s a very important part of decision-making. And there’s certain numbers that you’ve looked at, or I know I have for a long time and I still look at, but I’ve added a lot of things, too.
“Before, you would have to do things manually — it might take you eight man hours to get the information you were looking for,” the Knicks coach added. “Now, you can hit a button, and you got it in a second. So, it’s a great aid, but the bottom line is you still have to put the work into each and every day.”
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A winning streak (two games, baby!) means some Knicks players are trending in the right direction. We’ll highlight four:
RJ Barrett
The team sputtered when Randle was out with injury and recovered exquisitely upon Barrett’s return. His 3-point shot, a source of constant analysis, has been falling at a tremendous clip (47.1% for the season). It probably won’t continue at that rate, but the hot start followed strong performances in the 2023 playoffs and FIBA World Cup. Barrett’s also making smart decisions with the ball and not forcing the issue as in previous seasons.
Mitchell Robinson
We can sense Thibodeau’s push to get Robinson consideration for both All-Defense and Defensive Player of the Year. The coach has been effusive in his praise for Robinson, who seems to have nailed down his role in season 6: protect the paint, grab rebounds, finish the occasional putback or alley-oop.
Julius Randle
Took a lot of heat (rightfully) for his start to the season, which included efficiency so low it felt like playing a Jersey Shore boardwalk game.
Though Randle still isn’t hitting his shots at a great percentage, his overall activity was much better in the two victories, his decisions were sounder and the rebounds continued to impress. In his 68 combined minutes over the past two games, the Knicks outscored the Clippers and Spurs by 33 points. Randle has also recorded double-doubles in seven of the eight games to start the season.
Isaiah Hartenstein
Robinson has been receiving all the flowers for his defense and rebounding to start the season, but Hartenstein has quietly been a key to the Knicks’ outcomes. In their four losses, Hartenstein averaged 3.8 points, 0.8 steals and 1.8 turnovers. He had a net rating of -13.3. In their four victories, Hartenstein averaged 10 points, 1.8 steals and 0.5 turnovers, generating a net rating of +9. The sixth-year veteran is playing fewer minutes with Robinson’s ascension, but he’s scoring more while remaining a physical force in the paint.