Hey guys, I hope you’ve enjoyed the information that we’ve been able to release to you guys so far. If you haven’t read our previous two blogs, you can check them out here and here. Slowly but surely we’ll continue our weekly blogs, eventually getting into the heart of what all of you want to hear about: gameplay. First though, it’s NBA Draft time! I know we beat you over the heads with Dynamic DNA / Synergy stuff in NBA LIVE 09, but honestly, there are still people who aren’t getting it. Dynamic DNA completely takes the subjectivity of ratings out of the picture. What you see in real life, is what you get in-game. From now on, if a player’s rating is causing you stress, don’t “hate the game, hate the playa"! Anyway, to put a little more context around what Synergy Sports is all about, we thought it would be beneficial for all of you to read up on what their CEO, Garrick Barr had to say about his past experiences working for the Phoenix Suns dealing with the NBA Draft, and currently what Synergy does for NBA Teams for the Draft. It’s a really “hardcore” (wait, not using that word anymore) / “informed” blog, so I think you guys will dig it.
Also, take a look at ESPN.com’s article on Synergy Sports Technology’s report on Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry and Hasheem Thabeet! (NBA LIVE 10 has it!)
I’ve been involved with basketball as a career for the past 20 years. During my 11 years at the Phoenix Suns, I participated in a lot of Draft meetings and also helped produce most of the video and data used to evaluate prospects. While seeing players “live” will always be necessary to assess size, speed and other traits, a lot of work is done using video. In the weeks before the Draft, your only resources are your memory of live scouting, video of the players and analysis of player stats. Being involved in the Suns’ Draft for so many years helped me develop ideas to streamline and improve the overall process and to help facilitate and focus War Room discussion so staff could effectively reach an informed consensus on which player to pick on Draft Day. As Founder and CEO of Synergy Sports Technology for the past 5 years, I bring a whole new level of basketball data and video access to any NBA team via the Internet through the Synergy website. Synergy also provides the live data for EA SPORTS NBA LIVE’s Dynamic DNA. However, before I talk about the way things are done today in the NBA using Synergy Sports Technology’s services; let’s first take a peek at how they were done in the past.
Here’s how it typically went: During the year, team staff members travel to many live games to scout players. They combine this with endless hours studying full-game videotape. Additionally, they prepare a written report for every prospect in every game they see. When I joined the Suns in 1992, I created a draft database that helped staff generate these scouting reports. The system included skill assessment tools and composite player rankings which were synced via phone lines so that everyone had up-to-date access to all reports.
Evaluating players is a lot work, but it’s also a lot of fun. The discussions about players are continuous, and at this point, opinions tend to be all over the map. As the Draft gets closer, efforts are made to agree on who will be best for the team. But things are only warming up as everyone waits to see the players work out in the post-season. These workouts are critical to the process and I saw many players rise or fall based on their in-person performances.
Finally, the excitement builds and the day comes when everyone gathers in the War Room to rank who they consider to be the top 50 or 60 players in the Draft. The theory is that whichever player is highest on the list of remaining players when the team’s turn comes will get picked, but I saw last minute changes more than once. To rank all the players is a difficult task and the whiteboard containing this information is kept locked away from prying eyes.
To help familiarize everyone with the players (including the coaching staff who are usually so busy with the season they don’t have much time to watch college basketball), the video coordinator and assistants produce a small number of video edits for each player. Pressed for time and short-staffed, these edits are valuable, but are generally not comprehensive enough to provide a means to fully drill down on a player’s game.
The meetings go all day and into the night, including the weekend just before the draft. Opinions fly from every corner. Frequently, debates develop about aspects of a player, but with no relevant video to settle the matter, differences of opinion remain. A scout might say “you have to see his big-time rebound in traffic in such-and-such game to see what I mean”. At this point, we would scramble to find the game in question and then someone would try to locate the play, but by the time it was located, the discussion would have moved on and the video example – if ever found – would no longer be of interest. These debates take a lot of time and a consensus is rarely reached. Passions run high, but actual evidence is often missing to sway the other party. Despite efforts to stay organized, it frequently comes down to a lot of different opinions vying for attention. Despite all the challenges, teams in the NBA have a deadline. Votes are taken until the all players are ranked and the team feels ready for when the moment comes to announce their picks. (If you have ever been on a jury, you may have an idea of what this process is like.)
One thing I noticed over the years is that a couple players we ranked higher than our pick always slid to us because lower-ranked players were picked by teams ahead of us. We were always exultant when this happened because we knew it meant we would get the player we really wanted but thought would be gone by our turn. In truth, watching this happen is probably the most exciting thing about the Draft.
Now add my company, Synergy Sports Technology to the mix. In many respects, teams still follow the same overall process, but Synergy’s technology makes everything much faster, easier and more focused. Here are some ways Synergy Sports Technology helps teams with their Draft workflow to enable better understanding, improved dialoging and informed decision-making: First of all, staff use the Synergy website to watch focused video of any player in the draft in a matter of seconds. If, for example, they want to look at the player’s Isolation offense, they can watch hundreds of them from the entire season with the click of a button. If next they want to observe how well the player defends the Pick and Roll, they can watch those until they are satisfied they know exactly what the player can do in that situation. Synergy logs all games within 24 hours so everyone can stay current at all times.
This type of video access was unheard of just a few years ago. Teams now spend thousands of hours watching exactly what they want to see without having to wait for someone to edit the video for them. Surprise picks from teams who are familiar with a certain region of the world are much less likely when every team has effortless access to extensive video on a huge number of players from all around the globe. To make things even easier on scouts, they can download video to their laptop computers to watch when they are away from the Internet. Video can be passed to one another on flash drives, watched on portable media players or iPods or emailed to one another using Synergy’s web email system. Furthermore, teams no longer need to fly scouts in from all over the world for periodic meetings at the home office when conference calls and Synergy services allow them to evaluate stats and video and get the job done.
To add to this power, Synergy lets each staff member save important video clips of players when watching video on the Synergy website. The clips are saved according to categories such as Physical Talent, Basketball IQ, Instincts, Leadership, and any other category conceivable. As the season progresses, staff members compile comprehensive edits with prime examples that effectively demonstrate what players can do, and if - and how - their game will translate to the next level. These edits are available for viewing anywhere the Internet is available, which means the team’s general manager and other executives can review these “super-edits” at any time.
As Draft Day approaches and everyone flies in to rank players, Synergy Sports Technology is front and center. The team’s War Room is set up with a huge HD screen hooked to a computer showing the Synergy website. Any point of discussion quickly leads to matching video investigations for all to see. Now, that great rebound in the big game in December is only a couple clicks away. If someone in the room doubts a player’s rebounding instincts and intensity, the group can pull up every rebound the player had in the entire season stacked one after the other to determine what they think. They can also pick only the games versus top opponents to see how the player does when pitted against other great players. Or they can look at the player’s rebounds in the playoffs to see how they perform in crunch time.
If somebody wants to prove that a player “has what it takes,” they can trot out their online edits with a couple clicks of the mouse to play relevant video compiled on the player over the course of the year. There is no better or more focused way to evaluate a player than to watch the best examples of a player’s ability compiled by a professional scout during an entire season. Most debates can be quickly settled after watching the highly relevant video examples collected by a member of the staff looking to make a case for or against every aspect of the player based on actual occurrences out on the floor.
When full-participation meetings cease and the full group breaks up into smaller groups, multiple laptops around the room pull up video and stats as staff huddle to discuss players. These laptops are connected by the building’s Ethernet to the Synergy Caching Server, which contains the entire Synergy video archive on-site so dozens of people can watch completely different video, all at the same time, with no impact on the building’s bandwidth.
Finally, time is running out and the player ranking list is complete. The staff grabs a bite then goes to sit in front of the cameras as they wait for their pick. Even at this late stage, laptops are open and Synergy video is playing as everyone continues to look for affirmation in their decisions or last-second clues that might change their minds. As so frequently happens, the phone rings and trade discussions with another team begins. Different players must suddenly be evaluated more closely to determine if a deal should be pursued. There is a flash of excitement, but these deals rarely occur. Time runs out and a name must be given over the phone to the team’s representative sitting at the NBA Draft. Soon, the TV monitors show the team’s selection on air and the decision is final.
The crowd either loves or hates the pick, but the team is already moving on. Team staff are finalizing summer league teams and mini-camp and then traveling to Vegas for summer league play (where they can watch their new players light it up). And if they happen to miss anything, Synergy is there to provide the replay—sorted and ready to watch.
Garrick Barr
Founder and CEO
Synergy Sports Technology