008 – Butch Carter – NBA Player & Head Coach – Analytics4Coaches

NBA player and Head Coach Butch Carter explains how his Analytics4Coaches model helps coaches win basketball games.

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• Coach Carter and Mike Ellis created an analytic model for winning basketball games based on a constant empirical number; half of games are won and half of games are lost. Every night it is a zero-sum business. There is one winner and one loser.
• The model worked so well in the 1999-2000 season that as head coach of the Toronto Raptors Coach Carter, broke a 54-year-old NBA record taking the team from less than 20 wins in 18 months to the playoffs. That record still stands today.
• The model breaks down winning basketball games down into a framework of 4 key analytics:
• #1 – Winning the 1st and 3rd quarter of games. In today’s NBA teams that win the 1st and 3rd quarter win 80% of regular season games and 85% of playoff games. Important to practice a certain way to have the best chance to win 1st and 3rd quarters in games which includes practicing half-time (to avoid coming out flat).
• #2 – Stopping scoring runs and/or creating scoring runs.
• #3 – Getting back on defense and matching up or the officials will let you lose the game. Official are a key component of the model and must be factored in.
• #4 – After timeout execution on both offense and defense.
• Use the 4 key analytics as framework to guide what information to pull out of analytics software (film clip packages); HUDL, Synergy, etc. Use these to guide practice plans.
• Coach Carter is big a believer in drafting the best talent, modifying that talent through player development and then coordinating with the players to make them understand the things they need to do to every night to win basketball games.
• Coach Carter runs the NBA Assistant Coach Training program. The coursework in the Analytics4Coaches is similar to what is taught to people training to be NBA assistant coaches.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Analytics4Coaches – Analytics4Coaches Website
• Coach Carter – Coach Butch Carter email ([e-mail])
• "SprawlBall" – Book by Kirk Goldsberry (trivia question source)
• Feeding America – Terry’s Charity Interest

SPONSORS

• Terry L Frederick - Sports Analytics Consulting