New podcast: Dean Oliver on evaluating defense in basketball

The Wizards assistant coach and godfather of basketball analytics gives perspective on his sport.

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On this edition of the Sports Info Solutions Baseball Podcast, Mark Simon (@MarkASimonSays) is joined by Washington Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver (@DeanO_Lytics), a pioneer in basketball analytics, to discuss some of the challenges of measuring defense in his sport.

Dean talks about the differences in basketball analysis contrasting 25 years ago to now (2:18), the parallels between tracking defense in basketball and baseball (5:23), and trying to chart the effectiveness of double-teams, getting hands in the face of shooters, and deflections (8:07). He also explains the influence that coaches have on defensive performance (14:07).

Lastly, he discusses the different perspectives on fouling when up by 3 points in the final seconds (18:32) and offers advice to aspiring statistical analysts (22:32).

Thanks for listening and stay safe.

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