There was an article recently that caught my attention. It is going to be the next wave of scouting, recruitment, and roster construction, trying to bridge the gap between what the stats say and what the scouts see on the court. It’s not a video, a stat tracking sheet, or an app. It’s actually…… an algorithm.
Marlin Myrte, Sebastian Buzzalino, and Thierry Aymerich are the ones leading this new frontier of trying to unlock a new way of evaluating players. In there reasearch paper: “Scouting Anyone: Probabilistic Player Archetypes for Any League,” they come up with theories to the question of,” how do you universally scout and compare players regardless of level and limited data?” They came up with a formula to calculate a player compared to players who fit the extreme of a playstyle archetype. Strictly going off a player’s position isn’t enough to compare to another player at the same position, or on a team looking for a specific fit rather than just that position.
It takes a concept that you see in the game NBA 2K and tries to bring it to life and give it real-world applications. archtypes is not a new idea but to make it real would be something awasome.
One of the most powerful underlying messages that one could take away in their research paper is a player… like people in general can be more than one thing. A scout or coach might only see a shooting guard or a Center, but the vast differences in a players game sometimes get overlooked for positional needs. The best and most exciting players are the ones that are different and break the mold. NBA scouts and executives are always looking for the smallest clues of greatness within.
Being able to break down the numbers and find a nugget of information that makes a player “different” can make all the difference in the world when evaluating talent. Eyes and numbers lie but when you combined them with this new tool, you may just see a glimpse into the future.
If you want to read the article for yourself, here is the link!!