2016 Sloan Conference

[Crow]

fwiw,

If you want to go, tickets available.

http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=16903

Not sure when they sold out last year, but know some waited too late and regretted. Might sell out even earlier.

Any one who wants want to mention a submitted abstract or paper, now or later, can certainly do so here. Or perhaps even ask for input, if wanted, in final days before delivery.

[Crow]

Message received from CoachO:



"Just throwing this out there, I know guys usually come into town here in Boston and look for a spot to play some pickup. I am on staff over at BostonU and could see about hosting in our facility if it is something that may be of interest.

Let me know however else I can help."


fyi to Mike Z and / or anyone who gets involved with setting up that pick up game.

[mikez]

Noted - thanks! More on the usual activities (as usual) in mid- or late January. -MZ

[Crow]

Sloan twitter said "almost sold out" on Feb 4. If you need tickets to go, I'd check today.

[Mitch O]

Any tips for a first time attendee?

[J.E.]

Any tips for a first time attendee?

That's a tough question to answer, because people enjoy and learn from different things

Personally, I try to stay away from the panels, as it feels that most of the interesting questions will not be answered because those interviewed don't want to give valuable info to other teams.

I'd try to look at the program, then "chart your way" through the conference beforehand. If you're a basketball guy, try to hit all the basketball talks. If you're into several sports, try hitting the best of both etc. I believe some talks are held twice, as well

[Crow]

SSAC16 videos appear to be freely available on youtube now.

[Crow]

Listened to four panels with NBA panelists. Pretty ho hum, imo. As usual.

Mike Zarren: When Jackie MacMullan asked you about Real Plus Minus, most or all of your answer seemed to me to be about raw Plus Minus- i.e. talking about it being added to box scores and how you can't interpret it simply without considering the 9 other players on the court. Which was it, most or all on raw plus minus? Did I miss any brief, almost on the sly comment on / critique of RPM? Did you say what you did and didn't because you didn't want to talk about RPM because it is an important topic with too sensitive competitive implications or did you take the simpler path because RPM was too big to discuss on that panel with the movement from one light discussion to another? Or because you mistook her question specifically about RPM for raw plus minus?

Will a Sloan panel, a panel, ever take on APM / RAPM in depth? In 2017 or 2022 or ? I know there has been a stream of treatment of the approach in the research paper venue, but I don't recall any sustained discussion of it by a far more visible main stage panel beyond a few comments by Mark Cuban, a bit of ribbing of Wayne Winston's comments about young Durant, reference to Battier as a "no-stat all-star", "the black box" talking point (that isn't aware of 4 factors level APM / RAPM or chooses to ignore it to maintain the black box argument) and I guess a brief mention this year by I think Zach Lowe of analytics (presumably at least in part RPM) revealing defensive contributions by Demarcus Cousins? I find the lack of treatment curious and disappointing after all this time, 12 years after the Rosenbaum APM article at 82games.com and with the more recent advancements in method, the heightened public awareness that now exists of it and I think a pretty high public desire to hear debate about method and actual team usage of the method by insiders. When people talk about "the analytics" or the "advanced analytics" (since you repeatedly asked Scalabrine what "the analytics" means) this is a pretty big part or even the biggest part of what they mean. At least it has that place for me. Yes it has come up very briefly a few times. But that is not enough, especially if teams are using it seriously. Or not using it or not that much.