Interview with Wolves President Chris Wright
by Stop-n-Pop on Mar 24, 2010 8:03 AM CDT
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Wolves team president Chris Wright (bio) was kind enough to take a few minutes to sit down with us yesterday to answer a few questions. In lieu of simply transcribing a word-for-word report of the call, I thought I'd take the following approach to relaying the information from the interview to you, our dear readers: I will write down my entire primary question followed by Chris Wright's response followed by my overview of his answer and a quick bit of commentary (in italics) at the bottom of the page. Follow up questions and responses were integrated into the main answer as best as possible and notations were made when this happened. Mr. Wright is very conversational and I thought it would be too hard to follow the tone of the conversation had I simply thrown in all of the follow up questions in order. The interview is below the thread:
#3 ME: How does the team plan to capitalize, if at all, on the Twins' new ball park. Are their opportunities for increased advertising and fan development?
CW: As you know we have a lawsuit [with the management of Target Center] and we expect a judgement by this Friday. We believe that we did well in presenting our case and that we will prevail and that we will be able to develop some level of signage on the backside of our building. We are going to be very careful with what we do there because the naming rights for the Target Center are up on September 30, 2011 and we may do something that gets us to that date rather than investing in some massive singage system through that particular day because whether target reups or there is a new company, that new company or Target will have a big say of what goes on the corner of that building. We might do something in the mean time that could be then moved to another part of the building after the new deal. We are definitely gong to devleop that corner of the building.
#4 ME: David Kahn has laid out a vision of how the next three years will go. With one year almost on the books, how do you see his plan working so far?
CW: Obviously, I think how I would characterize that is that David has a position to take advantage of, possibly, the biggest off-season in franchise history. It is up to him and his staff that the assets we have accumulated are utilized correctly. The fact that we have a top 5 pick, the fact that we have Utah's and Charlotte's pick and expiring contracts, and that we are positioned well in a massive free agency market, it can be potentially one of the great summers in our franchise. As you know from watching the NBA, you only need 3 players to be a very good franchise. Look at how Oklahoma has turned themselves around very quickly in the past few years. We hope to be in a position like that [where we can quickly turn it around] this summer. By this time next year, we think we can be a completely different team in the NBA.
CW: We've got to compete for a playoff spot next year. That is success on the court and with the potential of Rubio the year after, and one more round of free agency, and lotto in the event that we don't make the playoffs; all that being said, I think we will compete for the playoffs next year at this time and if we do not, I will be very disappointed. With this comes expectations of attendance. I think we should be averaging 16k people again.
It's not off base but it's not completely accurate. We are not the best or the worst in the league; we're in the middle...We've made some upgrages in our downstaris facilities as well as some upgrades in our core and strength workout areas for our players. Maybe when you're in a stand-alone building away from the main facility [as is the case with some of the more high-speed NBA practice facilities], it's good, but for us, proximity is key and we're very close to one another [the players, support staff, basketball operations, and business operation]...As a team operation it makes things more streamlined and less stressful.
#7 ME (a feral-inspired question): Will there be any changes to the team's TV schedule in the near future? This year saw a reduction of the number of games offered on local TV. Is this something team is working to correct and will there be more HD offerings next season?
Also, I think it is incorrect of Mr. Wright to say that everyone believes in the vision right now. I think a lot of people are worried about the vision; whether that is because of past team performance (we really are tired of getting burned) or something else, I don't know, but I think most of the die-hards are at or near their last straw and it's more "wait and see" than belief. He is 100% correct that this off-season has the potential to be their biggest ever and that they have positioned themselves about as well as possible to take advantage of it. To me, that's the best pitch the team has right now along with their ticket offer. They have positioned themselves as well as they possibly could have and it's up to David Kahn and his basketball operations staff to seal the deal. I think people want to see some execution before they believe in "the vision".
#2 COMMENTARY: This was obviously disappointing. We have done some digging on various sports statistic sites offered to professional sports teams and from what we can tell, they are generally in the area of $100,000-$150,000 per year plus a staff member to run the program/data sets. To us, the proper use of something like Synergy Sports (which could be had for between $150-200k/year) could lead to a massively productive return on investment. Take a look at what the Wall Street Journal found about teams that employ a stats department:
According to interviews with every team, The Wall Street Journal found that half the league's teams this season have at least one of these statisticians who helps make in-game, draft-day and trade-deadline decisions. Many of these teams are among the NBA's best. The list accounts for all six division leaders, including the Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks, who have a data analyst traveling with the team. These 15 teams that have invested heavily in statistics have combined to win 59.3% of their games this season. The 15 teams without such analysts have won 40.7% of their games, and only three -- the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks -- are on pace to make the postseason.
The Timberwolves are not one of those 15 teams. This is the cutting edge of front office management in the NBA and it is something that seems to provide a significant return on investment. A team that can find a starter or a significant contributor late in the draft is going to find greater value than one who blows a lotto pick on a guy who never really develops. The same goes for the team that can put its best lineups on the floor on a consistent basis as well as telling its players what their relative statistical strengths and weaknesses are. The employment of a data analyst obviously isn't the cure-all, but it does seem to be heavily coordinated with success. 59-41 matters. A lot. That being said, we obviously do not have access to the team's internal survey of its ticket holders and we have no idea how dire things are (ore are not) or were (or were not) vis-a-vis the need to do things like lower ticket prices and provide other in-arena fan-friendly amenities. Regardless, I'm putting this one down in the disappointing column.
UPDATE: I have confirmed that the team uses a product called StratEdge from a company called StratBridge. I'll try to find out more about it.
#3 COMMENTARY: None on this one.
#4 COMMENTARY: With all of the rumors flying around about Kevin Pritchard, Tom Penn, and the Portland, this question was crafted as something of an attempt to get a hedge; to see if there would be any hesitation in his commitment to David Kahn. There was no hedge and no pause. Mr. Wright went right into some comments about how this team has spent a lot of time in a losing environment building up to this single off-season and that it will be up to David to bring it all on home. This is Kahn's off season and there are very clear things that the club is telling fans they should expect: free agent spending, a big player in the draft, and 1-2 more additions. Whether you believe it or not, those are the benchmarks for player addition. It led into my next question (courtesy of Wile E. Coyote..PS: Oklahoma employs a data analyst).
#5 COMMENTARY: There you go. Playoffs and increased attendance. I think they are banking on a turn-around that will approach historic league levels, but that's what they're rolling with. I really hope they make it. The odds are definitely not in their favor.
#6 COMMENTARY: I wish I could provide some context on what other team facilities look like compared to the rest of the league. I thought this was a good question because we hear whispers about it every now and then. I've made some efforts to get some context from our contacts with other teams.
UPDATE: The team has also upgraded its players lounge.
#7 COMMENTARY: I will follow up on this one at a later date. They are in the very early stages of planning next year's TV schedule and they simply aren't at a time where they'll be able to tell us about the number of games on Channel 45, the number of HD games, and...well, I completely forgot to ask an important part of feral's main question: Why does Wolves HD look different than other HD programs on FSN? I'll follow up on that.
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Thanks for the interview
My takeaways:
1. Bad answer about analytics. It indicates to me that the FO doesn’t seem to appreciate the possible value there and the direction the league is going with quant.
2. Very straightforward answer about next season. Compete for the playoffs. Unrealistic, probably, but succinct. Glad to get that on record.
3. I read his answer to be they have $20 million in expiring contracts, not that they will have $20 million in cap room. I think $12 million is going to be the right number.
4. Lots of hopes pinned on this off-season. Good. I hope they feel the pressure.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 24, 2010 8:43 AM CDT reply actions
The $20 million could be relative to anything.
Maybe it’s some figure that might have happened if Foye and Miller were re-signed, or something. Goodness knows.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Clarification question
This guy is a marketing/business guy, right? Reading his responses it was clear (at least to me) that he sounded most excited and jazzed in his response to question one – about taking care of the season ticket holder, developing a four phase marketing plan, seeing the response, etc etc. So he’s not necessarily a basketball guy – he could just as easily work for Target or 3M or General Mills or Best Buy and be helping them grow their markets and satisfy their customers.
Getting around to the analytics bit, I kinda got the impression that he wasn’t necessarily all that involved in that (maybe I’m mistaken – maybe he’s the guy who decides where dollars get spent.) But I did think this comment was also very telling:
[In response to a follow-up question about whether or not fans have asked about the team building a stats operation]….There hasn’t been a lot of external fan input for this; it’s more internal. There is a definite internal push for this sort of thing and when we get revenues back up to where we want them to be I think this is where you will see more investment.
A ‘definite internal push for this sort of thing’ is not the same as ‘we aren’t going to hire our own stats guy/gal’. We can quibble as to whether the investment in a stats department now would help them put more butts in the seats faster (and justify the investment) instead of waiting to have more revenues to fund the investment in stats, but I think such quibbling overlooks the major point which is that someone internally is lobbying for a stats person and that higher ups in the Wolves FO have heard and put it on the agenda. Or have I completely misread this?
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
I don't know if you misread it
But…it strikes me as not good. You want an organization that eagerly wants to get out front of the rest of the league, not one that says…well, when we have a few extra dollars, maybe we’ll do that.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 24, 2010 9:35 AM CDT up reply actions
On the spectrum of good to bad,
it’s somewhere in the middle.
When I asked Kahn about economic or statistical voices in talent evaluation, his previous answer did not encourage me. Basically he said “It comes down to working hard,” when I was asking about getting a new perspective on things involved in the team’s decision making.
This at least reads like it’s on the table.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Agree. Sounds like Kahn or others on the basketball side are pushing for this but the business guys have said no, gotta wait until revenue picks up. Halving season ticket prices surely has an opportunity cost, this may be it.
The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness
by Victor Mature on Mar 24, 2010 9:36 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Ya
My other take on it requires reading more between the lines, but there’s been (off and on) a fair amount of speculation about how much the Wolves are losing this year. Reading up on Wright’s and Moor’s bios it comes across loud and clear that their mission – what they’ve committed themselves to in terms of values and strategy – is fan experience, and so the ticket deal answer is the most involved, most in depth, and most candid. Asking about a stats guy would be secondary to them, if what I am arguing is true. To wit:
We want to put the fan at the center of our decision making process right now. [In response to a follow-up question about whether or not fans have asked about the team building a stats operation]….There hasn’t been a lot of external fan input for this; it’s more internal.
It will be interesting to see if the next phases of the marketing campaign, those targeting the ‘purists’, will generate more feedback to them about wanting to see more stats analysis as a part of the team’s competitive makeup. Part of me gets nervous, though, that the only ‘purists’ who will write them are the Reusse “what’s OPS” types. Perhaps these cheap season tickets will provide an influx of younger and more advanced stat-minded fans who will communicate with the FO more.
To summarize – I think Kahn wants a stats guy but has to convince a fan-experience centered business side that it’s worth the investment (or perhaps cut salary/costs from the coaching staff in order to make it happen). Furthermore, again reading between the lines, I wonder if the team is operating pretty close to Taylor’s Mendoza line for operating losses (meaning I’m sure he’s willing to eat a loss up to a point, and maybe the team is within $100,000 of that point right now). I don’t know, but it’s a possibility.
The last thing I’ll throw out there is another thought about what this year has been all about, and the stats guy investment conversation may be some evidence for it – Kahn has undertaken the process of revamping this team and this team completely, from the product on the floor to the coaching/scouting staffs to the business operations. Makes me wonder if there’s a little bit of a culture struggle/growing pains going on (Wright’s been with the team for 20 years, and Moor is of course Papa Glen’s son-in-law). From DK’s introductory press conference:
*Do you consider yourself a personnel guy or a finance guy?"
DK: “It’s impossible to bifurcate those in today’s NBA, you’ve got to have both. Meaning: you can be the greatest personnel evaluator of all time but if you don’t know how the cap works, or where the tax number is, or how to put all the contracts pieces together and make certain you aren’t only managing for the short-term, but for the long-term, you’ll fail. On the other hand, if you are a finance guy who can just manage the cap but you don’t know about players, you can’t possibly come up with a trade proposal that will work because you don’t know that part of that world. You’ve got to have both in today’s NBA and I think that’s what I’ve managed to achieve in my education and my schooling. I’m both. In Indiana, I had both the business and financial sides reporting to me for four years. I’m intensely aware of where the revenues are and what we have in terms of budget. I’m intensely aware of how the business operates. But I know basketball, and the people I’ve worked for and with know that I know basketball. That’s what made me effective in Indiana with Donnie. He knew that if I came to him with a trade proposal, it not only worked in basketball purposes but it worked in cap and financial purposes and it wasn’t going to put us in trouble. I think that the people that are most effective in our sport today are the people who can do both. You have to be able to do both if you’re truly going to be effective in this job and this age.”
It sounds as though DK is firmly in control of the basketball operations, but the question that’s kind of emerging is who really does have the final say or the most pull in the organization? How far does DK’s influence go if a guy like Wright (or Wright’s superior) can deny him NBA chump change ($200,000, or a little more than one of Al’s per-game paychecks) in order to bring on a stats guy?
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
by biggity2bit on Mar 24, 2010 11:05 AM CDT up reply actions
Really? You get all that from Wright's answer?
Here’s what I get: We don’t invest there. There’s been in-house suggestions that it’s a direction we might go, but in the meantime, it isn’t worth 1/30th of Brian Cardinal’s salary to us.
How you get all that, that it’s something Kahn is really pushing for, that it represents an issue of control, is, frankly, beyond me.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 24, 2010 11:36 AM CDT up reply actions
Really?
Why don’t we invest there? Someone inside wants to do it, but it’s obviously not Wright or his team (he who just slashed ticket prices by 50%), so that suggests it’s someone on the basketball side.
The basketball side can offer millions in contracts, but doesn’t have the authority to spend $200,000 on a stats guy? Taylor is willing to lose money every year to field the Lynx but won’t invest in a D-League team? Someone is putting the brakes on these ideas, despite their relatively limited cost.
So ya, maybe I’m reading way to much into, but it still leaves the question unresolved – how can Kahn spend millions of dollars on players and coaches and not have a stats guy? Either Kahn doesn’t buy it or the business side is interfering. I can believe that Kahn might be skeptical, but I also believe that he really is willing to do whatever it takes to turn this around. I guess it still seems to me like there’s a bit of country club still going on in the organization, that’s all.
Occam would say Kahn’s lying about player development and he’s the reason we don’t have a stats guy. But then again Taylor (or some business side person) also made Kahn absorb a bunch of McHale’s old assistants into the FO for this year because they had a year left on their contracts and the business side was too cheap to eat the cost (although we’ll gladly eat Blount’s contract). Hmm…Occam is scratching his head a little… Blount made $7 million dollars to sit at home, dwarfing the collective salary of assistants reassigned to the FO because we didn’t want to pay them to do nothing…Blount is a basketball decision and the coaches being foisted on Kahn in the FO is a…business side decision? Kahn’s willing to spend money…and the business side won’t? Hmmm…..
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
by biggity2bit on Mar 24, 2010 11:45 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
It just seems too black and white the way you are describing it
Kahn has never expressed publicly a burning desire to invest in advanced stats.
What seems to me to be going on is that, sure, the basketball side is suggesting it, but there’s no evidence that they are really pushing it as something vital for their department.
And Wright’s answer, that someday when the revenues are better…that doesn’t seem like it’s on the front burner.
by Eric in Madison on Mar 24, 2010 11:55 AM CDT up reply actions
My purely biased guess:
Kahn doesn’t want to go to Glen and say, “Hey, I’m starting to realize that I’m in over my head, and could really use another six figures each year to boost up the use of this hocus pocus mumbo jumbo of PER and Adjusted +/-.”
Now, maybe after the alleged Front Office Purge of 2010, a wise guy like Kahn will find a place on the staff for a stat head.
Maybe
but it’d have to be an old time single blade, not the Quattro, otherwise his head would explode. But really, why shave off the Darko-stache? Eastern European chicks and Iowa girls everywhere dig it.
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
the lack of FO turnover is a good point
The retention of the entire old guard seems like both loyalty and penny pinching on the part of Taylor. If these aren’t the people Kahn wants here in the long term they should have been gone and done early and the new people should have been in early. Now this organization is going to have the same old staff running the draft, etc.
It will be interesting to see how much FO turnover occurs this summer before the draft.
FO turnover before the drafT
will be zero. Contracts expire after the draft. At which point I expect significant turnover. Which will include folks Kahn does not want and, unfortunately, a few he may want to keep.
thanks for this
well, I hope that the FO staff that plan to leave are still working their hardest to have a damn fine draft and that Kahn trusts them enough to follow their advice. And those that Kahn doesn’t plan on bringing back, well, it bothers me that the POBO has people working preparing for a huge draft for this franchise that he doesn’t value as long term employees.
Why didn’t he hire new people? Is this more evidence of penny-pinching?
I don't get this either
Forever splitting the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs
www.canishoopus.com
by Stop-n-Pop on Mar 24, 2010 9:52 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Stack
Didn’t realize he was no longer part of the front office. At least he doesn’t appear as a front office employee on the Timberwolves website. I can’t remember what his role changed to after Kahn came on board, but thought he was still doing something.
by Biff Cooper on Mar 24, 2010 10:00 PM CDT up reply actions
Stack...
….is still there. Dean Cooper too. I don’t know why they’re not on the website.
Forever splitting the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs
www.canishoopus.com
Were they the guys who were demtoed to being scouts?
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
I thought
that Glen (or somebody) said that those guys of McHale’s with a year left on their contracts weren’t going to be let go but rather reassigned. I never got the impression that Kahn was given the chance (or funds) to go out and get his guys, that if anything it was a condition of joining the team. I might be mistaken, but that’s what I remember from last summer.
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
B2B
You’re recall is absolutely correct. The guys on contract were kept and reassigned. I believe Kahn hired just 1 guy.
"No one wants to drink in an empty bar, let's fill the bar."
I like this quote.
Nobody particularly wants to put their company’s name on a blimp in an empty bar, either. Or pay for ads on a TV broadcast that nobody’s watching — not even diehard fans, who can’t take the picture.
Filling up the bar is easier when it serves good beer from the tap, is the thing.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Sky blue waters, man.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
I vote
for it to be our new banner quote thing.
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
by biggity2bit on Mar 24, 2010 11:05 AM CDT up reply actions
The bizarre thing about the 45 broadcasts
is that the girls’ High School championships were on channel 45 from Target Center, and they seemed to be in full HD.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
How can you not spend a measly $150,000 in order to fully prepare for the most important off-season in a decade?!?!?
You’ll spend $20 million (and a precious top 3 lottery pick) on players but not 150K to make sure you’re picking the best FAs and draft picks!!!
F@#$! F@#$! F@#$!
If Kahn believed in advanced stats, they would spend this money. I lay this at the feet of Kahn. And if they eff up the top 3 pick (like they did with Flynn) or the major FA they land then god help us for the next 5 years…
Nice interview, otherwise. The March ticket plan is great, love the analogy to the bar that is empty vs full.
Thanks for doing it in the format you used, SnP. I like it this way.
p.s. Sorry for the vent above, for me not using advanced stats in 2010 is a sign of limited strategic intelligence or a reticence to embrace new, effective ideas that is pig-headed traditionalism. It would be the same as someone in the 80s saying “Well, I don’t know about this strength and conditioning stuff, might be good, but we’ll wait till we are in better shape before we invest in something like that.” or “I don’t think these European guys are gonna make much difference over here…we’ll give it some time and see how they turn out first.” These are all low $$$ investments for very high returns.
I don’t want to root for a team that is in the lower half of smarts and innovation in the NBA.
I don’t want to root for a team that is in the lower half of smarts and innovation in the NBA.
If Kahn is going to always be known as the hardest worker as he’d like us to believe, what good is that if he doesn’t also work “smarter”. If they really are willing to spend millions on a FA next year (and draft picks), how could they NOT hedge their bets by getting additional information from advanced stats? Taylor is a businessman, he HAS to understand this, he’s to smart not to. So how have some (if there really is an “internal push” for this) not presented this argument?!
by Cedarpenguin on Mar 24, 2010 11:07 AM CDT up reply actions
Even where Kahn has his expertise
which is the D-League, the team is not investing in player development in a thoughtful way from what I can tell. They’re behind the curve, and teams like the Spurs and Lakers are ahead of it.
There’s such a thing as “seed corn.” You don’t eat it.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Agreed
probably another ‘investment’ thing on the table.
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
by biggity2bit on Mar 24, 2010 11:36 AM CDT up reply actions
Let me be clear about "advanced" stats
They’re not the be all and end all. It does pain me to think that the other prominent options for Wolves GM-ery were from Houston and Portland, where Morey and Pritchard’s examples would surely have meant more immediate emphasis on analysis, but I don’t need this stuff to run the team. What we want, though, is to have solid voices and perspectives at the table for big decisions. To not have someone grinding numbers as part of the conversation on draft night, or over free agents…. Argh. Aaaaargh.
Whatever else we think of Dave Berri, he certainly nailed the reason for the disconnect between payroll and winning in the NBA:
For more than two decades economists have looked at the link between player salary and various performance statistics. Scoring totals are the only player statistic that consistently explains player pay. Shooting efficiency, rebounds, steals, and turnovers do not consistently offer much explanatory power. We updated these studies in our book. Our story, though, was essentially the same. Scoring totals are the one statistic that matters most in determining player pay.
A huge number of teams are still making decisions on the equivalent of fricking batting average.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Worse...
on the equivalent of hits.
BTW Berri recently posted what I think is his best post I’ve read on this topic. http://dberri.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/using-sports-to-paint-a-bigger-picture-continuing-the-story/
Very good read, and hits heavily on what is scary about the way Wolves FO talks about implementing advanced stat use.
Just to make two quick points:
I want to be very clear that I do not think that stats are the be-all/end-all of running a team correctly, but I do think there is something to be said about an eyes, ears, and stats approach to coaching, player evaluation, etc. This team, under Kahn and for whatever reason, does not subscribe to that approach. For all we know the team could have an existing contract with a stats service (not Synergy, thus technically avoiding the question) that is not being utilized. Maybe Kahn’s quote about LeBron was a bit more telling than any of us really know. Maybe the “internal push” isn’t from Kahn, but rather some of the existing employees who disagree with Kahn. Whatever it is , at a certain level we’re stuck with results and they simply aren’t there right now. This seems like a fairly basic part of running a modern NBA team and they don’t have it.
Forever splitting the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs
www.canishoopus.com
And as cheap as this team can be,
it can’t really be about the money, can it? I mean, $100,000 is about an extra hundred fans in the stands per home game.
My personal opinion:
I don’t think it can be either. It’s the sort of thing a team like the Wolves need to do in order to make up for what they don’t have/have access to.
Forever splitting the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs
www.canishoopus.com
That's what's bizarre.
It’s simply not a financial problem for an organization with that sort of operating budget. Nor can it be due to a shortage of interested applicants. If I had the money, I’d endow a statistician’s chair in the Wolves’ FO and let that person do interesting interviews from time to time, even if his/her analysis was summarily ignored. Hire the person, ignore them, just don’t eliminate chances for interesting and constructive input altogether. That’s just bad leadership.
I love this!
Let’s pool our money on CH to endow an Advanced Stats chair for the Wolves!
or this can be the follow-up if Kahn’s answer to or our questions leave something to be desired. :)
This is a question for Kahn on Hoopus night
Right now we’ve got some pretty good evidence to suggest that Flynn was partly drafted for his “it factor.” Kahn’s said that, in so many words.
When we’ve asked Kahn about stats, he answered in a way (to do with “longer-term” tracking?) that I didn’t understand. Maybe it was a brilliant oblique way of saying he was a Dean Oliver acolyte, or maybe it was a dismissal, I dunno.
I want to know why the team hasn’t invested this trivial amount in getting a new perspective on their assessment of talent ahead of “the biggest summer in team history.”
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Yes - please push
for a more descriptive and definitive answer on the advanced stats question if you can.
Part of what bothers me is probably that Kahn seems like a sharp cookie, so I don’t understand why he isn’t at the forefront of this advance.
But perhaps there really is more to the story.
update:
the team does have a subscription to something called StratEdge, which is a product of stratbridge:
Forever splitting the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs
www.canishoopus.com
interesting
a good find. I wonder if this is a serious alternative to synergy or a cheap substitute.
they're a major threat..
…not a minor one.
Forever splitting the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs
www.canishoopus.com
What advanced stats
can be obtained for free on the internet without going through a service such as Synergy? We’ve got people like Hoiberg, Sichsting, Durisic, Babcock, (Stack??). Their main job is to evaluate players. I’m sure they are currently using plenty of stats to do this work. Maybe they are missing out on some stats that would be useful by not using a service, maybe not. Why pay $100K to get stuff they are already getting for free?
Good interview
Chris has seems like a great guy based on several interviews I’ve either read or seen.
- Agreed – great forward looking program. Sounds like the Kings business guy got into trouble for not doing stuff like this.
#2. Not the sort of answer I was hoping for. I can understand the difficulty in finding the funding. But I’m not sure waiting for the customer to ask for it is the right answer. It is like the criticism of having a government leader make decisions based on focus groups. Customers want immediate results and change their mind every 3 days. You need to make strategic decisions based on long term results, difficult choices, and a deep and broad knowledge of the topic.
- & #5. Business side of the house expecting big things. Kahn will be under a lot of pressure this summer. Would be enlightening, though, to know what we would have sad last spring. Were they hoping for that in 2009-2010 too?
#6. In the wake of the Portland fiasco and the disconnect between the Vulcan business guys in Seattle and the BB guys in Portland, this “all in one building for better integration” argument holds some water.
#7. From many people (especially outstate fans) the Wolves TV plan would work much better if all the games were on FSN. Many of us do not get the Minneapolis over the air stations like channel 45. It is a financial (cable companies have to pay $$) and FCC regulatory issue (out of market local channels). I wish they had 0 over the air games. I imagine there is a demographic they are afraid to miss out on, though, in terms of metro people who can’t or won’t buy cable.
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
Wierd - it tried to format my list of comments
Was supposed to be #1, #2, #4 & #5, #6, and #7.
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
by Wile E Coyote on Mar 24, 2010 11:36 AM CDT up reply actions
Can you get FSN out of state? As someone else who plans to move out to the NW, I’d always figured that getting league pass was going to be my only means of watching the Woof, so this intrigues me.
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
I'd guess you'll need League Pass if you mean WAS/ORE/etc.
The term ‘outstate’ usually means “Not in Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area” vs. out of the state.
I live in Minny but not near the Twin Cities. We get FSN via Charter Cable. I don’t know if surrounding states w/o an NBA team like Iowa or North Dakota get Wolves games via FSN.
I currently get League Pass Broadband for the games not on FSN. It is cheaper, is the only option with Charter cable, and works fairly well. Watch online or cable your laptop to your TV.
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
by Wile E Coyote on Mar 24, 2010 4:03 PM CDT up reply actions
Cable Penetration
Wile- the Twin Cities actually rank as one of the lowest in the country as far as cable penetration. We’re about #200 out of 214.
So, it’s more important for the team to have a broadcast partner in this market than almost any other NBA market (other than Milwaukee, which ranks even further down).
Also, as someone who looks at TV ratings every morning, let me assure everyone that the Wolves absolutely are exploring other options beyond Channel 45. The ratings were dismal before the team went in the toilet. My 29 (UPN 29, at the time) did about 4 times the ratings.
When the Twins went from 45 to 29, the ratings more than doubled.
45 stinks, and offers the team no promotional platform or lead-in for the games.
If the team wants more people to watch, they’ll change broadcast partners.
Check out Humdinger TV on YouTube.
http://twitter.com/HumdingerTV
Playoffs...
“Playoffs? Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? I’d be surprised if we win a game, another game.”
- Jim Mora
Ha, thought that needed to be said… anyway it’d be nice to see the Wolves win 30-40 games next year… which isn’t really going to compete for a playoff position… at least not in the West… but if this happens I’d definitely make more of an effort to get to more games.
Great Interview - Thanks
The Wolves need a bad-ass Marine Drill Instructor over the Summer. 24 weeks
of PT are needed to get these guys used to real work. Up & Back hustle drills
would be great for the guys lagging in transition. Jus’ sayin’.
"It's not too far; it just seems like it is."
by WillistonCoyote on Mar 24, 2010 2:03 PM CDT reply actions
I just watched "Full Metal Jacket."
Let’s not have Love go all Gomer Pyle on us.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
I like Love's game,
but I’d like to see the baby fat replaced by muscle, and a new, hard-nosed demeanor in
his game. An aggressive, hustling Love would be worth watching. But what I said above
goes for several guys. He’s just the more salient example.
I’d like to see Brewer hit the weight room diligently and pack on some muscle. He’d
be awesome if he weren’t a stick.
Pat Riley won the first part of the Lakers’ seasons by having his guys start the schedule
in better shape than the rest of the league. He was relentless as a conditioning coach.
These guys need that kind of commitment to shaping up.
"It's not too far; it just seems like it is."
by WillistonCoyote on Mar 24, 2010 2:28 PM CDT up reply actions
When Love starts staring up through his eyelids like a Kubrick character,
we’ll know new conditioning coach Les Steckel has gone too far.
But yeah, of course we agree. I’ve used Corey before as an example of a league player who might be tempted by steroids at some point. Not that Corey himself would, but his type of player. Cherokee Parks, too: a big who never could keep on enough muscle weight.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
By Fan Experience
I’m assuming we are going to be hearing more loudspeaker music and noise while the game is going on to keep marginal fans interested?
god i hope not..
….i wish i would have asked a question about the piped in craziness. it’s way over the top.
Forever splitting the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs
www.canishoopus.com
I hope they mean
this. (skip to around 0:50 for the awesomeness).
Growing my own "Darko-stache" since last Monday.
Good point
and something that (as a fellow father of daughters might appreciate) they’re debating over at True Hoop : Do scantily-clad women dancing on the basketball floor during time-outs enhance your personal Fan Experience?
Cheerleaders in the year 2010 seem so surreal
On the one hand they seem so utterly inappropriate. On the other hand …
Very awkward when married with a daughter.
"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." -- Yogi Berra
by Wile E Coyote on Mar 24, 2010 4:05 PM CDT up reply actions
Yep, awkward.
Red-blooded men just go for orange leggings, I guess.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
Whenever I go to a game with
girlfriend, girl friends, friends’ girlfriends, etc… any form of girl under the age of 30 really… I notice they look at the dancers far more than any guy I have ever been to the game with. Of course after I finish mocking them for it they say it’s because of their costumes and they are in awe of how often they change or how they dance in a particular outfit… whether that part is true or not, who knows.
My GF can’t watch a game without commenting about how dumb their dancing is or how ridiculous it is that they dance in 4 inch heels.
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.
Haha yeah
and granted she has a point, they really aren’t very good (not this team in particular, most dancers aren’t) or entertaining. But still, I stay perfectly content just ignoring them, but for some reason girls can’t do that. Maybe it’s a catty reflex or something.
Ugh
Please lose the cheerleaders and the dance team. It is by far my least favorite part of pro sports events.
Women belong on the court playing basketball, not waving pom-poms and prancing to “pump up the jam”. If a team took a stand on this crap they would have my immediate allegiance and that of many of my friends.
I know the question
How do you keep your balance when standing at a 45 degree angle?
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