{"id":2252,"date":"2018-05-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/podcasts\/boston-celtics-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:16:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:16:52","slug":"boston-celtics-2","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/podcasts\/boston-celtics-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Paralysis by Analysis? Not at the Boston Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n May 08, 2018 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Podcasts<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Paralysis by Analysis? Not at the Boston Celtics<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Data & Innovation<\/a>, Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/podcasts\/boston-celtics-2\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
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Austin Ainge, Director of Player Personnel at the Boston Celtics, spends considerable time thinking about the team\u2019s roster. Whether he is watching video footage of draft-eligible student-athletes, taking in the games of potential recruits in Turkey, or casting an eye over NBA\u2019s free agents, Ainge is continuously looking to strengthen one of the most promising teams in the league.<\/h4>\n
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There can be hundreds of players on his radar at any one time and while the constant game-watching and reams of footage have sharpened his basketball instincts, Ainge also relies on analytics to inform his judgements. \u201cIt\u2019s very important,\u201d he emphasises, adding: \u201cWe look on it to provide check and balances for our opinions. We\u2019ve invested a lot of time and money to gather as much data as we can and we\u2019ve hired some very smart people to analyse it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ainge, who is the son of Celtics GM Danny Ainge, had been speaking to the Leaders Performance Podcast<\/a> about his role within the Celtics\u2019 basketball operations when the conversation turned to the delicate balance between objectivity and subjectivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe balance varies from person to person,\u201d he comments. \u201cBut everyone on our staff uses one to support the other.\u201d In his role, Ainge checks himself against Boston\u2019s analytical models for predicting which young players will ultimately prove to be the best. \u201cIf our draft model says that this player is really good and I don\u2019t think he\u2019s very good, I will listen to that model, go back and watch the video again, and try to see what the model is saying \u2013 sometimes I\u2019ll agree and sometimes I won\u2019t. There\u2019s lots of shades of grey in there but that\u2019s the balance and the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does this give Ainge the scope to go with his gut? \u201cYes, but \u2018gut\u2019 is probably not the right word. It\u2019s more the thousands of hours of video we\u2019ve watched and games in person or background information that perhaps the model or the statistics cannot see; and there\u2019s things that the model can see that I can\u2019t see. I try to use them all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ainge has noted that the data landscape in basketball has changed exponentially in the past decade alone, with considerable disruption still to come. For all that, basketball is populated with seasoned coaches and performance staff who rose through the ranks in different eras when analysis, limited as the data would have been, was restricted to the fringes. This has not proven to be a problem at Boston, where even in this ongoing Wild West phase for analytics, Danny Ainge and Head Coach Brad Stevens have been supreme advocates for the insights behind the numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaches come to our analytics staff with questions all the time that they would like to be solved,\u201d Ainge explains. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s more focused on the personnel side; they come to me often and say, hey, we need another shooter. That\u2019s a constant thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The players have also taken an ever-keener interest in their own stats when they can see that it is game or performance relevant. \u201cWe give it to them in digestible form \u2013 it\u2019s not like we\u2019re giving them spreadsheets of numbers \u2013 we\u2019re telling them you would be more effective if instead of standing at 20 feet for a two-point shot, if you took one step back for 23-feet for a three-point shot, your percentages are equal from both those positions but you get a whole point more. Simple things like that are 101 for us in basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the full interview with Austin Ainge, where he discusses the makeup of the Celtics\u2019 scouting department, arguments with his father Danny, and working to ensure pipelines of overseas talents to the NBA, click listen below.<\/p>\n