Blazers' Basketball Operations Department Seeks Computer Nerd For Database Victory
by Ben Golliver on Feb 7, 2012 12:08 PM PST
in News
Email
PrintThe Portland Trail Blazers' basketball operations department is seeking a computer programming nerd to help enhance its statistical analysis database.
Blazers' Basketball Analytics Manager Ben Falk writes in an email...
We are looking to hire someone to help us create web applications for use in coaching in scouting. This is some of what I do already but we want someone to be fully dedicated to it. The trick is finding talented people with the right skills who love basketball and know the league and would be thrilled to do this kind of work. I could imagine some of your readers would definitely be interested in this kind of thing.
The job ad reads...
"If you love basketball and love to program, we have a great opportunity for you: a job posting for a Basketball Applications Developer. This position entails creating internal applications for use by the coaching staff and management. A strong web-programming background is preferred. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at applicationsjob@trailblazers.
com.
You can apply for the position here.
Pressed for further details, Falk pulled a Rich Cho and declined an interview, writing only...
I can't tell you too much, but the job is probably along the lines of what you'd guess: this person would be helping to build what we hope are the best analytical tools in the league.
So this is your chance to enter the super secret labyrinth of player evaluation and decision-making. The analytics work being done here is a key part of Portland's well-chronicled "eyes, ears and numbers" philosophy.
Despite his reticence, Falk is as smart, funny and nice of a person as you will find in the organization. He was recently credited by Blazers Acting GM Chad Buchanan for assisting in the evaluation of Blazers forward Craig "The Rhino" Smith and he's a veteran representative of the Blazers at MIT's annual Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. He would be a pretty awesome boss. If you're interested, give this job a look.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter
28 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Holy crap
that was a terrible call by Scott Foster
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
Even the co-creator of microsoft
knows Linux is a better platform :p
"We gotta get this $#!^ together guys!" - Phil
or that open source software costs a lot less.
"But if Ding Dongs and prime rib were the path to NBA pivot stardom we'd all be wearing the uniform." -Dave
Seriously?
Isn’t this exactly at least one thing Rich Cho said he was trying to implement before The Blazers played the old….“All of you who might be The Blazers GM take a step forward…Not you Mr. Cho” trick on him?
Or is this someone pretty much just creating spreadsheets and data forms?
Funny The Blazers are aggressive on this front…meanwhile the GM search is somewhere over the rainbow and on pause.
"Mother Nature started this fight, I think it's about time we ended it!"
Blazers just waiting for a certain GM to be available at the end of the season.
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Feb 7, 2012 1:28 PM PST up reply actions
So jealous
As a stats major, I’m waiting for the day the Blazers need help with quantitative analysis.
This is LAMP too?
If I didn’t hate working in a team environment I’d be all over it. Sounds like a fun job. Surprised that it’s not based on Microsoft tech.
Well, it's PHP
closest open source thing that resembles some brown log Microsoft would squeeze out.
I don't mind PHP at all
at least it’s C like
applied!
"But if Ding Dongs and prime rib were the path to NBA pivot stardom we'd all be wearing the uniform." -Dave
I think you would make an AWESOME candidate!
Myself – I have only the LAM part, as I’m a Linux engineer. I’ve dealt with Apache and MySQL for years, but have only installation experience with PHP, and a little WIKI page stuff that I do. Nothing major, that’s for sure.
You have my vote, douglast.
webdev here...enticing
though I’m heading to Mozilla soon, I wonder if I can do it remotely.
so they fire a high priced stat geek/nerd
and now want to hire a cheap stat geek/nerd?
lol
I JUST WANT MY BASKETBALL BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Sean in Vancouver on Feb 7, 2012 2:16 PM PST reply actions
wish I had access to the data
it would be fun to work on something as a personal project. I made something that parses NBA.com game logs last season and put the different match-ups together with stats during certain stretches of the game.
The data was unreliable though as far as the substitutions. Having solid data to work with would be awesome.
I wonder if RFID chips in players shoes and the ball, and a receiver matrix under the court...
would be useful in the next generation of advanced stat analysis? Might be difficult to get league approval.
Sounds like fun!
I know my way around JavaScript and PHP and HtML and CSS one problem though, I’m way too young. Perfect future job for me though :)
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Behind the Box Score, where the Boston Celtics are moving on to the conference finals
- NBA Playoffs Fan Fiction: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- The Indiana Pacers? Gone till November
- Shaquille O’Neal is in a Chinese beer commercial, too (VIDEO)
- ‘Deep Thoughts’ and Cheap Thoughts: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
