The Dallas Mavericks have been at the forefront of NBA analytics since Mark Cuban bought the team in 2000. Here is how the current analytics operation works.
The history: Cuban was one of the first NBA owners to invest heavily in analytics. He hired Wayne Winston, a statistics professor from Indiana University, as a consultant in the early 2000s. Source: ESPN feature on NBA analytics pioneers.
The Mavs were running plus/minus models and lineup optimization before most teams had a single analytics staffer.
The current operation:
- Full-time analytics staff of 8-10 people (one of the larger departments in the NBA)
- Integration with Second Spectrum camera tracking data for spatial analytics
- Custom shot quality models that evaluate every possession
- In-game real-time data dashboards that coaching staff can access during timeouts
How it impacts the game:
Shot selection: The Mavs analytics team identified that Luka's mid-range pull-up two is efficient enough to keep shooting, even though analytics generally discourage mid-range shots. His mid-range effective field goal percentage of 52% is above the league average for all shot types. Source: Cleaning the Glass.
This is a nuance that less sophisticated analytics departments miss — the goal is not to eliminate mid-range shots universally but to eliminate them for players who are not efficient there.
Lineup data: The analytics team tracks every two-through-five-man lineup combination and provides the coaching staff with data on which lineups produce the best net ratings. This is why you see unusual combinations get extended minutes in certain games.
Draft: The Mavs analytics model was a key factor in the decision to trade up for Luka in 2018. The model projected him as a top-5 player in the league by year 3. It was right.
Sources:
- ESPN — NBA analytics history features
- Cleaning the Glass — Mavs shot data
- The Athletic — Mavs front office profiles