Industrial Problems Seminar: Being Smart and Dumb - Building the Sports Analytics Industry

In collaboration with the Minnesota Center for Industrial Mathematics, the Industrial Problems Seminars are a forum for industrial researchers to offer a first-hand glimpse into industrial research. The seminars take place Fridays from 1:25 p.m. - 2:25 p.m.

This week's speaker, Dean Oliver ( NBA's Washington Wizards), will be giving a talk titled "Being Smart and Dumb: Building the Sports Analytics Industry."

Registration is required to access the Zoom webinar.

Abstract

Going from a scientific background into something that people haven't done comes with moments where you don't know what you're talking about... if you talk, that is. Admitting the times you don't know how your work can help and introducing your work when it may be able to help - that timing can be hard. I went from the field I was trained in- environmental engineering and consulting - to a job with no title at first. I had to write a book about how stats can help in basketball. Someone else invented the term "Sports Analytics". This talk is a little bit of that story.

Biography

Lawrence Dean Oliver is an American statistician and assistant coach for the NBA's Washington Wizards. Oliver is a prominent contributor to the advanced statistical evaluation of basketball. He is the author of Basketball on Paper, the former producer of the defunct Journal of Basketball Studies.