OT: John Hollinger hired for front office job in Memphis?

[santeesioux]

Commercial Appeal ‏@CAGrizBlog

BREAKING: Griz have hired ESPN's John Hollinger to front-office position, per sources. CA story coming...

 

[Nikolokolus]

Interesting.

 

[HailBlazers]

Our In-House expert says bad hire

Two bogus, made up stats that are so filled with mud they really don't tell you anything useful. Hollinger may be very smart when it comes to numbers - but he's an idiot when it comes to applying them to basketball. PER is garbage.

 

[santeesioux]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8...hollinger-join-memphis-grizzlies-front-office

 

[SlyPokerDog]

OT - Grizzlies hire John Hollinger

John Hollinger, a fixture of ESPN.com's coverage of the NBA for the past eight seasons and one of the leaders in basketball's rising statistical analysis movement in the past decade, is leaving his role as a columnist to join the front office of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Best known for hatching the formula behind every player's Player Efficiency Ranking (PER) -- which attempts to quantify player performance through the use of an all-in-one rating -- Hollinger will begin work as a senior executive in the Grizzlies' basketball department next week.

"It's incredibly difficult to leave ESPN, but the chance to work for an NBA team and the Grizzlies' new ownership was an irresistible opportunity," Hollinger said Thursday.

Hollinger was recruited to the Grizzlies by new controlling owner Robert Pera and CEO/managing partner Jason Levien, who have made upgrading Memphis' analytics department one of their front-office priorities.

The Grizzlies on Thursday declined comment.

Hollinger, 41, founded the website "Alleyoop" in 1996 to launch his online career as a basketball sabermetrician and authored a series of books originally known as the "Pro Basketball Prospectus" and later titled "Pro Basketball Forecast."

He went on to work for The Oregonian newspaper's online site (OregonLive.com) and served as the NBA editor of Sports Illustrated's online site (SI.com) before joining ESPN.com in February 2005.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8...hollinger-join-memphis-grizzlies-front-office

 

[Pinwheel1]

Not sure why they would pay him a salary when they can just come here and get the same results.

 

[julius]

He'd be an idiot not to do that. if the Blazers, for whatever reason, offered me a front office job, I'd take it.

 

[ABM]

He'd be an idiot not to do that. if the Blazers, for whatever reason, offered me a front office job, I'd take it.

Lotto luck with that.

 

[jlprk]

I'm surprised that Memphis has so many hours per week for his stat job that he has to give up the national writing job.

Maybe it's a conflict of interest problem.

 

[Run BJM]

I'm sure hes a smart guy, but incredibly stubborn in believing 100% on numbers. My sig pretty much sums up my thoughts on him, mind you that quote is from several years ago.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

If I were the Blazers I'd hire Jonathan Givony (Draftexpress) to be the lead international scout.

 

[RR7]

I'm sure hes a smart guy, but incredibly stubborn in believing 100% on numbers. My sig pretty much sums up my thoughts on him, mind you that quote is from several years ago.

I don't think he believes 100% in numbers, and readily admits often in his calculations when he disagrees with what they show.

 

[RR7]

If I were the Blazers I'd hire Jonathan Givony (Draftexpress) to be the lead international scout.

wouldn't have a problem with that either.

 

[ABM]

Remember this guy?

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=55415

Also, the Blazers have Ben Falk on staff.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/224083/Ben_Falk_Gives_Blazers_Statistical_Advantage

Ryan Parker is also on the Blazers' staff.

http://www.basketballgeek.com/2009/...play-ending-events-given-how-the-play-starts/

 

[HailBlazers]

Moneyball anyone?

 

[blue9]

Our In-House expert says bad hire

Thanks for saving me the effort!

 

[Nikolokolus]

I'll give Hollinger credit. He's actually willing to risk failure moving from his lucrative gig as ESPN's resident analytics expert to the other side; getting his hands dirty as it were. Sort of like a food critic taking a job as a chef.

If Hollinger does a bad job this could damage his reputation a little bit. Good for him.

 

[THE HCP]

Our former Producer for Blazers Broadcasting just got hired to be the Grizz' producer. It's like Portland South!

 

[Nikolokolus]

Our former Producer for Blazers Broadcasting just got hired to be the Grizz' producer. It's like Portland South!

Zachary?

 

[THE HCP]

Zachary?

Yep yep!

 

[3RA1N1AC]

If Hollinger does a bad job this could damage his reputation a little bit. Good for him.

im not exactly sure what he is being hired to do, but if it is just analytics, im not sure how he could do such a poor job that it would even be reported on

 

[jlprk]

The Grizzlies have made other creative hires, like Jerry West and Hubie Brown. Seems there were others if I think about it. Although they have a new owner.

 

[Nikolokolus]

im not exactly sure what he is being hired to do, but if it is just analytics, im not sure how he could do such a poor job that it would even be reported on

He's a VP of basketball operations if I'm not mistaken. That's more than just "stat guy" if I understand the position correctly.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

He's a VP of basketball operations if I'm not mistaken. That's more than just "stat guy" if I understand the position correctly.

like i said i wasnt sure, although im not really in the loop as far as vp of basketball operations statistics go, is it easily quantifiable with a pace adjusted stat (that ignores man defense)?

 

[jlprk]

Memphis probably offered him 5 times what ESPN paid him, like $3 million per year.