Brian Burke is a Dinosaur

[QuadrupleDeke]

Brian Burke is making a fool of himself at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

He's on a panel titled "It's Not You, It's Me: Break-Ups in Sports" (with Stan Van Gundy, Bill Polian, Steve Pagliuca, John Buccigross, and Jackie MacMullan). Here are some of his better (worse?) quotes:

It's an eyeball business. If you're looking at statistics, I want you in our division.

No one ever won a title with Moneyball.

Statistics are like a lamppost for a drunk: useful for support, but not illumination.

Click to read more...

 

[Epsilon]

LOL, I wonder what Theo Epstein thinks of that middle quote.

 

[The Bored Man]

I don't think that hockey lends itself to statistics as well as baseball, but those are some pretty extreme statements. The trick is to correctly interpret the stats but he shouldn't dismiss them completely.

Edit: Actually, the last one doesn't seem so bad minus the typical Burke brand of blowhard bluster.

 

[bleedgreen]

I agree with everything he says. Stats are pretty useless in hockey.

 

[TOML]

Um, wouldn't a lamppost still be useful for illumination as well as support, drunk or not?


TOML

 

[Epsilon]

Burke is the kind of GM who would have traded Dominik Hasek for scraps in the early 1990s because he doesn't "play the game the right way".

 

[Vipers31]

No idea about the verification for the moneyball thing, but the other two aren't that hard to agree with to a fair degree.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

The last quote isn't a Burke original. He (mis)quoted a 19th century Scottish poet. So yeah, really cutting edge sentiment there.

 

[Grandrift145]

i fully agree with what he is saying

statistics are a part of the game but not all

and its true, no one ever a title with moneyball

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

i fully agree with what he is saying

statistics are a part of the game but not all

and its true, no one ever a title with moneyball

 

[Grandrift145]

is this on tv
and where

 

[QuadrupleDeke]

i fully agree with what he is saying

statistics are a part of the game but not all

and its true, no one ever a title with moneyball

Boston Red Sox? Dallas Mavericks?

 

[Grandrift145]

Boston Red Sox? Dallas Mavericks?

if those are your examples, every team wins with moneyball

 

[hototogisu]

To be fair, Burke led a team to a Cup not 20 years ago, but 5 years ago. He's justified in believing in his methods as they had success for him not all that long ago.

In his second quote, maybe he's trying to say that nobody ever won a championship purely with statistics, and that a measure of eyeballing and having an eye for talent is involved as well? I think hearing the entire discussion would provide some context, instead of just yanking a sentence out of what was probably a larger idea.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Burke is the kind of GM who would have traded Dominik Hasek for scraps in the early 1990s because he doesn't "play the game the right way".

Hasek was available in the expansion draft and on waivers. I get your point but that was a poor example.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Is this the version of moneyball where you have a ton of money, so you're able to compete and win a championship?

 

[alcanalz]

.... he is completely right. I can't speak to the moneyball, but in regards to stats? Certainly.

Also, lol @ Red Sox moneyball.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

if those are your examples, every team wins with moneyball

That's what I was thinking.

 

[QuadrupleDeke]

if those are your examples, every team wins with moneyball

You clearly have no idea about the advanced statistics that went into the Dallas Mavericks winning their championship, especially the major tactical changes they made during the Finals to beat the Heat.

And the Red Sox hired Bill James, the author of the Baseball Prospectus that became the basis for all of moneyball, and then won 2 championships in 4 years.

So yes, those are my examples.

 

[magic school bus]

It's unbelievable how often people mistake Moneyball for strictly being a strategy employed by the Oakland A's. Every team has baseball team has analytics people in their front office & The Boston Red Sox have won several championships with it.

It's fine to disagree with the principles, but at least get the facts right.

 

[Epsilon]

It's unbelievable how often people mistake Moneyball for strictly being a strategy employed by the Oakland A's. Every team has baseball team has analytics people in their front office & The Boston Red Sox have won several championships with it.

It's fine to disagree with the principles, but at least get the facts right.

Dude, who needs facts when you've got a movie!

 

[magic school bus]

You clearly have no idea about the advanced statistics that went into the Dallas Mavericks winning their championship, especially the major tactical changes they made during the Finals to beat the Heat.

And the Red Sox hired Bill James, the author of the Baseball Prospectus that became the basis for all of moneyball, and then won 2 championships in 4 years.

So yes, those are my examples.

Daryl Morey, chairman of the Sloan conference & currently GM of the Houston Rockets, used analytics when he worked for the Boston Celtics during their last Championship season.

 

[Grandrift145]

all that team did was loot the Florida Marlins of all their good players

the Oakland A's were a moneyball team

 

[Dick Whitman]

You clearly have no idea about the advanced statistics that went into the Dallas Mavericks winning their championship, especially the major tactical changes they made during the Finals to beat the Heat.

And the Red Sox hired Bill James, the author of the Baseball Prospectus that became the basis for all of moneyball, and then won 2 championships in 4 years.

So yes, those are my examples.

They also signed one of the guys the A's let go for being too expensive. The Sox won a couple of championships and I'm sure there was a lot of statistical analysis done but there was also a lot of money spent on acquiring players, not to mention the guys that were there who were on the team before Bill James was hired.

 

[QuadrupleDeke]

all that team did was loot the Florida Marlins of all their good players

the Oakland A's were a moneyball team

Every traditional baseball mind thought that Mike Lowell was a salary dump addition to that trade. No one saw him contributing the way he did. And trading Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez is hardly "looting".