The Clippers went outside the box by hiring Sports Illustrated writer Lee Jenkins, who specialized in reporting and prose rather than basketball analysis.
Now, the Mavericks are making their own unconventional hire.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
ESPN reporting with @Zachlowe_NBA: In another example of the league's changing attitudes on gambling, the Dallas Mavericks are hiring former NBA bettor Bob Voulgaris (@Haralabob) as Director of Quantitative Research and Development.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 5, 2018
For more background on Voulgaris, Scott Eden wrote an interesting profile on him for ESPN a few years ago. Voulgaris earned his living by analyzing the NBA, developing mathematical models to aid his research. He has the technical chops to help an NBA team, and he has frequently shown his insights on Twitter.
I’m generally a believer in hiring the smartest, most-talented people then figuring out the rest later. I also expect bumps along the way, as Voulgaris and Dallas feel out each other. This old retweet made the rounds yesterday and isn’t out of the norm:
KEEP PREACHING RT @haralabob: What is Rick Carlisle’s fascination with playing Jose Calderon down the stretch on D, it makes no sense.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) April 7, 2014
But this has a chance to work excellently. At minimum, it’s certainly fascinating.
