It was reported on local news that Carroll Dawson is ready to step down as GM. Dawson will either retire after this season or after next season, sorry I don't have a lot of info right now. It was also announced that Les Alexander hired Daryl Morey to replace him. Here's some info on him: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/alumni/morey.php Senior Vice President, Operations and Information Boston Celtics Boston, Mass. As it turns out, Daryl Morey spent most of his life preparing for his job with the Boston Celtics. As a college student, he worked part?time for STATS, Incorporated, and invented a statistical method for calculating team win percentages from raw points scored in basketball, football, and hockey. When he graduated from MIT Sloan, he joined The Parthenon Group as a principal consultant and director of knowledge management. At Parthenon, Morey got great exposure to the business of sports by leading the valuation analysis first for one of the Boston Red Sox acquisition teams and then for the group that ultimately bought the Boston Celtics and took it private. With Parthenon?s blessing, he pursued his dream job with the new owners. Numbers are only part of the picture Morey?s first priority at the Celtics was customer relationship management. As he notes, ?With a sports team, the bottleneck to revenue is ticket sales. You have to know what your customers want and find ways to reach new segments.? Morey has since extended his reach to player forecasting, where a model his team built forecasts prospects? future success in the NBA. He is quick to point out that the numbers are only one data point, used in combination with psychological profiling and scouting. ?Basketball is an intensely human game, where the personal aspect is very, very important. Analysis can point you in the right direction, but it?s possible to take it too far. A Danny Ainge [Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations] needs to integrate the analytical stuff with his knowledge and experience to make the right decision,? explains Morey. He is now working on analytical approaches for on?the?court decisions, acknowledging how difficult they are to implement. In order to make a difference, the analysis has to be applied by the coaching staff and then translated for the players to carry out. A winner?take?all talent business At MIT Sloan, Morey focused on knowledge management, an area he began to explore in jobs with Monsanto, Searle, and The MITRE Corporation during and after his undergraduate years at Northwestern. ?The MIT Sloan faculty is so amazingly open,? he says. ?You can develop your own ideas and then bring them to professors for critique. Everyone should use these opportunities to engage with people who have unique knowledge.? Today, Morey is teaching at MIT Sloan himself. Together with Professor Stephen Graves and Assistant Professor Shane Frederick, Morey offers a half?course on sports management, a field in which he believes MIT Sloan can be a leader. ?There?s an academic argument about whether sports management is its own discipline,? says Morey. ?But the sports industry is certainly unique. It is a winner?take?all talent business with aspects that are similar to nonprofit management, as for most owners the bottom line is about winning, not profit. ?Also, teams used to cost less, and they tended to be owned by people who made their money in industrial businesses. That?s changing today, when sale prices run from $300 million to $1 billion and there are new, younger owners who come from venture capital, private equity, and consulting firms. The purchase is a significant portion of their portfolio, and they run the teams using an analytical approach. It adds up to a great opportunity for MBAs.?</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">http://www.rallenhome.com/blog/mit-sdm/200...ations-and.html <font size=""3"">Daryl Morey, SVP Operations and Information, Boston Celtics</font> Daryl was a lunchtime speaker at Sloan a couple of weeks ago. He discussed his job at the Boston Celtics. He does a lot of data analysis to help the Boston GM make decisions on which players to pick/draft/trade. Pretty interesting stuff. He says that only a handful of NBA teams are using a statistical approach to help them make decisions. I can only imagine that will change over time. And since there are so few teams that use stats heavily, it is hard to break into the field. Daryl's Bio Notes: - 2000 Sloan grad - Consulted for 3.5 years at Parthenon - Teams get most of their revenue from tickets and TV - Most cost is from player salaries (60%) - Winning is all about getting the right players - Big reinforcing loop both ways (The better you do the more money you get the better players you can get. The worse you do, the less money you have, etc) - He thinks a baseball team could be run by a computer these days (referenced Moneyball), but not true with a basketball team. Too many intangibles that are hard to measure. Basketball is more of a team game than baseball. - FG%, Rebounding, Turnovers, and Free Throws are the most important stats for winning - Hard to pick high school players because stats are unreliable</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">http://alum.mit.edu/ne/noteworthy/profiles/morey.html <font size=""3"">Daryl Morey GM '00</font> Playing the Basketball Game with Numbers (First published in Technology Review, Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006) Though he stands 6'4", it wasn't Daryl Morey's height that got him his job with the Boston Celtics. And it certainly wasn't his small-town Ohio roots. Morey is the only person in the basketball franchise's front office who didn't grow up in New England. What compelled the new owners to hire Morey in 2003 as senior vice president of operations and information was his consulting skills. His passion for statistical sports analysis didn't hurt, either. Morey focuses on arena operations, risk management, basketball analytics, and ticket sales strategy, pricing, and technology. His grasp of statistical analysis makes him uniquely suited to a relatively new sports management strategy that looks deep into the numbers behind the game to predict future performance. "The reason that opportunity exists is because the ownership groups buying teams are very different than in the past," says Morey. "The franchise is their primary asset and they come from backgrounds with an analytical focus such as venture capital, private equity, and management consulting. In the past, sports franchises were secondary assets in the portfolio of individuals who made their money in industrial-based businesses." In a way, Morey had been preparing for his role with the Celtics since he was a kid shooting hoops and devouring baseball stats. He read every Baseball Abstract published by sports statistician Bill James, then was awed to find himself working alongside the man himself at STATS, Inc., a Chicago sports information company. At the time, Morey was an undergraduate computer science major at Northwestern University. While at MIT, Morey helped found the Sloan Leadership Club, which brought 18 speakers to campus. He and Carl Stjernfeldt GM '00, now at Battery Ventures, also arranged business networking meetings between MBA students and MIT research centers, an endeavor they dubbed, "The Plant Tour Network." Morey, who lives with his wife, Ellen and children Karen, 5 and Scott, 3 in Natick, Mass., teaches a course he developed at Sloan titled, Analytical Sports Management. "I think there's a big opportunity for Sloan to be at the leading edge of providing the new management of sports teams," he says. By Sharron Kahn Luttrell </div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/alumni/morey.php <font size=""3"">Featured Alumni Daryl Morey, MBA ?00</font> Senior Vice President, Operations and Information Boston Celtics Boston, Mass. As it turns out, Daryl Morey spent most of his life preparing for his job with the Boston Celtics. As a college student, he worked part?time for STATS, Incorporated, and invented a statistical method for calculating team win percentages from raw points scored in basketball, football, and hockey. When he graduated from MIT Sloan, he joined The Parthenon Group as a principal consultant and director of knowledge management. At Parthenon, Morey got great exposure to the business of sports by leading the valuation analysis first for one of the Boston Red Sox acquisition teams and then for the group that ultimately bought the Boston Celtics and took it private. With Parthenon?s blessing, he pursued his dream job with the new owners. Numbers are only part of the picture Morey?s first priority at the Celtics was customer relationship management. As he notes, ?With a sports team, the bottleneck to revenue is ticket sales. You have to know what your customers want and find ways to reach new segments.? Morey has since extended his reach to player forecasting, where a model his team built forecasts prospects? future success in the NBA. He is quick to point out that the numbers are only one data point, used in combination with psychological profiling and scouting. ?Basketball is an intensely human game, where the personal aspect is very, very important. Analysis can point you in the right direction, but it?s possible to take it too far. A Danny Ainge [Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations] needs to integrate the analytical stuff with his knowledge and experience to make the right decision,? explains Morey. He is now working on analytical approaches for on?the?court decisions, acknowledging how difficult they are to implement. In order to make a difference, the analysis has to be applied by the coaching staff and then translated for the players to carry out. A winner?take?all talent business At MIT Sloan, Morey focused on knowledge management, an area he began to explore in jobs with Monsanto, Searle, and The MITRE Corporation during and after his undergraduate years at Northwestern. ?The MIT Sloan faculty is so amazingly open,? he says. ?You can develop your own ideas and then bring them to professors for critique. Everyone should use these opportunities to engage with people who have unique knowledge.? Today, Morey is teaching at MIT Sloan himself. Together with Professor Stephen Graves and Assistant Professor Shane Frederick, Morey offers a half?course on sports management, a field in which he believes MIT Sloan can be a leader. ?There?s an academic argument about whether sports management is its own discipline,? says Morey. ?But the sports industry is certainly unique. It is a winner?take?all talent business with aspects that are similar to nonprofit management, as for most owners the bottom line is about winning, not profit. ?Also, teams used to cost less, and they tended to be owned by people who made their money in industrial businesses. That?s changing today, when sale prices run from $300 million to $1 billion and there are new, younger owners who come from venture capital, private equity, and consulting firms. The purchase is a significant portion of their portfolio, and they run the teams using an analytical approach. It adds up to a great opportunity for MBAs.? </div>
Too bad we missed out on Bryan Colangelo. But then again, at least we didn't hire Rob Babcock. A new GM might be a fresh change, since we'd have to make a lot of moves to get back into contention, but this Morey guy better make the right moves or we'll be set back quite a bit.
Oh darn.. Carrol Dawson had to retire, this guy have been our gm for like 20 frgging seasons.. Uh who cares.. The new guy better be good but i miss dawson, he made some good moves aquiring t-mac, wesley, barry, mutombo, swift howard, and all the others besides yao..well he also got yao from the draft.. he made a great team.. but this new guy better not f*** it up..
are you sure he resigned? I think he was forced out because there was a feud brewing between van gundy and dawson. I heard van gundy was upset at dawson. I read this awhile back. I'm sure someone on this forum could confirm. After all, I doubt dawson would resign on his own will power after all the comments he made saying how glad he is to be working in houston, etc. Personally, I would have rather kept dawson and see van gundy go. Although it takes defense to win championships, his focus is 90% defense and 10% offense. He needs more balance and more diverse offensive schemes.
Thanks for digging up those articles Julio-R. Reading over Morey's resume, he sounds like a "money-ball" type GM. This was an encouraging quote ... “Basketball is an intensely human game, where the personal aspect is very, very important. Analysis can point you in the right direction, but it’s possible to take it too far. A Danny Ainge [Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations] needs to integrate the analytical stuff with his knowledge and experience to make the right decision,” explains Morey. A lot of these new-breed number crunching GM's don't understand the importance of being personable to players. They just look at the numbers and don't factor in the "human" side of basketball. It should be interesting to see how he works with JVG. Usually when a new GM steps in they clean house and start putting together a team with their vision in mind. The question becomes is JVG's system part of Morey's vision or will he want to bring in a coach who can carry out what he has in mind.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chinlessbob:</div><div class="quote_post">are you sure he resigned? I think he was forced out because there was a feud brewing between van gundy and dawson. I heard van gundy was upset at dawson. I read this awhile back. I'm sure someone on this forum could confirm. After all, I doubt dawson would resign on his own will power after all the comments he made saying how glad he is to be working in houston, etc. Personally, I would have rather kept dawson and see van gundy go. Although it takes defense to win championships, his focus is 90% defense and 10% offense. He needs more balance and more diverse offensive schemes.</div> Like chineseafro said, the rumors about JVG and Dawson fueding were false. I personally think the reason Carroll Dawson retired was because of his health. He's been with the Rockets for a very very long time now, his eyesight has getting real bad. I think CD just decided to call it quits and enjoy the rest of his life without having to work.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chineseafro:</div><div class="quote_post">They also released statements confirming the fact that the feud rumors were complete bull****.</div> Who is "they?" As in the Houston Rockets organization and NBA media outlets? Of course they're going to say that. I'm not saying Caroll defintely got forced out but there must have been some tension for him to resign like that. Especially after everyone in the beginning of the season thought Houston would be the only western conference team to challenge San Antonio. Someone has to take the hit. Van Gundy is not the easiest person to please when it comes to personnel anyways. he's a very pessimistic and demanding personality.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports...kn/3758241.html <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In an astounding change of direction and style that stunned the Rockets and the NBA, owner Leslie Alexander has chosen Boston Celtics statistical analyst Daryl Morey to be his next general manager. Morey will succeed Carroll Dawson after the 2006-07 season. Morey, 32, will become the Rockets' assistant general manager under Dawson next month before assuming the GM position after next season. Alexander did say, however, that Dawson will become a "senior consultant" after next season.</div>
kinda sad to see CD go (since he's been apart of the organization for so long) but hopefully this guy is at least half as good as Carrol.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Alexander and Dawson would not comment Wednesday about the selection of Morey. Morey said via e-mail that he could not comment. Alexander did say, however, that Dawson will become a "senior consultant" after next season. The owner also said he hoped Dennis Lindsey, the Rockets' vice president of basketball operations, whom many around the NBA considered in line to succeed Dawson, would remain with the team. Dawson agreed to a two-year extension with the Rockets after last season and set the timetable on his move from the general manager position. "CD is going to be with the organization for a long time," Alexander said. "He will be a great adviser. He will remain an integral part of what we do." Asked whether Dawson or Morey will make decisions that affect the team beyond Dawson's tenure as general manager, Alexander said: "CD is the top guy for the next year. He's the boss." But it is already clear that the new boss will be very different from the old boss. Dawson, 65, has been with the Rockets for 26 years, the past 10 as general manager. A former Baylor coach, he was an assistant under Del Harris, Bill Fitch, Don Chaney and Rudy Tomjanovich.</div> Dawson will Groom Morey Looks like CD will still have a role on the team as a consultant.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chinlessbob:</div><div class="quote_post">Who is "they?" As in the Houston Rockets organization and NBA media outlets? Of course they're going to say that. I'm not saying Caroll defintely got forced out but there must have been some tension for him to resign like that. Especially after everyone in the beginning of the season thought Houston would be the only western conference team to challenge San Antonio. Someone has to take the hit. Van Gundy is not the easiest person to please when it comes to personnel anyways. he's a very pessimistic and demanding personality.</div> "they" are Van Gundy and CD : read
On hoopshype.com it is rumored that since there is a new GM, Les Alexander is selling the franchise. The Market value is at $400 Million which would be a record selling. Don't know if it will happen, but I'm worried about the franchise being moved if there is a new owner.
