Author Topic: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight  (Read 2822 times)

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Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« on: March 25, 2015, 11:54:15 PM »

Offline TheFlex

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Went to the Cs game tonight I heard Mike Zarren speak to a crowd answering various questions about the Cs and the NBA CBA.

- "We traded our best two players, and our next best two got injured, and we got better... That's Brad."

- Brad a "genius motivator" and great Xs & Os guy.

- Celtics Front Office only consists of 5 guys (found that interesting).

- When Doc left, Danny had all 5 FO execs write down their top 3 choices for the next Celtics coach. All 5 had Brad atop their lists.

- Cs will determine whether it's best to renounce trade exceptions for cap space (sign free agents) or keep the exceptions and trade for a player or players.

- Wasn't willing to comment much on the draft.

- "We get calls on Sully and Kelly all the time... and Tyler too" once Zeller established himself. Believes frequency of inquiry represents the value of Sullinger and Olynyk around the league, which was funny to hear, considering I've been told by multiple CelticsBlog posters that the Cs should look to trade both for "a couple of seconds while they can."  ::)

- Danny has been successful doing whatever he's wanted to do throughout his whole life and doesn't really care what people around the league or in the media think of his moves.

- Some members of the Front Office cave and read some of the Celtics' blogs and forums (definitely referring to here) and are teased for it (lol). None of them pay attention to sports radio (lol).

- Andy Elisburg (Heat GM) was sitting just a few seats over from the crowd watching the warm-ups before the warm-ups before the warm-ups, which made for some NBA geek entertainment as the two joked back and forth. At one point Zarren discussed Boston as a free agent destination and essentially said winning is the primary motivator behind a free agent's choice. Pointed to LBJ leaving Miami for Cleveland "for the opportunity to win." Smiles all around, though I'm not sure how well that sat with Elisburg.



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Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2015, 01:35:27 AM »

Offline TheFlex

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I forgot one more tidbit, which is just too ironic given the "trade Isaiah Thomas thread."

Zarren raved about IT and said he's long been watched by Boston's front office. He said there are a handful of guys in today's NBA that have a usage rate higher than 28% (basically, they're used a lot) while maintaining a points per possession average of >1 (basically, they're still really efficient despite a high volume of usage). He listed them off the top of his head, I'll try to remember them: Anthony Davis, James Harden, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard [edit: I distinctly remember him saying Lillard, but he meant LaMarcus Aldridge. Lilly doesn't even have a usage rate of >/=28%] and Isaiah Thomas. I think I got them all. That's really impressive [edit: Isaiah making the list, and me remembering all the names on it].

Also said the Cs' front office gets together and watches literally every single March Madness game ("on top of watching Celtics games... and Redclaws games..."). He pretty much relayed that it gets old and tiring after a while, especially since you have to be studying every play. Sports can be work too, you know.

Also remember him giving some pretty interesting insight about the power and resources of today's NBA analytics departments. He claims that the Celtics have access to any player's success rate at (example) shooting off the dribble as the ball-handler in the P&R on the right side 15 feet out (/end example) at the click of a button.

Finally, he said the Celts were the first to use those nifty tracking cameras starting in the 2010 playoffs (the year we made the Finals and lost).
« Last Edit: March 26, 2015, 02:03:59 AM by TheFlex »


Draft: 8 first rounders in next 5 years.

Cap space: $24 mil.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dkcleague/

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2015, 03:11:11 PM »

Offline colincb

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TP. Nice job. Original content.

- There is an outfit call Synergy Sports that provides the type of data you mentioned that I assume the Cs subscribe to (and a lot of media types appear to). They use to have a retail version that I subscribed to that had a scaled down version for consumers, but they discontinued that. Very useful and much better for defensive analysis than +/- stats. Each and every player and opposition possession accounted for and categorized by type of play (e.g, PnR, off the dribble, fast break, etc) and outcome and you could compare a player's performance to peers across the league.

- As for JS, KO, and TZ having value: Bigs take longer to develop but they are bigs, they are young, they are on rookie contracts, they all have upside, and they have years to go before they become UFAs. Every one of Danny bought/picked on the cheap. What's not to like from a GM's POV?  You're not getting Anthony Davis where these guys were picked.

GMs apparently talk/text each other all the time and by reputation, "Trader" Danny's one of the most active GMs  in the NBA and an opportunistic, value guy. If he is cocky as a GM in the trade market, it is because he has pulled off some remarkable deals. If you have had success doing something repeatedly, it breeds a lot of confidence. Think of the Patriots and the cap and Revis.

If you have enough interactions with the market, you can peg value pretty well. Think line makers, market makers, appraisers, etc. Danny knows what players are worth. CBlog posters do not. They do not have the same level of market access, information, and relevant experience.

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2015, 03:29:21 PM »

Online Roy H.

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Really interesting stuff. Zarren is a really cool cat.

TP.


I'M THE SILVERBACK GORILLA IN THIS MOTHER——— AND DON'T NONE OF YA'LL EVER FORGET IT!@ 34 minutes

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2015, 03:42:44 PM »

Offline manl_lui

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that's so cool, thanks for sharing :)

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2015, 03:45:53 PM »

Offline littleteapot

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I think the smartest thing our front office does is wait for other teams to be more desperate than they are. In this NBA environment, many teams feel that they have no alternative to acquiring players now to make a title push or dump their good players to tank, a team like us that just sits on their assets until a team falls over itself to acquire them can have a huge amount of success. That's why I would be pretty shocked if we ever trade one of our young guys for a mediocre return.
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I'm forum!

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2015, 10:22:44 PM »

Offline Beat LA

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Why does his name sound vaguely familiar?  He wasn't taking questions, right, because if he was, I would have asked him how Ainge missed Hassan Whiteside. 

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2015, 10:26:12 PM »

Offline Beat LA

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I forgot one more tidbit, which is just too ironic given the "trade Isaiah Thomas thread."

Zarren raved about IT and said he's long been watched by Boston's front office. He said there are a handful of guys in today's NBA that have a usage rate higher than 28% (basically, they're used a lot) while maintaining a points per possession average of >1 (basically, they're still really efficient despite a high volume of usage). He listed them off the top of his head, I'll try to remember them: Anthony Davis, James Harden, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard [edit: I distinctly remember him saying Lillard, but he meant LaMarcus Aldridge. Lilly doesn't even have a usage rate of >/=28%] and Isaiah Thomas. I think I got them all. That's really impressive [edit: Isaiah making the list, and me remembering all the names on it].

Also said the Cs' front office gets together and watches literally every single March Madness game ("on top of watching Celtics games... and Redclaws games..."). He pretty much relayed that it gets old and tiring after a while, especially since you have to be studying every play. Sports can be work too, you know.

Also remember him giving some pretty interesting insight about the power and resources of today's NBA analytics departments. He claims that the Celtics have access to any player's success rate at (example) shooting off the dribble as the ball-handler in the P&R on the right side 15 feet out (/end example) at the click of a button.

Finally, he said the Celts were the first to use those nifty tracking cameras starting in the 2010 playoffs (the year we made the Finals and lost).

Really?  If they were always so enamored with him, why didn't they take him instead of E'Twaun Moore in 2011?  I know that you don't know the answer to this, lol, but I'm still putting it out there?

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2015, 10:43:11 PM »

Offline TheFlex

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I forgot one more tidbit, which is just too ironic given the "trade Isaiah Thomas thread."

Zarren raved about IT and said he's long been watched by Boston's front office. He said there are a handful of guys in today's NBA that have a usage rate higher than 28% (basically, they're used a lot) while maintaining a points per possession average of >1 (basically, they're still really efficient despite a high volume of usage). He listed them off the top of his head, I'll try to remember them: Anthony Davis, James Harden, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard [edit: I distinctly remember him saying Lillard, but he meant LaMarcus Aldridge. Lilly doesn't even have a usage rate of >/=28%] and Isaiah Thomas. I think I got them all. That's really impressive [edit: Isaiah making the list, and me remembering all the names on it].

Also said the Cs' front office gets together and watches literally every single March Madness game ("on top of watching Celtics games... and Redclaws games..."). He pretty much relayed that it gets old and tiring after a while, especially since you have to be studying every play. Sports can be work too, you know.

Also remember him giving some pretty interesting insight about the power and resources of today's NBA analytics departments. He claims that the Celtics have access to any player's success rate at (example) shooting off the dribble as the ball-handler in the P&R on the right side 15 feet out (/end example) at the click of a button.

Finally, he said the Celts were the first to use those nifty tracking cameras starting in the 2010 playoffs (the year we made the Finals and lost).

Really?  If they were always so enamored with him, why didn't they take him instead of E'Twaun Moore in 2011?  I know that you don't know the answer to this, lol, but I'm still putting it out there?

He actually said they did take a hard look at him in 2011 but ultimately went with Moore. Considering Moore is still in the league as a 57th pick and every other GM missed IT (except SAC's, who took him 60th), it's hard to really fault Ainge for that draft.


Draft: 8 first rounders in next 5 years.

Cap space: $24 mil.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dkcleague/

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2015, 11:19:35 PM »

Offline Beat LA

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I forgot one more tidbit, which is just too ironic given the "trade Isaiah Thomas thread."

Zarren raved about IT and said he's long been watched by Boston's front office. He said there are a handful of guys in today's NBA that have a usage rate higher than 28% (basically, they're used a lot) while maintaining a points per possession average of >1 (basically, they're still really efficient despite a high volume of usage). He listed them off the top of his head, I'll try to remember them: Anthony Davis, James Harden, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard [edit: I distinctly remember him saying Lillard, but he meant LaMarcus Aldridge. Lilly doesn't even have a usage rate of >/=28%] and Isaiah Thomas. I think I got them all. That's really impressive [edit: Isaiah making the list, and me remembering all the names on it].

Also said the Cs' front office gets together and watches literally every single March Madness game ("on top of watching Celtics games... and Redclaws games..."). He pretty much relayed that it gets old and tiring after a while, especially since you have to be studying every play. Sports can be work too, you know.

Also remember him giving some pretty interesting insight about the power and resources of today's NBA analytics departments. He claims that the Celtics have access to any player's success rate at (example) shooting off the dribble as the ball-handler in the P&R on the right side 15 feet out (/end example) at the click of a button.

Finally, he said the Celts were the first to use those nifty tracking cameras starting in the 2010 playoffs (the year we made the Finals and lost).

Really?  If they were always so enamored with him, why didn't they take him instead of E'Twaun Moore in 2011?  I know that you don't know the answer to this, lol, but I'm still putting it out there?

He actually said they did take a hard look at him in 2011 but ultimately went with Moore. Considering Moore is still in the league as a 57th pick and every other GM missed IT (except SAC's, who took him 60th), it's hard to really fault Ainge for that draft.

I'm not saying that Moore was a bad pick (he's a pretty good player), it just sounds a little weird to hear them say that they were so enamored with Isaiah Thomas, and yet opted not to take him, lol. ;D That's all I meant.

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2015, 12:26:02 AM »

Offline TheFlex

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I forgot one more tidbit, which is just too ironic given the "trade Isaiah Thomas thread."

Zarren raved about IT and said he's long been watched by Boston's front office. He said there are a handful of guys in today's NBA that have a usage rate higher than 28% (basically, they're used a lot) while maintaining a points per possession average of >1 (basically, they're still really efficient despite a high volume of usage). He listed them off the top of his head, I'll try to remember them: Anthony Davis, James Harden, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard [edit: I distinctly remember him saying Lillard, but he meant LaMarcus Aldridge. Lilly doesn't even have a usage rate of >/=28%] and Isaiah Thomas. I think I got them all. That's really impressive [edit: Isaiah making the list, and me remembering all the names on it].

Also said the Cs' front office gets together and watches literally every single March Madness game ("on top of watching Celtics games... and Redclaws games..."). He pretty much relayed that it gets old and tiring after a while, especially since you have to be studying every play. Sports can be work too, you know.

Also remember him giving some pretty interesting insight about the power and resources of today's NBA analytics departments. He claims that the Celtics have access to any player's success rate at (example) shooting off the dribble as the ball-handler in the P&R on the right side 15 feet out (/end example) at the click of a button.

Finally, he said the Celts were the first to use those nifty tracking cameras starting in the 2010 playoffs (the year we made the Finals and lost).

Really?  If they were always so enamored with him, why didn't they take him instead of E'Twaun Moore in 2011?  I know that you don't know the answer to this, lol, but I'm still putting it out there?

He actually said they did take a hard look at him in 2011 but ultimately went with Moore. Considering Moore is still in the league as a 57th pick and every other GM missed IT (except SAC's, who took him 60th), it's hard to really fault Ainge for that draft.

I'm not saying that Moore was a bad pick (he's a pretty good player), it just sounds a little weird to hear them say that they were so enamored with Isaiah Thomas, and yet opted not to take him, lol. ;D That's all I meant.

Yeah, I agree, wish we would've just taken him in the first place. On the flip side playing for a playoff team and putting up similar stats as he did in Sacramento would've likely raised his price tag, so maybe it's better he found his way to Boston after a few years.


Draft: 8 first rounders in next 5 years.

Cap space: $24 mil.

https://www.reddit.com/r/dkcleague/

Re: Heard Mike Zarren Speak Tonight
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2015, 08:08:27 PM »

Offline Beat LA

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I forgot one more tidbit, which is just too ironic given the "trade Isaiah Thomas thread."

Zarren raved about IT and said he's long been watched by Boston's front office. He said there are a handful of guys in today's NBA that have a usage rate higher than 28% (basically, they're used a lot) while maintaining a points per possession average of >1 (basically, they're still really efficient despite a high volume of usage). He listed them off the top of his head, I'll try to remember them: Anthony Davis, James Harden, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard [edit: I distinctly remember him saying Lillard, but he meant LaMarcus Aldridge. Lilly doesn't even have a usage rate of >/=28%] and Isaiah Thomas. I think I got them all. That's really impressive [edit: Isaiah making the list, and me remembering all the names on it].

Also said the Cs' front office gets together and watches literally every single March Madness game ("on top of watching Celtics games... and Redclaws games..."). He pretty much relayed that it gets old and tiring after a while, especially since you have to be studying every play. Sports can be work too, you know.

Also remember him giving some pretty interesting insight about the power and resources of today's NBA analytics departments. He claims that the Celtics have access to any player's success rate at (example) shooting off the dribble as the ball-handler in the P&R on the right side 15 feet out (/end example) at the click of a button.

Finally, he said the Celts were the first to use those nifty tracking cameras starting in the 2010 playoffs (the year we made the Finals and lost).

Really?  If they were always so enamored with him, why didn't they take him instead of E'Twaun Moore in 2011?  I know that you don't know the answer to this, lol, but I'm still putting it out there?

He actually said they did take a hard look at him in 2011 but ultimately went with Moore. Considering Moore is still in the league as a 57th pick and every other GM missed IT (except SAC's, who took him 60th), it's hard to really fault Ainge for that draft.

I'm not saying that Moore was a bad pick (he's a pretty good player), it just sounds a little weird to hear them say that they were so enamored with Isaiah Thomas, and yet opted not to take him, lol. ;D That's all I meant.

Yeah, I agree, wish we would've just taken him in the first place. On the flip side playing for a playoff team and putting up similar stats as he did in Sacramento would've likely raised his price tag, so maybe it's better he found his way to Boston after a few years.

I suppose that's one way to look at it, although I tend to think that having a guy with his scoring and passing ability off the bench for that 2011-12 team might have pushed us over the top against the Heat.  Oh wait, never mind, Doc wouldn't have played him, anyway.  Sigh.  He could have been that Vinnie Johnson-type of guy off the bench, though, along with Ray.  Obviously, we needed more depth that year, especially up front, but I certainly would have liked our chances if the first three guys off our bench are Thomas, Ray, and Pietrus.  I guess that I'd rather have seen him play here and contribute to a championship team, only to see him leave, than see him arrive about four seasons too late, lol. ;D You get what I'm saying, right?