Analytics Reach the Rec League

On a recent rainy night, about two dozen spectators gathered at an Equinox Sports Club on the Upper West Side to watch a basketball game: the X-Men vs. Almost Famous. The teams are part of the Equinox Basketball League, which is made up of ex-pros, pickup lifers, and the occasional bona-fide player still looking for a call-up. (One of the players had to quit recently, after he was drafted by the Development League affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets.) Equinox is a fairly swanky gym; the league’s leading scorer is an account manager for a big pharmaceutical company, and a number of the other players work on Wall Street. The games have the feel of a Rucker League for the one per cent. On this particular night, seeding for the upcoming playoffs was at stake. Late in the second half, Almost Famous, the underdog, began to press and harass the X-Men’s bigger, slower guards. It paid off: Almost Famous won 60–47. According to Vasu Kulkarni, the team’s captain, the victory had everything to do with an analytic database and video-streaming service called Krossover.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
The Season of Russell Westbrook and a New Era in N.B.A. Fandom
A World Cup for Tennis?
Tiger Woods and the Amazing 1997 Masters