Can the Sixers’ New Superteam Work?

Number of game-winning drives in the fourth quarter.

That's deceptive.

You really should compute, did this person exceed expectations as opposed to, did they win the game?

Swung on, hit deep to left.

There

she goes!

I think we are going to see expanded playoffs.

I mean, Audie, I could have predicted how you'd feel about it by, does this change the game from when Teddy Roosevelt watched it? Yes, then I oppose it.

Diego Luna

got him on ice skates.

Sean, it's a goal!

With respect to basketball, a three-point brings you 50% more points.

It's supposed to be compensated by an appropriately lower probability of success.

But it's just not happening in today's game.

Curry, wide open three.

Five! Curry from downtown!

Michael Jordan was the best of all time.

And if your answer is Jordan, you're a little bit older.

If your answer is LeBron, you're both wrong and a little bit younger.

From the campus of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, this is Wharton Moneyball.

Welcome.

Welcome to Wharton Moneyball.

Welcome to a full hour of sports analytics here on the Wharton Podcast Network.

Cade Massey hosting this week, along with the whole team.

Delighted to have everybody in here.

Eric Bradlow's in here from Points Northeast.

Shane, Center City, Philadelphia.

Adi Weiner.

Wharton Campus West, Wharton, San Francisco.

If you can just see over Adi's left shoulder, the Bay Bridge, spectacular real estate.

We've had the privilege of leasing for a few years now.

Adi's out there doing some teaching on behalf of Wharton, managing to find time for us.

We're going to run our regular format this week.

We're going to have a guest here in the first half hour.

You might, if you're on video, guess who.

Who that guest is, we'll have open lines in the second half of the show.

Got a few topics queued up.

We have as our guest, a frequent guest, a multi-time guest over many years now.

Dean Oliver is with us.

Dean is a data scientist with ESPN.

He has had a role like that off and on over the years.

He is one of the real pioneers.

I would say one of the, I don't know, two or three top pioneers of basketball analytics.

It wasn't that long ago we had a guest on here making the case for Dean in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Maybe we will take up that.

We are happy to take up that cause.

Maybe we will see that cause succeed over the years.

Dean has worked for basketball organizations.

He was actually a bench coach for the Wizards at one point.

He's kind of done it all.

For those of you who've listened over the years know, he actually is involved across a lot of ESPN's metrics, including the creation of FPI.

which is one of the best public numbers out there, has been from the beginning.

But he mainly focuses on basketball.

His most recent book, Basketball Beyond Paper, is the sequel of sorts to his pathbreaking basketball on paper.

So it's a great way to dive into more of Dean's work, if you'd like.

Dean, always glad to see you.

Thanks for coming in.

Good to be here.

I listen to you guys pretty much weekly.

So it's actually interesting to see you all in person.

I listen.

I don't usually watch it.

Wow.

Okay.

Well, we've been at conferences together.

You've taught for Audi.

You've been around.

We really appreciate your contributions in multiple forms.

But, you know, we had you scheduled this week and we thought we were going to talk.

Well, here's some Jalen Brown business to talk about.

That'll be fun.

But we got even bigger news in the meantime, so let's just jump straight to it.