The Orlando Magic have signed a scouting deal with sports data company STATS that will allow the Magic to collect and analyze data on college players using AutoSTATS. Orlando becomes the first NBA team to use the newest software program from STATS.
AutoSTATS’ artificial intelligence and computer vision technology is capable of collecting player-tracking data through broadcast video. Orlando will use the software to evaluate potential draft picks playing at the college level.
Using the platform, the Magic can collect data directly from any television broadcast of any NCAA basketball game without the need for access to data streams from college venues. According to STATS, basketball tracking data collected through broadcast video has tested equally accurate to data gathered using in-venue hardware, such as optical cameras.
“Collecting data through broadcast is the future of tracking and we couldn’t be more thrilled to launch our technology through this partnership with an innovative team like the Magic,” said Steve Xeller, Chief Revenue Officer at STATS, in a press release.
The AutoSTATS database also includes data collected from players who’ve played for collegiate teams in the six major NCAA conferences over the past three seasons.
“When we saw the power of AutoSTATS, we were immediately drawn to the benefits this data can provide in our draft decision making process,” said Jeff Weltman, President of Basketball Operations for the Orlando Magic. “Now, instead of using data from just a handful of games, we will be able to make our draft decisions with data from every collegiate game a potential draft pick has played.”
SportTechie Takeaway
The ability to access player tracking data through broadcast video should give the Magic much more data on prospects, but further cut into the scouting workforce. As the widespread usage of computerized artificial intelligence to run data analytics has provided sports teams with new ways to evaluate players, the number of human scouts employed by teams has diminished across professional sports. Mark Saxon recently covered this trend for The Athletic, looking at its affect on scouting personnel in MLB.