Second Spectrum CEO Rajiv Maheswaran presented “The Math Behind Basketball’s Wildest Moves” at the national TED Conference in Vancouver.
The talk introduced “the science of moving dots” in sports, also known as player tracking data, a recent technology in which many professional leagues have invested. In the talk, Maheswaran discussed Second Spectrum’s rapid growth in professional sports because of its ability to understand and visualize this new wave of information. He spoke about how the company has quickly become an integral part of the NBA ecosystem.
“We're at the point where almost every single contender for an NBA championship this year is using our software, which is built on a machine that understands the moving dots of basketball,” Maheswaran said in the talk. “It's very exciting because you have coaches who've been in the league for 30 years that are willing to take advice from a machine.”
Many took to social media to share and discuss the TED talk. NBA writer Kevin Arnovitz linked to the talk, saying Maheswaran and his “whip-smart gurus do[ing] their NBA magic.” Reporter Dan Woike said the talk was full of “fascinating stuff from a company the Clippers work with.”