Wharton Moneyball NBA Analytics, Tanking, and the Future of Team Building
Feb 18, 2026
Ben Alamar, former NBA analytics executive and author, breaks down modern NBA trends and the reshaped incentives from lottery reform. He discusses radical alternatives to tanking, how teams build without top draft picks, and Dean Oliver’s legacy. Short takes also cover figure skating judging bias, Olympic event redundancy, the Lakers’ Pythagorean paradox, and historic athlete performance runs.
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Young Breakouts Reshape The League
- The 2023–24 NBA season shows surprising parity and young breakouts like Victor Wembanyama and Detroit's rise.
- Ben Alamar highlights how good front offices and smart roster construction produce unexpected contenders.
Joining Presti After The Durant Draft
- Ben Alamar recounts joining Sam Presti after Presti drafted Kevin Durant and then hired him.
- He describes enduring tough years while building that core into a championship foundation.
From Spreadsheets To Systemic Analytics
- Sam Presti learned to embed data into organizational systems rather than treating analytics as one-off spreadsheets.
- Ben stresses asking the right questions to integrate analytics across team decision-making.
