The NBA Data Scientist

With her PhD in math, Ivana Seric had expected to wind up with a career in academia—but thanks to the growing use of statistical analysis in the NBA, she took a job with the Philadelphia 76ers instead. As a data scientist, she helps the team's coaches devise smarter strategies to win. Next Jobs is a mini-documentary series about careers of the future hosted by Bloomberg Technology's Aki Ito.

Video by Tom Connors and David Nicholson

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[juanio]

She has a better jump shot than the sixers star point guard. Lol

[MoriRF]

ooof. all the science in the world couldn't stop Kawhi in that series

[dcromwell]

What’s the percentage of Ben Simmons developing a jumper??

[yjallan]

great content Bloomberg!! As a current PhD student who works in Data Science and is a huge huge sports fan, this video really inspired me! THANK YOU !!

[kevinavila]

After 2 weeks of study, the 10-man analytics team presented their result to the coaching staff. Simmons can't make a three.

[triathlontimmy]

I don't know why she would doubt herself getting the job, she seemed like the ideal candidate. Gender aside, how many math majors also played D1 basketball?

[DMGG]

Ivana is living the dream! From Croatia to the NBA 🙌🏽

[generator]

Literally am going to be a data scientist because of this. I hope I can work for an mls team with data analytics with my soccer background. Amazing and inspiring video.

[futurehofer]

I am really happy for her! Wish her the best of luck on her journey 💯

[robertschlesinger]

Data analytics has become very important in other sports, such as baseball (sabermetrics), and in public health, criminology, advertising and marketing, political science, military science and, of course, economics. And the mathematics is far more than number crunching. One is always looking for subtle, hidden data (signals).

[TheRealBruceLouis]

3:05

love the explanation of pick & roll to a layman there, yes indeed the pick is the human shield & then once the human shield has shielded, the human shield proceeds to run to the basket

[V_baddict]

I'm really glad she found her dream job with both of the things she is passionate about.

[halvey]

Gender shouldn’t matter, why do they always have to bring it up? All that did matter was that she had a profound understanding of the game of basketball and a very intellectual mathematician mind. Who cares if you’re not a male? You are hired for your mind and skills, she perfectly fits for analytics in the NBA.

Edit: You’re*

[hacker]

thank you bloomberg! great content as always

[gishman]

26% of women being data scientists does not mean they have a lower chance of being hired. How can a data scientist not understand that

[Protantagonist]

I can appreciate all the Data Analytics post game. I just don't understand all these analytics needed pre-game. There will always be a % of randomization during the game that can completely change and destroy all these Kawhi is a perfect example for this

[xpkevinxd]

She’s living her dream!! That’s amazing!!

[ZacharyLaid]

Everything can be broken down into numbers. That’s why we have physics to explain life in numbers.

[Clonetmnf]

Since I'm also from Croatia, currently a Computer science student and started playing basketball since I was 7, this inspired me immensely. I even wrote Ivana an email to which she unfortunately didn't respond, so I was thinking maybe you guys have some tips and guidance how to specialize in this concrete field (which literature, courses, basketball-related tips, anything).
Thanks in advance!

[nguyenucan]

amazing life and career she' having!!