National Basketball Association (NBA) team the Orlando Magic has extended its deal with data provider Stats Perform, for continued use of the AutoStats computer vision technology.
AutoStats uses computer vision and AI-enhanced body recognition technology to generate basketball tracking data directly from broadcast video, without the need for in-venue hardware.
The data generated by the tool highlights the attributes and playing styles of future NBA players, which the supplier said creates a player catalogue for easy prospecting.
The tool therefore provides the Magic with a higher level of confidence in evaluating incoming college players for the NBA Draft, Stats Perform said.
The Magic became the first NBA team to use AutoStats in 2019. Stats Perform said by making the player data interpretable and providing detailed player descriptions, the Magic can determine any given player’s strengths and weaknesses, offering it a more robust, data-driven approach to evaluating college players.
“Before AutoStats, we were reliant on college box score and play-by-play data for player evaluation, which only provides a small slice of a player’s overall attributes and playing style,” said Jeff Weltman, president of basketball operations for the Orlando Magic.
“Tracking data has become the gold standard of NBA analysis and having access to AutoStats’ college tracking data has allowed us to bring our college scouting process up to the same depth of analysis as we have at the NBA level.”
Steve Xeller, chief revenue officer at Stats Perform, added: “The Orlando Magic have been the ideal partner for Stats Perform as we bring to market a new depth of college data and insight that has never been available before.
“AutoStats is the future of player tracking, and it is important that we work with innovative teams like the Magic that embrace data and technology to create more informed data-driven decisions.”