The Knicks are filling out their analytics staff

Another day, another LinkedIn deep dive on Twitter revealing a new Knicks hire.

After scooping the Knicks adding Sean MacLean as a basketball strategy lead last month via some intrepid LinkedIn sleuthing, Off the Glass’ Alder Almo found yet another new Knick hire:

The report was later confirmed by HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

Actually, wait, hold the phone. It appears that The Athletic’s Seth Partnow knew of this two weeks ago:

Ok, whatever, who cares who was first. What matters is that the Knicks are making a staff focused on analytics! How far we’ve come from the “cheap points” era.

So who is Kelsey Roberts? I dunno, I was just introduced to her LinkedIn profile today. But here’s what we can glean from the information available (her LinkedIn resumé):

• She created something called “SQL databases”: OK, so my first step here was to google “SQL database,” which told me that that term stands for “Structured Query Language,” and basically exists as a way to link and search through databases more easily. She previously did this for the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, two organizations that actually have a pretty robust “moneyball” kind of infrastructure in place as far as finding diamond-in-the-rough players and plugging them into successful NBA teams. The fact that the Knicks have (or have interest in) enough databases full of, y’know, data, to want to integrate them and make them more easily searchable seems like a step in the right direction!
• She “innovated across all aspects of basketball operations” with the Pacers: This also sounds promising! The Knicks haven’t been a team known for their robust basketball innovations. Behind the scenes, at least to my eye, their approach has usually trended more towards the “old school, eye test” type of decision-making.
• She “improved analyses and reporting by creating and automating processes for future interns and the analytics department”: Laying down groundwork for the future is definitely important for the Knicks, because I’d love to believe otherwise, but if history tells us anything, Leon Rose & Co. will be outta here in about two years. But if Rose really has the goods and the Knicks get good, hopefully they’ll have an analytics system in place that can largely stand the test of time.
• She “created Power BI dashboards integrated with SQL to track ETL processes, data migration, and all current workflows”: OK, I’m done acting like I have a damn clue what I’m talking about here.

Am I really 400 words deep hyper-analyzing a new Knicks hire’s LinkedIn profile? Yeah, but we’re also in the middle of the longest Knicks offseason in history. Don’t worry, the draft lotto is this Thursday! Welcome to the Knicks, Kelsey!