The NBA has become an analytics-driven league. Midrange jump shots are disappearing, the three-pointer continues to be emphasized, and positionless basketball is the new trend.  However, the more analytics-driven the league becomes, the more we see pushback from NBA players. Los Angles Lakers guard Josh Hart was the latest to rant on why he thinks analytics is ridiculous during the No Chill Podcast:

“You got a bunch of people who never hooped before doing all this analytics and bulls***…We've trained our whole lives, were adults, we try to be professional about it… and you're telling me this dude that's 45 who never played, that never had an athletic bone in his body is gonna tell me how to play basketball? What are you gonna tell me that I don't know already, that I'm not working on?”

Hart was backed up by former Wizards star Gilbert Arenas, who claimed that analytics are not only misguided but completely wrong.

While it might be a stretch to say analytics are useless, Hart brings up several good points. It's tough as an NBA player to train your whole life one way, see success using this method, and then have someone who's never done your job come in and tell you that you're doing it wrong.

The people that sell these analytics are not trying to shame players. They are trying to make a team better. Perhaps both sides need to relent a little bit. That way, Hart and players like him feel the freedom to play ball their way while becoming more effective and efficient on the court.