Derek Reifer

Prime Mitch: A Robinson Deep Dive

December 21, 2020December 26, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

Note: this post was originally published for The Strickland. Give them a click!

Knicks basketball is back.

It’s been a whirlwind of a month, from the draft to free agency to training camp, and there’s obviously a ton to talk about in the world of Knicks basketball. They have a brand new 8th-overall draft pick who hails from New York City, a bunch of fresh free agent faces on good contracts, and a brand new coaching staff from top to bottom. Despite all that, the most common talking point the past week has been this:

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Optimizing the Knicks’ Offseason

November 20, 2020December 26, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

Note: this post was originally published for The Strickland. Give them a click!

The New York Knicks are entering yet another pivotal offseason.

There are a myriad of decisions to be made by the front office: which free agents to add, which current team options to accept or decline (which they did today), and how many minutes to play each player per game once the season actually tips off. Luckily for them, they have a lot of flexibility — they have control over how they use their salary cap, roster spots, and minutes allocations throughout the season.

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To Be Frank: A Ntilikina Deep Dive

October 22, 2020December 26, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

Note: this post was originally published for The Strickland. Give them a click!

Hello. Welcome. I see you’re here to read a deep dive about Frank Ntilikina. I sincerely respect the decision.

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No All-Rookie? No problem: Projecting RJ Barrett’s future

October 12, 2020December 26, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

Note: this post was originally published for The Strickland. Give them a click!

The third pick in the 2019 NBA draft failed to make an All-Rookie team.

However, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Knicks fan that was significantly disappointed by RJ Barrett’s rookie season. Though he didn’t exactly light up the league immediately like Ja Morant or Zion Williamson, RJ showed a little bit of everything in what was a significantly featured role for the Knicks. Operating at an incredibly high volume, he filled up the stat sheet like few other rookies in the league – and few veterans on his own team:

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Justice for Edwin Díaz

September 6, 2020September 8, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

Quick! Without cheating – how many home runs has Edwin Díaz given up this season?

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Optimizing the Best NBA Expansion Team

June 12, 2020September 29, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

Assuming league recovery post-COVID-19, an expansion team (or more) in the NBA feels like more of a “when” than an “if”. Growing team valuations, marketable superstars, and worldwide interest has turned basketball into the sport of the future, and there are plenty of places that could use a squad (looking at you, Seattle).

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Making the Switch: Which Starters Should Come Out of the Bullpen?

June 9, 2020June 10, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball, Youth Baseball

All MLB pitchers were starters at one point in their careers.

Growing up through Little League, college, and the Minor Leagues, anyone who is eventually good enough to pitch in the majors was likely the superstar ace of most of their previous teams. However, at the highest of levels, many pitchers have to make concessions to their new reality – the fact that they may be better served – and better serve their teams – coming out of the bullpen as relievers.

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Modeling the Mets’ Attendance

May 24, 2020May 24, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

Even before the Pandemic, baseball attendance was declining.

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Visualizing the NBA’s Trend Toward Positionless Basketball

March 15, 2020 by Derek Reifer, posted in Basketball, NBA Basketball

The NBA has transitioned into a somewhat positionless sport. As the years have gone by, more and more teams have continued to employ lineups that don’t contain centers, or utilize point forwards that guard the paint but facilitate the offense. Players have been thought of less and less as “shooting guards” or “power forwards” and more and more as “wings” or “bigs”. We wanted to visualize this massive change in play style by using data science methods to compare the play style of the current NBA to that of the NBA in the 1980s. Through unsupervised learning, we were able to see how the clustering of player data by position has changed over time, and what that says about how the play style of the league has evolved.

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