Gary Sutton
Business intelligence and analytics leader and author of data science and statistics books including Statistics Slam Dunk
Gary Sutton (Business intelligence and analytics leader and author of data science and statistics books including Statistics Slam Dunk) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include Sports analytics, Project management, Artificial intelligence.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
Sports analytics
Sutton said the data suggests LeBron James has had a better career than Michael Jordan, though he personally prefers Jordan.
“I think the data suggests that LeBron has had a better career. I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. I'm more of a Jordan guy”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 39:09
Sutton called 'defense wins championships' a cognitive illusion, arguing basketball is roughly a 50-50 game between offense and defense.
“I think basketball is basically a 50-50 game between offense and defense. It might not be exactly 50-50, but it's close”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 19:19
Sutton said he does not believe analytics alone should be used to assess players or situations.
“I'm a big analytics guy, obviously. But I don't believe in using analytics alone to assess players or other situations”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 3:40
Project management
Sutton said organizations focus on soft skills and underestimate the hard, quantitative skills project management requires.
“But project management also requires hard skills just like any other role requires hard skills”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 58:33
Sutton argued projects go off the rails more often because of bad project management than poor execution elsewhere.
“projects go off the rails more often than not because of bad project management”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 57:21
Artificial intelligence
Sutton said language models provide knowledge but human wisdom is still needed to diagnose problems.
“I think the language models provide the knowledge, but you still need human wisdom to really diagnose things”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 47:47
Sutton argued modern AI is powered by decades-old algorithms applied at scale rather than new algorithmic breakthroughs.
“So AI is empowered by, from an algorithm perspective, it's not powered by anything new”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 42:39
Home advantage
Sutton noted that even in the 2020 Orlando bubble the designated home team shot more free throws.
“even during the COVID games in Orlando, the designated home team also shot more free throws”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 32:59
Sutton found home teams are called for fewer fouls and attempt more free throws, a difference unlikely to be random.
“home teams are called for fewer fouls and home teams attempt more free throws as a result than visiting teams”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 30:47
NBA salary cap
Sutton argued intra-season parity got noticeably worse after the 1984 salary cap and the league had no real parity problem beforehand.
“interest season parity actually got noticeably worse after the salary cap was implemented, regardless of how you want to measure it”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 14:53
Sutton found that teams that spend more on player salaries win more, with a huge gap between playoff and non-playoff teams.
“But there's a huge difference between teams that qualify for postseason play and teams that didn't”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 11:55
Creative destruction
Sutton said Schumpeter deserves more media attention and that the current moment fits his description of economic resets.
“I'm firmly in the camp that we're in one of these creative destruction phases that Schumpeter described maybe 100 or so years ago”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 57:00
Technological unemployment
Sutton predicted AI job disruption will be a finite, temporary period of turmoil rather than a permanent Marxian collapse.
“we're going to be in a period of uncertainty and some further turmoil for a while, but I see it as being very finite and very temporary”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 55:43
Sports betting
Sutton said closing betting lines, shaped by gamblers' money, are more often closer to actual results than oddsmakers' opening lines.
“the gamblers collectively are smarter than the odds makers. So when you look at the opening odds versus the closing odds”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 34:10
Hot hand
Sutton concluded free-throw sequences resemble random independent coin flips with streaks mistaken for a hot hand.
“It looks more random and independent with periodic streaks that someone might mistake for a hot hand”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 27:06
Tanking in the NBA
Sutton argued the data shows a strong incentive to tank for teams rebuilding through the draft.
“there's an incredible incentive to tank if you want to build your roster through the draft”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 9:54
NBA draft
Sutton reported that players drafted in the top five average two to three times the win shares of other first-round picks.
“that number is much, much greater than any other first round draft pick. Oh yeah, two to three times at least higher than what you otherwise get in the first round”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 5:06
James Harden playoff legacy
Sutton predicted James Harden will never win an NBA title and doubted he is a winner despite strong statistics.
“I don't think he's ever going to win a title. I know he's in the Eastern Conference Finals, but I'm not convinced that he's really a winner”
Digital Social Hour: The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013 (Jun 11, 2026) · Listen from 4:20
Appearances
The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013Digital Social Hour · Jun 11, 2026 · 1 h 1 min
Sean Kelly talks with analytics author Gary Sutton about NBA data on the draft, tanking, salary cap, hot hand and betting, plus AI and project management.
Often appears with
- Sean Kelly · 1 shared episode