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2021 Championship Odds: Ranked

Now that the NBA’s regular season is wrapping up and we’re on the brink of the inaugural play-in tournament, it’s time to start predictions: who’s most likely to be crowned the first post-Bubble and (hopefully) last COVID-era champs?

These playoffs should be wildly unique and unpredictable, to say the least: even the best teams that were most favored to win prior to the start of the 2020-21 season have all battled issues related to COVID, injuries, and fan-less arenas.

Without further ado, here are the reversed 2021 title odds rankings for all 20 teams, including those expected to be in the play-in tournament:

20. Charlotte Hornets (VegasInsider Rank: T-18, +25000)

Though the Hornets haven’t had an awful season, they seem to be limping down the stretch. Gordon Hayward is doubtful for the play-in tournament. LaMelo Ball, the heavy ROY favorite (-2500, per VegasInsider), has struggled with consistency – shooting 40% in his first 7 games returning from a wrist injury, which was originally presumed to be season-ending. Expecting a 19-year old to lead them past the play-in seems ambitious. Positioning in the play-in seems irrelevant as they seem to be a notch below the other 3 presumed play-in teams (Boston, Indiana, and Washington).

Still, this team has reason to be excited with some bright young stars and a franchise player to build around (once he fully recovers).

19. San Antonio Spurs (VegasInsider Rank: T-18, +25000)

Losing 7 of their last 10, it feels like this team is on the verge of a long overdue rebuild. Greg Popovich and the Spurs will likely lose the first play-in game and miss the playoffs for the second straight season – after qualifying for 22 (!!) consecutive years. They’ll likely enter the play-in as the 10th seed and play either the Grizzlies or Warriors – both led by point guards who alone have orders of magnitude more firepower that the entire Spurs team has. It would be a huge shock if they can even win that first play-in game.

18. Indiana Pacers (VegasInsider Rank: 21, +50000)

17. Boston Celtics (VegasInsider Rank: T-12, +6600)

To quote Tom Haberstroh, this is a lost season for the Celtics. COVID protocols and injuries have gotten the best of them. In fact, according to Fansure’s analytics, they lead the league – by far – in player days missed due to COVID protocols:

Full dashboard here: https://fansure.com/user/fansureFeed/detail/608

16. Washington Wizards (VegasInsider Rank: T-16, +20000)

15. Memphis Grizzlies (VegasInsider Rank: T-16, +20000)

14. Atlanta Hawks (VegasInsider Rank: T-10, +5000)

13. New York Knicks (VegasInsider Rank: 14, +8000)

Tom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose still think it’s 2011. At least, that’s the only reason I can think of as to why the Knicks are – dare I say – relevant.

Julius Randle is going to get All-NBA consideration, and rightfully so. Even if they get ousted in the first round, the fact that they’re on anyone’s radar seems immensely satisfying for this long-suffering franchise – even if they’re about to witness their lesser known rivals make a deep run.

12. LA Lakers (VegasInsider Rank: T-2, +500)

No, this isn’t a typo. It feels strange to rank them this low, but hear me out:

  • LeBron /AD/Schröder injuries
  • Drummond/AD spacing and chemistry issues
  • Supporting cast is much, much worse than last year
  • 70-day off-season that they never quite recovered from

Does this look insurmountable to defend their 2020 crown? It does to me. It appears they’ve come to terms that they will need to rest everyone for the play-in. As Amin Elhassan said on the Habershow podcast, LeBron could in theory sit out the first play-in game since it doesn’t really matter whether they’re the 7th or 8th seed. I’m not quite ready to say they’ll lose the play-in games, but for them to fight for their playoff lives and hope that they can overcome their injury and continuity issues for a championship run seems far fetched to say the least.

Most importantly, the Lakers will get a pass here if they fall short in the eyes of fans and the media alike, thus giving them the out and positioning themselves to recover for next season.

11. Golden State Warriors (VegasInsider Rank: 15, +15000)

Why does this feel like We Believe 2.0? Because Steph Curry is having a historically great season and will win the scoring title? Because Draymond has somehow anchored this defense to be Top 5 (!!) in the league? Because their supporting cast has somehow suddenly gained confidence in the last six weeks?

Probably all of the above. Chef Curry’s insane hot streak and the team’s sudden cohesion seems too good to be true. And it probably is. Make no mistake: the Dubs are still woefully underequipped and inexperienced for any kind of playoff run. While Andrew Wiggins has shown flashes of offensive and defensive brilliance in spurts, history tells us he won’t be a dependable 2nd offensive option. I can see this team making some noise during the play-in games, but ultimately the lights will be too bright for the admirable-but-subpar supporting cast.

But because Steph and Draymond have never been better, I’m giving them a puncher’s chance to get out of the first round and be well-positioned to “upset” the Lakers in the first play-in game.

10. Portland Trail Blazers (VegasInsider Rank: T-12, +6600)

9. Dallas Mavericks (VegasInsider Rank: T-10, +5000)

The Blazers and Mavs both check a lot of boxes here:

  • Transcendent franchise player? Check
  • Reliable 2nd star? Check
  • Experienced bench + depth? Check

And yet, these teams still feel far away from making any kind of serious playoff push. Porzingis can’t seem to stay healthy in crucial moments (e.g. 2020 vs. a Clipper team that was ripe for an upset), and the team overall has struggled to find consistency all year.

Similarly, Portland seems to be a dark horse pick every year but can’t seem to get past teams ahead of them. They struggle mightily on defense – the NBA’s 2nd worst in defensive rating. That won’t get it done and is a recipe for a first round exit.

8. Phoenix Suns (VegasInsider Rank: 7, +1400)

7. Denver Nuggets (VegasInsider Rank: 8, +2500)

6. Utah Jazz (VegasInsider Rank: 4, +700)

I need to address all the Mountain West teams at once; while Denver is unfortunately shorthanded without Jamal Murray, they have won 11 of their last 15 games and Michael Porter Jr has embraced the co-star role with presumed MVP Nikola Jokic. Aaron Gordon has been a seamless addition, and they seem to be the Clippers’ kryptonite. I can see them giving everyone but the Nets trouble en route to a title. Still, it’s hard to see this team getting out of the West without Murray’s firepower.

That leaves us with the West’s #1 and 2 seeds, which have never felt weaker compared to years past. Utah has been without its All-Star backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley Jr for some time. Can they hit the on-switch when it matters most? Sure, they can probably take down whoever ends up as the 8th seed, but they don’t seem equipped to make it out of the West.

Phoenix is even more of a wild card. How will Devin Booker perform in his playoff debut? How about DeAndre Ayton? Can 36-year old Chris Paul lead this team if they were to face, say, the Lakers in Round 1 (if healthy)? Sure Paul has been fantastic – particularly in the clutch – but we’ve seen this before from him during the regular season. Overall, inexperience kills in a grueling 7-game series, and that will come back to bite them eventually.

Can a #1 and 2 seed be upset in the first round? Don’t be surprised to see this happen for the first time.

5. Milwaukee Bucks (VegasInsider Rank: 6, +900)

Although they didn’t dominate the regular season as they did the last two years, this team feels better than before with their retooled roster. Jrue Holiday is a huge upgrade over Eric Bledsoe. Khris Middleton has had a sneaky good season. PJ Tucker should help them with the intangibles.

And yet, both Vegas and I don’t see the Bucks as serious threats. Mike Budenholzer has had his struggles adjusting in playoff situations before, and I don’t see them getting past the 2nd round. They’ll likely face off against Brooklyn, whom they beat twice recently in a back-to-back set, but barely (by 3 and 6 points) and didn’t have to deal with James Harden.

4. Philadelphia 76ers (VegasInsider Rank: 5, +800)

Daryl Morey and Doc Rivers have shown why they will always have jobs, no matter how much they are scapegoated in their previous respective stints with the Rockets and Clippers. They have retooled Philly’s roster to become a defensive powerhouse, and appear to have the two-headed monster of Embiid and Simmons playing well together – despite many people being convinced that the two can’t co-exist.

That being said, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them being ousted in the 2nd round to their likely opponent, our #3 ranked team:

3. Miami Heat (VegasInsider Rank: 9, +3500)

We’ve seen this movie before: a team that seemingly has struggles during the regular season, doesn’t even get homecourt advantage in the first round, and just romps through the conference. Combine the fact that their mediocre record can be attributed to being the 4th-most affected team by COVID, and they appear to be just as formidable as last year heading into the postseason.

Not so coincidentally, the Heat have been playing extremely well of late and clearly won’t be afraid of anyone seeded ahead of them. Jimmy Butler has taught us not to underestimate his team before.

Here we go again this year: the Heat have won 6 of their last 7 – and btw, Jimmy missed that one loss.

2. Brooklyn Nets (VegasInsider Rank: 1, +230)

Despite having played 7 games together, the Big 3 of KD, Harden, and Kyrie are perceived as impossibly difficult to defeat in a playoff series. And rightfully so; despite missing literally months of action, both KD and Harden seem to always hit the ground running.

  • KD after missing 27 games: 17p, 7r, 5a, +22 in 18 minutes
  • Harden after missing 20 of 21 games: 18p, 11a, 7r in 25 minutes

Do these guys even need to play together before the playoffs? Does rhythm and chemistry building even matter for them? It doesn’t look that way, and their 1st round matchup against one of the play-in teams should suffice as a warm-up period.

1.LA Clippers (VegasInsider Rank: T-2, +500)

Despite how great they’ve looked during stretches of the season and the veteran leadership they acquired this year, this team somehow feels slept on. Paul George might have some classic ‘Pandemic P’ performances, but the team has surrounded itself with enough talent to offset any off-nights that he might have. Given that the West looks somewhat weaker than before, the Clippers’ strengths will overcome their flaws – unless they face Denver again.

Also, despite their load managing practices and on-and-off availability of their top players, check out where they rank as a team this season:

  • 3P% – 1st
  • 3PM – 3rd (behind Utah and Portland)
  • Net Rating – 2nd (behind Utah)
  • FT% – 1st

For a team that was coasting, that’s pretty good.

Photo Credit: ClipsNation

I expect them to win the West with relative ease and face off against Brooklyn in what should be an epic Finals showdown. I give an ever-so-slight edge to the Clippers only because I’m not sure how KD will hold up over the course of an entire playoff run with his hamstring and Achilles issues. That, and the Nets winning would make a complete mockery out of the regular season.

In either case, the real winner: load management.

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NBA COVID Tracker

The 2020-21 and 2021-2022 NBA seasons has been mired by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several games were postponed, and many players have been forced to miss time due to possible exposure and subsequent protocols put in place by the league.

To keep better track of teams and players impacted by COVID-19 protocol, Fansure is providing an up-to-date resource that can be used to stay on top of the latest player-related news related to COVID-19 protocols.

Here’s the NBA COVID-19 tracker, courtesy of Fansure data scientists Cole Kazemba and Nikhil Morar. Click on the figure below to view a fully interactive version of the data:

For any questions or for more information, please contact us at info@fansure.com!

Like our data and want to see more? Please fill out this questionnaire to connect with one of our team members.

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US Betting Report Covers Fansure’s Strategic Partnership With Sportradar

Original post: https://usbettingreport.com/news/fansure-and-sportsradar-announce-strategic-partnership/

On Wednesday this week, Fansure Founder and CEO Vijay Shravah announced that Fansure has entered a strategic partnership with Sportradar.

Once we heard this exciting news, we connected with Co-founder & VP of Product, Jordan Pascasio, who was answered a few quick questions about Fansure, how the company started and their plans for the future

How would you describe Fansure’s business model and Unique Selling Proposition?

Pascasio. Fansure provides content automation solutions to help sports betting platforms drive fan behavior. Our scenario-relevant insights optimize how digital publishers monetize their audience and how native applications drive event conversions.

We currently support player prop and team markets for the core four U.S. professional sports leagues, and have plans to expand into amateur sports leagues (NCAA) soon.

In terms of distribution, we recently secured a strategic partnership with Sportradar, a global leader in delivering sports data and content to media companies, sports federations and the betting industry, to provide innovative player prop and team betting insights to their robust client base.

How did you get started and from where did you get the idea?

Pascasio. Our sports betting content automation solutions, which are B2B, actually started as a B2C iOS app called TRNDS Sports. The TRNDS Sports app was a mobile backtesting tool that allowed users to quickly discover and analyze a team’s historical profitability under any scenario.

While operating the B2C application, we experimented with generating crude betting trends CSVs for an upcoming week or day and selling those lists to media entities that were interested in injecting the data into their content. After seeing initial success with a product that was essentially a hacked together prototype, we decided to devote dev resources to building out public and partner API infrastructure. From there, we were off and running.

A lot of companies provide sports betting data. Can you explain, in layman’s terms, how data is uniquely served within your product?

Pascasio. We specifically focus on contextualizing data for the average or new sports bettor through historical insights. To quote a recent whitepaper published by Sportradar, integrating historic data references helps to reinforce the storyline surrounding what is happening, how it is happening, and why it is happening – otherwise referred to as ‘the plot’. 

Our goal is to streamline access to this type of data, allowing media companies and native apps to easily map to the insights, create narratives around them and ultimately leverage them to drive behavior.

We are excited about our player prop insights segment as we think that the high overlap between fantasy sports and sports betting (89% of sports bettors play fantasy sports according to HPL Digital Sport) can be a conduit for the fantasy crowd who have yet to cross over.

Player props facilitate that transition nicely as the markets and supportive data are less optically daunting than traditional markets, such as the Spread or Total, for first-time bettors. Having the prior experience of playing fantasy sports and conducting the necessary research around statistics such as touchdowns or rebounds is a more familiar exercise for players. 

What betting scenarios or data features are most commonly requested by your user base? What type of new products or features are on your roadmap?

Pascasio. Player-level / prop insights were a huge request that we received in the early days when our data was solely team-based. As stated above, it was clear to us that there was a significant path to growth if we expanded to offer those markets.

Content automation solutions such as dynamic widgets and embeddable data tables are other products that we frequently receive inquiries for. We are very bullish on these types of low/no-code products that can help media entities elevate their content in a frictionless and scalable manner. As such, they are prioritized on our roadmap. Currently, we are focused on refining our insights-as-a-service APIs, i.e. the pipes, of which we will then build the content automation tools on top of. 

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Fansure Announces Strategic Partnership with Sportradar

Fansure Inc. (“Fansure” or “The Company”) today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Sportradar, the leading global provider of sports betting and sports entertainment products and services, to provide innovative player prop and team betting insights.

Sportradar sits at the intersection of the sports, media and betting industries, which affords Fansure access to unique opportunities and more than 1,000 companies in over 80 countries.

“We are thrilled to roll out our content automation solutions for betting enterprises via Sportradar’s global distribution network. Our product fits nicely within Sportradar’s recently launched Insights platform as we are both focused on driving engagement and fan behavior. We’re also excited to leverage Sportradar’s deep industry relationships to drive product awareness.” said Fansure’s Founder and CEO Vijay Shravah. 

The partnership occurs at an opportune time as legal breakthroughs across the United States are helping to bring the sports betting industry into the mainstream like never before. As legal restrictions to online sportsbooks come down, the industry has new opportunities to integrate betting into other pillars of the sports entertainment experience for increased visibility, accessibility, and convenience. 

About Fansure

Fansure provides content automation solutions to help sports betting platforms drive fan behavior. Our scenario-relevant insights optimize how digital publishers monetize their audience and how native applications drive event conversions. The Company currently supports player prop and team markets for the core four US professional sports leagues, and has plans to expand into amateur sports leagues soon. 

About Sportradar

Sportradar is the global provider of sports betting and sports entertainment products and services. Established in 2001, the company occupies a unique position at the intersection of the sports, media and betting industries, providing sports federations, news media, consumer platforms and sports betting operators with a range of solutions to help grow their business. Sportradar employs over 2,000 people in more than 30 locations around the world. It is our commitment to excellent service, quality and reliability that makes us the trusted partner of more than 1,000 companies in over 80 countries and official partner of the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, FIFA and UEFA. We monitor, analyze and deliver insights from more than 720,000 matches annually across 75 sports. With deep industry relationships, Sportradar is not just redefining the sports fan experience; it also safeguards the sports themselves through its Integrity Services division and advocacy for an integrity-driven environment for all involved. 

www.sportradar.com

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2020-21 NBA Season Award Predictions

As we approach opening night, nine of our team members put together their award predictions for the upcoming season. Here’s how the Fansure team sees everything playing out:

Part One:

AwardMarcellus WileyTom HaberstrohVijayScottCole
MVPLuka DončićLuka DončićLuka DončićLuka DončićLuka Dončić
ROYLaMelo BallDeni AvdijaLaMelo BallLaMelo BallJames Wiseman
DPOYAnthony DavisBen SimmonsGiannis AntetokounmpoAnthony DavisBen Simmons
6MOYLou WilliamsShake MiltonSpencer DinwiddieCaris LeVertDennis Schröder
Most ImprovedMichael Porter JrCoby WhiteChristian WoodTyler HerroShai Gilgeous-Alexander
COYMonty WilliamsRick CarlisleRick CarlisleMonty WilliamsDoc Rivers
#1 East SeedBrooklynMilwaukeeMilwaukeeMilwaukeeMilwaukee
#1 West SeedLA LakersLA ClippersDallasDenverLA Lakers
East ChampsBrooklynMiamiMilwaukeeMilwaukeeMilwaukee
West ChampsLA ClippersLA LakersLA ClippersLA LakersLA Lakers
NBA ChampsLA ClippersLA LakersLA ClippersLA LakersLA Lakers
Finals MVPKawhi LeonardAnthony DavisKawhi LeonardAnthony DavisLeBron James

Part Two:

AwardJordanDanNikhilPatrick
MVPLuka DončićLuka DončićLuka DončićLuka Dončić
ROYObi ToppinJames WisemanLaMelo BallJames Wiseman
DPOYBam AdebayoBen SimmonsAnthony DavisGiannis Antetokounmpo
6MOYCaris LeVertJordan ClarksonJordan ClarksonLou Williams
Most ImprovedCoby WhiteChristian WoodChristian WoodTyler Herro
COYBrad StevensMonty WilliamsSteve NashErik Spoelstra
#1 East SeedMilwaukeeMilwaukeeMilwaukeeBrooklyn
#1 West SeedLA LakersLA LakersLA LakersLA Lakers
East ChampsBostonPhiladelphiaMilwaukeeMiami
West ChampsLA LakersLA LakersLA LakersLA Lakers
NBA ChampsLA LakersLA LakersLA LakersLA Lakers
Finals MVPAnthony DavisAnthony DavisLeBron JamesAnthony Davis

Analysis:

MVP: Despite this being the most contentiously debated title nearly every year, this is the only award that the team had a unanimous consensus on in terms of a prediction: Luka Dončić, who is a +400 to win the award, is our favorite to claim the Maurice Podoloff trophy. Dončić, a 21-year old Slovenian, is our pick to win his first MVP and would be the second-youngest player to ever win the title (Derrick Rose).

Luka Doncic is erasing the European prospect stigma, one highlight at a time - SBNation.com
Dončić is our unanimous MVP

Rookie of the Year: This should arguably be the toughest award to debate, given the pandemic has robbed us of learning anything about this year’s rookie class and has given us almost no data to inform our predictions. Most of the team, though, is split between James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball – the second and third picks in the 2020 NBA draft, respectively.

One-offs include Washington’s Devin Avdija and New York’s Obi Toppin. Avdija, Tom Haberstroh’s pick, is rumored to have been high on the Warriors’ ladder before they ended up going with Wiseman.

Defensive Player of the Year: Another category that our team was split on: AD is the slight favorite getting 3 votes, with Giannis and Ben Simmons tied for second place with 2 each.

Understandably, no one on the team picked two-time winners Kawhi Leonard (2015 & 2016) and Rudy Gobert (2018 & 2019) as only three players in NBA history have ever won the award more than twice (Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo have each won 4, and Dwight Howard is the only player to have won three straight). Giannis, the 2020 recipient, is going to try to be the only player in NBA history to win MVP for the third straight year and win back-to-back DPOY titles.

Sixth Man of the Year: Relatively even split again here; Clarkson, LeVert, and Lou Williams (3-time winner) garnered two votes each. Lou is currently tied with Jamal Crawford for the most 6th man titles, and is poised to break that tie and become the only player to ever win 4.

Most Improved: This is one of the near-impossible awards to predict – especially with a very quick offseason for most players. Still, we saw a couple of players with multiple votes: Christian Wood (3) and Tyler Herro (2). In the bubble, Herro showed the world on the biggest stage how much he has already improved, leading some to wonder if he will be ‘penalized’ if he picks up where he left off after the NBA Finals. Michael Porter Jr. (Marcellus Wiley’s pick) could suffer that same ‘penalty’ with his play elevating Denver to an improbable conference finals appearance.

Coach of the Year: As the undefeated team (8-0) in the bubble, the Suns are positioned to make a big playoff push after adding CP3. This could be why Monty Williams is the slight majority winner in our panel with three votes. Unlike the other individual categories, this award seemed to have the most variability among our team with Carlisle being the only other coach to get multiple votes. 5 of the 9 votes were unique (Erik Spoelstra, Doc Rivers, Brad Stevens, and Steve Nash). 46% of NBA GMs consider Spoelstra to be the best coach today – making it seem odd that he hasn’t won the award yet.

Playoff Predictions:

Unsurprisingly, the Lakers are the Fansure team’s favorite to win both the West and the Finals, getting 75% of our votes. This is consistent with betting activity, with heavy money being put on the defending champs to repeat. The remaining two of our team members picked the “other” LA team to win – with Marcellus “Mr. Clippers” Wiley predictably being one of them. Of the six team members who are predicting a Laker title, four have picked LeBron’s running mate to win the Finals MVP honor. Could this be the year LeBron takes a back seat to his co-star?

Ultimately, the team unanimously foresees the Larry O’Brien trophy staying put at Staples.

Although the Lakers are favorites, not everyone has them pegged as the #1 seed; Dallas and Denver each received one vote for that title. This is likely not a knock on the Lakers, but rather the notion that LeBron and AD, whose team has had only a 72-day offseason, will commence significantly more load management during the regular season.

The East predictions show a little more variability; while most have Milwaukee again securing the #1 seed, the Nets, Celtics, and 76ers each received votes by our team to represent the East in the NBA Finals.

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Tom Haberstroh, National NBA Insider, joins Fansure’s Advisory Board

Tom Haberstroh, a national NBA insider, is a formal advisor for Fansure Inc.

Fansure Inc., a sports technology company based in Silicon Valley, California that provides analytics-based solutions and insights for sports betting and media stakeholders, has announced the addition of Tom Haberstroh to its advisory team.  

“As someone who is already known for his data-driven approach to covering the NBA, Haberstroh is a tremendous addition to our team” said Fansure’s Founder and CEO Vijay Shravah. “Tom has earned the utmost respect of his peers in the NBA at the league, team, and media levels.  His data-driven approach to his body of work is a perfect fit for us.”

“I’m very excited to join Fansure,” said Haberstroh. “Their team does a great job of applying their technical expertise to various applications in sports and I’m excited to help them grow further.”

Haberstroh will be an official advisor for Fansure, joining other high-pedigree figures on its advisory board such as Amin Elhassan and Marcellus Wiley. He will help the team in a business development capacity.

About Fansure

Fansure is an early stage sports analytics company that specializes in player and team-level insights, focusing on providing contextually-relevant sports data and technology solutions to sports betting stakeholders. The company specializes in B2B content automation tools for media platforms (e.g., publishers, affiliates, data providers) to help optimize their top-of-funnel strategy. Existing products include player prop insights, which will be featured on Sportradar’s betting insights platform around January 2021. To learn more, visit: https://fansure.com

About Tom Haberstroh

Tom Haberstroh is an award-winning journalist who has covered the NBA for over a decade, specializing in analytics, sports science and player health. Haberstroh began his career at ESPN where he worked for 8 years as a data-driven staff writer for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com, making regular TV appearances on SportsCenter, Outside the Lines and The Jump with Rachel Nichols. In 2017, he joined Bleacher Report and B/R Mag where he won an APSE award for feature writing on the NBA. For the last two years, he served as NBC Sports’ national NBA Insider on TV and digital programming. He is the host of The Habershow NBA podcast as well as co-founder of the Count The Dings podcast network.

After six years in Miami Beach, Tom currently lives in Charlotte with his wife, two daughters and their dog Cooper. In 2017, he launched the #ALSPepperChallenge which has raised over $650,000 for ALS research in honor of his mother and is currently a committee member of I AM ALS’ committee to bring a national Lou Gehrig Day to Major League Baseball.

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A Fansure data scientist won “Jeopardy!”

Colin Davy, Fansure’s senior data scientist based in San Francisco, CA, was selected to be a contestant on “Jeopardy!” – one of America’s most popular game shows.

Colin wrote about his experience in preparing for his time in the spotlight, detailing his unique approach using data science:

https://colindavy.medium.com/how-i-won-jeopardy-with-data-science-c2e9b52a1958

Fansure is extremely proud to see Colin’s remarkable achievement.

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Fansure Announces the Addition of Amin Elhassan, NBA Analyst and Front Office Insider

Photo Credit: ESPN.com
Photo Credit: ESPN.com
Former Phoenix Suns executive and current ESPN and SiriusXM personality Amin Elhassan will join the Fansure team as the company’s NBA Evangelist.

Fansure Inc., a sports technology company that provides analytics-based solutions for sports betting and ticketing, has announced the addition of Amin Elhassan to its team.  

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Amin on board,” said Fansure’s Founder and CEO Vijay Shravah. “Amin has earned the utmost respect of his peers in the NBA at the league, team, and media levels.  We’re confident that he will bring a lot of value and credibility to the Fansure team.”

“I’m very excited to join Fansure,” said Elhassan. “Their technical expertise and ability to create meaningful insights for the sports community really resonates with me.”

Elhassan will work directly with Fansure’s leadership team to help the company execute its strategic endeavors.

About Fansure

Fansure is an early stage sports analytics company that specializes in player and team-level insights, focusing on providing contextually-relevant sports data at the B2C and B2B levels. It currently provides betting intelligence solutions in the form of a consumer app (TRNDS Sports) as well as a B2B content automation tool for media platforms (e.g., publishers, affiliates, data providers) to help optimize their top-of-funnel strategy. Existing products include a player availability machine learning architecture for those affected by star player absences, player prop insights, a scenario-based backtesting tool, and other products in demand by fantasy/betting stakeholders related to prop bets and ATS/OU lines. To learn more, visit: https://fansure.com

About Amin Elhassan

Amin Elhassan is a current NBA analyst for ESPN.  He joined ESPN following a stint with the Phoenix Suns during their famous “seven seconds or less” era led by Mike D’Antoni and Steve Nash in the mid 2000s. He earned his way up the ranks with the Suns, serving as a video coordinator and college scout, before finally working as the assistant director of basketball operations. While with the Suns, he also earned his MBA from Arizona State.

Amin makes regular appearances on many popular ESPN shows such as ‘The Jump’ and ‘Highly Questionable’, and is a co-host on SiriusXM NBA radio segments such as ‘No Look Pass’ and ‘Mad Dog Sports Radio.’

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Why We Underestimated Jimmy Butler & the Heat

https://www.slamonline.com/nba/post-up-the-jimmy-butler-effect-2/
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA - AUGUST 31: Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat drives the ball against Marvin Williams #20 of the Milwaukee Bucks during the first quarter in Game One of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2020 NBA Playoffs at the Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 31, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

“Nah, they’re not for real.”

Said Charles Barkley on Inside the NBA back on December 28th, right after an overtime win vs. the Sixers. This gave the Heat a five game winning streak along with a 24-8 record.

I’ll admit: despite Sir Charles’s well-documented inability to predict games accurately, I was in agreement with him at the time. While I’ve long been a Jimmy apologist to his critics (primarily Bulls fans), it was hard to see a team without at least two established star players making any kind of noise in the playoffs. After all, Miami came into the season with low expectations and play in a weak conference despite signing Butler as a free agent. Right before Barkley’s declaration, they had played against a Philly team that had lost their 10th of 14 road games – an ominous sign of things to come. The Heat were just in a honeymoon phase with their prized free agent signing, a rising star in Bam Adebayo, and some promising rookies, right? And were enjoying a favorable stretch of their schedule, right?

Wrong.

These Heat are for real. Fast forward to these Bubble Playoffs, where Miami just surprised many of us by handily defeating a heavy favorite #1 seed in Game 1. This took place shortly after disposing of an Indiana team with such ease that the Pacers decided to fire their coach.

So why did we (the majority) get the Heat wrong? It’s likely a combination of these three main reasons:

  1. We overestimated Milwaukee
  2. We underestimated Jimmy Butler
  3. We undervalue cultural alignment between a team and its star player

Reason 1: We Overestimated Milwaukee

There’s a growing camp of folks who attributed Game 1’s loss to Miami as some combination of: Milwaukee’s overrated, Giannis is overrated, and the Bucks don’t have a closer. All of which are valid arguments.

ESPN’s Amin Elhassan – who had started a “Heat Island” prior to the start of the series as one of the few to predict an upset – cited several concerns about Milwaukee on Tom Haberstroh’s “Habershow” podcast. The rationale was based on the Bucks’ reputation (and Amin’s own observation) of continued failure to adjust over the course of a playoff series. Amin argued that they’ve traditionally banked on the fact that their talent and game plan will eventually win 4 games in a series. This faulty strategy manifested as long ago as last season, when the Bucks dropped Game 1 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Semis vs. Boston. While they eventually won the series – thanks in part to the Celtics’ chemistry issues that started to boil over – it appeared that part of the equation was the Bucks’ long-standing vulnerability.

The Bucks’s issues resurfaced as soon as the playoffs started, having dropped Game 1 by double digits to an overmatched Orlando Magic team. Unlike the Magic’s improbable Game 1 win in last year’s playoffs vs. the eventual 2019 champion Raptors, this was a convincing win that once again had us questioning Milwaukee’s ability to contend for a title. While it didn’t bite them in that series, those same concerns came full circle.

The criticism of Milwaukee starts with their franchise player, Giannis Antetokoumnpo. Just as after last year’s conference finals loss vs. Kawhi and the eventual-champ Raptors, Giannis’s ability to win playoff games is once again being questioned. When a good defensive team like Miami barracades the paint, Giannis’s ability to impact the game becomes limited and his weaknesses – primarily outside shooting – become more glaring. Going 4-12 from the foul line certainly doesn’t help that sentiment either.

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Free throws a bigger issue than 3-pointers
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s confidence at the free throw line has been shaky, missing 8 of 12 attempts in Game 1 on Sunday. Photo Credit: NBAE via Getty Images

Still, as much as we now pick apart Giannis and the Bucks, one can’t help but attribute Game 1’s loss to their opponent rather than themselves.

Reason 2: We Underestimated Jimmy Butler

Not your traditional superstar, Jimmy Butler didn’t become an elite player overnight. In fact, he was the final 1st round pick in 2011 when he was scouted as a potential defensive specialist – far from a potential franchise player and leader. A 10-year veteran, the 30-year old’s career stats haven’t screamed ‘superstar’: 17.0/5.1/3.7 in terms of points/rebs/assists with a 20.3 career PER. But his body of work has not gone unnoticed – especially by the media; he’s a five-time All-Star who’s been named All-NBA player twice (TBD for 2019-20) – both as a third team selection in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Despite ranking 55th in the league in Real Plus-Minus, he has earned a reputation for being a great defender from the get-go, having won All-Defense honors four times in his career.

Jimmy’s 40-point Game 1 outburst – where he completely dictated the game offensively and defensively – was a playoff career-high. Although a highly impressive performance and perhaps his greatest playoff game to date, that’s 15th among active players when purely looking at single game point production.

RankPlayerPlayoff Career High
(Points)
1Donovan Mitchell57
2LeBron James51
3Russell Westbrook51
4Kevin Durant50
5Jamal Murray50
6Damian Lillard50
7Paul George49
8Stephen Curry47
9Anthony Davis47
10Kawhi Leonard45
11James Harden45
12Nikola Jokić43
13Kyrie Irving42
14Giannis Antetokounmpo 41
15Jimmy Butler 40
Source: Basketball Reference

The optics will tell you that Jimmy is a very good player, but not an elite playoff performer. What may not stick out in the history books is that particular performance came against the NBA’s #1 defense.

So have we underestimated Jimmy Butler, the individual? Maybe a little, but the eye test and superficial stats say not likely, as his play has translated into multiple All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defense selections. So that leaves one other possible reason we underestimated Miami…

Reason 3: We Undervalue Cultural Alignment Between Team and Its Star Player

Prior to this season, Jimmy was quickly given the above-average-player-who-can’t-get-along-with-teammates label. After all, it didn’t work out in Chicago. Or Minnesota. Or in some respects, Philadelphia. Whenever we see outspoken players experience chemistry issues on multiple teams, the conventional formula for these narratives is to blame the player (e.g. Kyrie) instead of the team(s).

In other words, the jury has always been out there on whether Jimmy can be a franchise player (or put up franchise player-worthy stats) – let alone whether he can get along with teammates. Here’s what we’ve never debated: his work ethic, will to win, year-to-year improvement, and status as arguably the league’s best small forward behind LeBron, Kawhi, and KD (when healthy).

The question with Jimmy, as with many players, is finding the right fit.

Culturally, it’s no secret that Butler can only function in a team that’s completely committed to hard work and winning. Jimmy is a notorious gym rat. So when he sees his teammates not put in a respectable level of effort, he calls them out. This obviously does not rub off well on many players in today’s NBA, and Butler hasn’t been shy about calling out teammates. It got him in trouble in Chicago, despite being co-signed by D-Wade. It got him in trouble in Minnesota. It was about to get him in trouble in Philly, but he and the Sixers figured out relatively quickly that he didn’t fit in. In an interview with his then-teammate JJ Redick, he detailed his butting heads with former teammates and his growing reputation as a “villain.” If his time in Miami so far has taught us anything, it’s that a team’s culture can be more important than its talent pool.

If Butler thought that Philly truly had a winning culture, he would have re-signed. If a deep playoff run that was ended by a miraculously clutch Kawhi buzzer beater wasn’t enough to convince him, that says a lot about what he felt. And after Philly got swept in the first round the year after they lost Butler to free agency, it’s safe to say the team is asking “what if?” Just ask Joel Embiid.

But work ethic and culture only gets you so far. One of the biggest key issues with team chemistry is, unsurprisingly, money; how the team manages its allocation to players is certainly an underlying issue with team chemistry. In other words, does a team compensate its players in accordance with its culture? And are the players on board with that structure? It’s often the elephant in the room in NBA locker rooms when player salaries are public.

YEARTEAMSALARYTeam Rank
2011-12Bulls$821,74812th
2012-13Bulls$1,066,92012th
2013-14Bulls$1,112,88010th
2014-15Bulls$2,008,74810th
2015-16Bulls$15,257,5002nd (D. Rose)
2016-17Bulls$16,402,2092nd (D. Wade)
2017-18Bulls-Wolves$18,151,0701st
2018-19Wolves-Sixers$19,295,7792nd (J. Embiid)
2019-20Heat$32,742,0001st
Jimmy Butler’s annual salary along with his team rank. Source: Capology.com

At a quick glance, he sure wasn’t in a Scottie Pippen-like situation. His main complaint from a contract perspective wasn’t with Chicago, but rather with the Wolves; although he was the highest paid at the time, it was primarily because the Wolves’ younger stars were on rookie contracts. That season, the team already committed lucrative extensions to Karl-Anthony Towns ($190M/5 years) and Andrew Wiggins ($146M/5 years) which would kick in the following season(s). Clearly, Minnesota positioned Towns and Wiggins to be their franchise cornerstones and put Jimmy lower on their priority list. So when the Wolves offered him $110M over 4 years, it’s easy to understand the frustration – especially since Jimmy didn’t believe Towns or Wiggins have the work ethic and mental makeup to turn the team into a winning franchise.

In short, it’s important for a franchise to put their money where their mouth is. And how they pay players speaks volumes about what their culture and mentality really is.

Now this isn’t to say that the Heat have always gotten this right. In fact, one can argue that Pat Riley grossly mismanaged the franchise’s all-time greatest asset, Dwyane Wade. Understandably, Riley was cautious about locking Wade in for long-term deals due to his chronic health issues. But on the other side, he deviated from his usual formula by offering questionable contracts to the likes of Hassan Whiteside in that same time period rather than reward Wade for his past sacrifices – most notably taking less money to orchestrate perhaps the biggest free agency splash of all-time in 2010 by bringing in LeBron and Chris Bosh. Feeling disrespected, Wade decided to leave Miami for Chicago out of principle – even though the Bulls didn’t give him much more ($47.5M/2 years) than what Miami offered ($40M/2 years).

Although Riley and Wade had since set aside their differences to bring Wade back for his final seasons, Wade’s disappointment in Riley could make it difficult for any future superstar to fully trust Riley to take care of them long term.

Jimmy Butler says he's, 'a little extra at times,' wants to deliver extra to Heat - South Florida Sun Sentinel - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Photo Credit: Sun Sentinel

It’s safe to say Riley learned his lesson and didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of Jimmy’s former teams. He ignored all the “warning signs” and signed Butler to a 4-year $142M contract, establishing him as the franchise player from both a cultural and monetary perspective. He knew that the issues Butler had at his previous stints were a pure result of a lack of cultural fit and his former teams’ failure to understand his importance as a foundational piece.

Miami now has a clear direction, and a commitment to build around a hard-working star who is willing to accept the growing pains of a young team, but won’t accept less than full effort.

And so far, it’s working.

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Fansure News

Fansure Announces the Acquisition of Mobile Betting Insights App TRNDS Sports

TRNDS Sports

Fansure Inc. (“Fansure” or “The Company”) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire TRNDS Sports, Inc. (“TRNDS Sports”), a sports betting intelligence company that created the first mobile-backtesting tool for sports bettors. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

With its user-friendly experience that makes it easy for bettors to discover and leverage scenario-based data to make informed bets, TRNDS Sports positions Fansure to accelerate the acquirer’s entry into the sports betting space and power its overall COVID-adjusted growth plan, which includes re-allocating efforts into betting intelligence at the B2C and B2B level. 

“We are very excited to add the TRNDS Sports app to the Fansure portfolio. Their team and product will be integral to our growth going forward while enhancing our value proposition to the sports betting community ” said Fansure’s Founder and CEO Vijay Shravah. 

The transaction occurs at an opportune time for Fansure, whose original ticket protection product for fans has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to fans not being able to attend games.  Shravah further commented, “The negative effects of COVID-19 have sent a shockwave around the world and across a multitude of business sectors. Unfortunately, the in-stadium fan experience has been meaningfully impacted by the pandemic in a detrimental way and it seems that those effects will linger well into 2021 barring a vaccine. As a result, we’ve decided to de-risk our roadmap by repurposing our proprietary data models to be applied toward data provision and insights within the sports betting space. We see a huge addressable market and an impending explosion in growth within the industry as the economies of many states will be sluggish coming out of the pandemic and many will look to the legalization of gambling to help backfill millions in lost revenues.”

TRNDS Sports has seen strong engagement since its MVP launched in the Fall of 2019 and looks to capitalize on the industry boom with the addition of new features within their consumer app and the rollout of a B2B offering.

This transaction builds on a close personal relationship between the two companies’ founders who once shared the same initial technology partner. Jordan Pascasio, founder and CEO of TRNDS Sports said, “We are thrilled to officially become a part of the Fansure family. As part of Fansure, TRNDS Sports can further differentiate its B2C data provision and accelerate its growth by leveraging Fansure’s proprietary data models and engineering talent. It also gives us an opportunity to help contribute to Fansure’s B2B insights development by adding a sports betting flavor to the approach. We are excited by the opportunity to push our initial product forward and we are maniacally focused on providing delightful user experiences and streamlined data accessibility to sports bettors.”

As part of the acquisition, Pascasio will join Fansure as the company’s VP of Product.

Following completion of the transaction, the TRNDS Sports app will initially operate as a standalone brand within Fansure and Mr. Pascasio will report to Mr. Shravah. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of fiscal 2020.

About Fansure

Fansure is a sports analytics company that provides predictive analytics and financial protection in the absence of star players. Led by NASA rocket scientists, Fansure developed machine learning technology that predicts the likelihood of star players missing games. To learn more, visit: https://fansure.com

About TRNDS Sports

Backed by Sportradar’s Acceleradar program, TRNDS Sports provides the first consumer-facing mobile backtesting tool that allows users to quickly analyze historical team profitability across any scenario by leveraging an easily navigable interface sitting atop a robust database. The company also offers a B2B product that provides marketing automation solutions to sports betting media platforms. To learn more, visit: http://www.trnds-sports.com