2019 NBA Summer League was the “Test Bed” of Innovation for Basketball Technnology
Noah Basketball’s sensors were among several other innovative models being tested at the NBA Summer League last week, including spyder cameras, lap cameras, second-screen experiences and a new sponsorship model that would limit the amount of traditional 30-spot commercials. While the cameras and sponsorship pieces would provide an improved fan experience, Noah Basketball aims to improve the entire game of basketball for players, coaches, viewers, broadcasters, shot-clock keepers and officials.
This year at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Steve Hellmuth, the NBA’s Executive Vice President of Operations and Technology, has his eyes on our sensors specifically to see how they might enhance broadcasts and add a few crucial seconds to the end of close games.
Noah is used by many NBA and NCAA teams to train in their respective facilities, tracking the arc, depth and left-right deviation of a shot. With the installation of our sensors at the Summer League, Hellmuth was focused on how the game data captured could finally enhance the existing out-dated shot-charts.
“I’m taking all that data and trying to create an animated shot chart with a 3-D effect,” Hellmuth said. “The shot chart has been this dull Xs and Os thing forever.”
In basketball, a matter of milliseconds can be the difference between winning and losing. Even the most skilled clock keepers in the world have a slower reaction time to the ball making contact with the rim than the instant, consistent reaction from our shot-tracking sensors. At Summer League, our shooting system was able to inform the 24-second clock operator exactly when the ball touched the rim.
“We always lose a little time there because it takes a human a while to see the ball clear the net and hit stop,” Hellmuth said. “A machine could do it much more accurately, which would be better for the sport.”
At Noah Basketball, one of our values is to ever evolve and innovate. Our technology may have often been recognized as a shooting system meant only to improve shooting performance of players, but our mission has always been to improve and advance the game of basketball. As of late? Our team has evolved our existing technology to potentially improve the speed of the game. We look forward to showcasing other ways that Noah Basketball can improve the future of our sport.
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