Synergy Sports Podcast

Milton Lee welcomes ESPN's Kevin Pelton and Dean Oliver from the Washington Wizards to discuss where we are with basketball analytics as a sport and as an industry. The three point revolution in the NBA is one very obvious example of a change brought about by analytics, and the trio discuss this, as well as the origins of the analytics movement. The conversation then moves to the direction of travel within both the sport itself, and how fans and the media at large talk about and understand basketball. Are there any other large scale shifts we should expect, or are we into the marginal gains? Where are we ultimately headed?

Milton Lee is joined by the legendary Bruce Pearl, Head Coach of the Auburn Men's Basketball team. Ahead of the basketball season tipping off, the conversation covers a recap of the team's SEC Regular Season Championship, Coach Pearl's offensive and defensive philosophies, how he initially set out to bring success to the program and his thoughts on a wide array of other topics such as the transfer portal and the role of faith in his life. 

Mike Dunleavy Jr. joins Milton Lee on the podcast to talk about the highs and lows of the Warriors' 2021/22 championship run. He talks about what it was like growing up in a family with a former NBA player and Head Coach as a father and the special memories he built at Duke before reaching the NBA.

Mike shares his experiences of the great coaches he played for including Coach K and later Tom Thibodeau. He also shares his memories of being around Larry Bird during his time with the Pacers. Finally, Mike discusses his current role with the Warriors and offers some insight into how and why that franchise has been so successful.

Coach Jim Boylen joins the Synergy Sports podcast to discuss the ongoing NBA Finals, how basketball at the highest level has changed offensively and defensively in his time as a coach, and his philosophy on how analytics can be best incorporated into an NBA franchise. As a three time NBA champion as an Assistant Coach with the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, Coach Boylen also shares his observations and stories of the elite players and coaches he worked with such as Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, Gregg Popovich and Rudy Tomjanovich. 

This episode our host Milton Lee is joined by Tony Grillo, CSO of GreenPark Sports and Charles Du, CEO of Fast Break Labs the developer of the Virtual Basketball Association. 

In addition to deep-diving into the two respective companies and guests, the conversation covers the basics of Web3, what we really mean by the term "metaverse" and where these emerging ecosystems will fit alongside more traditional sports offerings. 

As we transition to ownership becoming a defining characteristic of our digital lives with the transition to Web3, the conversation covers many of the opportunities that will likely emerge and empower online users and sports fans. 

Fresh off one of the most exciting March Mandess games in recent memory, Baylor University Men's Basketball Coach Scott Drew joins regular host Milton Lee ahead of this weekend's Final Four in New Orleans. Coach Drew shares what was running through his head during Baylor's comeback to force overtime versus North Carolina, and what he was telling his players. 

Having engineered an incredible turnaround of the Baylor Men's basketball program culminating in the 2020/21 NCAA title, Coach Drew also shares the values and philosophies that underpin his approach to coaching basketball. Offering an insight into one of college basketball's elite programs, Coach Drew also discusses the role that Synergy plays in strategic preparation and scouting players.

Regular host Milton Lee is joined by Co-Founder of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Jessica Gelman and NBA analyst and reporter Tom Haberstroh to discuss this year's conference. 

Fresh off the 2022 event, the trio cover which talks they found most impactful as well as how the event has grown and changed over the years. The conversation delves deeper into some of the topics covered at Sloan, such as the role that analytics continues to play in not only sports, but representation and business, as well as the ethical implications of data gathering, storage and usage. 

Ryan McDonough joins regular host Milton Lee to cover the broad demands of working as an NBA GM and in other areas of an NBA Front Office. Ryan is generous enough to share some great stories from the teams and personalities he worked with. The conversation also delves into how NBA staffs assess players both already within the NBA and in junior and international leagues ahead of the NBA draft. Ryan also provides information a different venture in Sports Business Classroom - a training ground for the next generation of NBA front office staff. 

Regular host and Chief Reputation Officer Milton Lee of Synergy Sports welcomes Luka Pataky, Head of Innovation at Sportradar and Alex Bustamante, VP of Innovation at Synergy Sports. 

The podcast covers how AI-based models and AI-derived technologies are being adopted across different industries, before focusing on sports technology in particular and the most recognisable uses of AI in sport. The podcast examines how both Synergy Sports and Sportradar have legacies of innovation that drove their successes, but how the combined team is recruiting for engineers to help further the business' exciting applications of computer vision across sports production, data and analytics.

Columbia Lions Men's Basketball Head Coach Jim Engles joins regular host Milton Lee to talk about his successful career as a basketball coach, the tough period of not playing for a season and his excitement ahead of the new season. The conversation also covers how Coach Engles was the first US coach to adopt Synergy Automated Cameras and how he's tried to remain innovative in his use of analytics and technology to do the best coaching job possible. 

To launch the Synergy Sports podcast we catch up with Synergy CEO Mark Silver. Our host Milton Lee talks to Mark about his career in the NBA pre-Synergy, how he got started with the company, how he progressed through the ranks and departments as well as how he now spends his time as CEO and the company's vision moving forwards.