Twitter
Advertisement

If computers ran the NBA, Shaq would be benched

Shaquille O’Neal may be one of the best basketball players on the planet, but he should have been benched in this year’s NBA.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

NEW YORK: Shaquille O’Neal may be one of the best basketball players on the planet, but he should have been benched in this year’s National Basketball Association championships. 

Or so concludes a new statistical measurement developed by Lenovo Group Ltd. the world’s third-largest personal computer maker. Introduced by Lenovo and the NBA on Monday, the statistic is supposed show which five players combine to make the best team on the court at any one time.  In June’s NBA finals, for instance, the Lenovo Stat showed the best combination for the champion Miami Heat included Dwyane Wade, James Posey, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker, and Alonzo Mourning.

Missing from the list is O’Neal, the 7’1; Miami Heat center who is an 11-times NBA All-Star and named one of the 50 Greatest Players in league history. But it was with Mourning — rather than O’Neal — that the Heat had the greatest point advantage during the championships, according to the Lenovo Stat. Lenovo is launching the statistic as part of a new multi-year marketing partnership with the NBA. Under the partnership, Lenovo will place notebook and desktop computers in all 30 NBA arenas for use by coaches and referees. NBA Commissioner David Stern, who said the statistic would give coaches ;enormous additional data,; declined to comment on the conclusion about O’Neal. 

The deal

China’s computer giant Lenovo announced a multi-year marketing partnership on Tuesday with the US-based National Basketball Association, bringing the “Lenovo Stat” to the world’s top basketball league.

As a new global marketing partner, Lenovo will be the “Official PC Partner of the NBA” with marketing rights in both the United States and China, an NBA press release said. The NBA will integrate Lenovo products into all facets of league operations, while the “Lenovo Stat” software will calculate the most effective player combinations for each game and over the course of the entire NBA season, it said. No financial details of the arrangement were made public.

“At the core of this partnership, Lenovo will provide courtside statisticians, referees, coaches and players from across the globe with the best-engineered personal computers to help improve the game,” Lenovo vice president Deepak Advani said.

The deal comes as the Chinese computer maker seeks to develop its own global brand recognition after purchasing IBM Corp’s personal computer division in a deal that was approved by the US government early last year. Following the purchase, Lenovo became the world’s third largest PC maker behind HP and Dell Inc. Although Lenovo has the right to use IBM’s brand name until 2010 on its  products, the company is not allowed to use IBM’s name in marketing campaigns.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement