Disney Research builds computer models to analyze play in pro basketball and soccer

With the ball at the three-point line near the top of the key, what will Tim Duncan of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs do? Pass to a player posting up? Or does he take a shot? An analysis by Disney Research of player tracking data, however, suggests the highest probability is a pass to guard Tony Parker on his left. It's just one play, by one player, in one sport - and perhaps not that hard for the average courtside observer to anticipate - but with the field of sports becoming more driven by sports analytics, predicting the next thing that a player will do has become a major challenge in computer modeling of player behavior.

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