Embarrassed and emboldened, Harris slowly began modernizing the front office. The previous summer he’d interviewed three data-savvy executives—Tom Penn, a lawyer and former assistant general manager for the Portland Trail Blazers; Mike Zarren, the assistant general manager for the Boston Celtics; and Sam Hinkie, a little-known Houston Rockets executive with an MBA from Stanford—but wanted to learn more about the NBA business before making dramatic changes. In November, the Sixers hired Aaron Barzilai, an MIT graduate who had previously conducted research for DiLeo, to serve as their first ever director of analytics. He was a part of the regularly scheduled meetings between the front office and ownership and presented on topics ranging from the upcoming free agency market to the trajectory of teams that draft in the lottery. “We like how you speak our language,” the owners told Barzilai, who had previously worked as a management consultant.

Embarrassed and emboldened, Harris slowly began modernizing the front office. The previous summer he’d interviewed three data-savvy executives—Tom Penn, a lawyer and former assistant general manager for the Portland Trail Blazers; Mike Zarren, the assistant general manager for the Boston Celtics; and Sam Hinkie, a little-known Houston Rockets executive with an MBA from Stanford—but wanted to learn more about the NBA business before making dramatic changes. In November, the Sixers hired Aaron Barzilai, an MIT graduate who had previously conducted research for DiLeo, to serve as their first ever director of analytics. He was a part of the regularly scheduled meetings between the front office and ownership and presented on topics ranging from the upcoming free agency market to the trajectory of teams that draft in the lottery. “We like how you speak our language,” the owners told Barzilai, who had previously worked as a management consultant.