The Project Management Problem Nobody Talks About... | Gary Sutton | DSH #2013

About this episode

Sean Kelly interviews Gary Sutton about the intersection of NBA analytics and project management challenges.

What if some of the biggest beliefs in basketball are not actually supported by the data? In this Digital Social Hour Episode, Sean Kelly sits down with Gary Sutton, a business intelligence and analytics leader, data science author, and statistics expert, to talk about NBA analytics, the draft, tanking, salary caps, home-court advantage, gambling lines, AI, and why bad project management ruins so many companies. Gary breaks down what the data says about first-round draft picks, why teams still have an incentive to tank, why spending more on player salaries usually helps teams win, and why the NBA salary cap may not have solved the problem it was supposed to fix. The conversation also covers whether defense really wins championships, whether the hot hand is real, how home teams may benefit from foul calls, why gamblers can collectively beat oddsmakers, and what the numbers say about LeBron James vs Michael Jordan. Later, Gary explains how old algorithms are powering modern AI, why large language models still need human judgment, how AI may impact jobs, and why companies underestimate the hard skills required for project management. Chapters 0:00 NBA analytics, James Harden, and…

People in this episode

Host: Sean Kelly

Guest: Gary Sutton

Topics covered

• NBA analytics
• project management
• data science
• sports statistics
• salary caps
• gambling

Keywords

• NBA
• analytics
• project management
• data science
• salary cap
• gambling
• draft picks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NBA, AI

More episodes of Digital Social Hour

• Creepy Behind the Scenes of Matan's Podcast Exposed | DSH #2014 · June 12, 2026 · 45 min
• He Contacted Aliens & Says They're Coming In 2027! | DSH #2012 · June 11, 2026 · 35 min
• Your Body Knows Best, But We Stopped Listening... | Sierra Mead | DSH #2011 · June 10, 2026 · 44 min
• Marriage Is A Scam (And Nobody Wants To Admit It) | DSH #2010 · June 10, 2026 · 45 min
• Mary Bonnet Reveals The Truth About Selling Sunset Season 10... | DSH #2009 · June 9, 2026 · 30 min
• Shocking Reason Judah Smith Doesn't Like to Be Called a Christian | DSH #2008 · June 9, 2026 · 46 min