Ryan Resch, former Assistant General Manager and VP of Basketball Operations for the Phoenix Suns, joins guest host Jimmy Soni to discuss how data changed the NBA, why the advantage fades when every team works from the same information, and what AI changes next.
We explore his path from a cold email to Baylor coach Scott Drew to the 2021 NBA Finals, the difference between being right and being effective with data, how James Jones rebuilt the Suns by raising the floor instead of tanking, and how Ryan now leads data and AI work at 1949 Capital Partners.
KEY INSIGHTS
- Shared data leads to shared strategy. When every team reads the same dashboards, decisions converge, and the edge comes from proprietary questions asked of that data.
- Being right is not the same as being effective. Analytics only creates value when the insight changes a decision a coach, player, or executive has to make.
- Clear the negligence line first. Get fundamentals like rebounding and turnovers to baseline before chasing differentiation.
- AI transformation is operations transformation. Map how information turns into decisions, then apply AI one link at a time.
- Build your workspace for AI agents, not just for yourself. Ryan rebuilt his working directory four times in a month so agents can read each other's work.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
2:10 Early Life & Baylor Basketball
17:49 From Towels to Analytics
25:38 Being Right vs. Being Effective
32:18 College Sports Before & After NIL
44:02 Breaking Into the NBA
54:22 Raising the Floor Instead of Tanking
1:02:14 The Optical Tracking Era
1:07:09 When Everyone Has the Same Data
1:14:42 The Negligence Line
1:19:14 Leaving the NBA for Private Equity
1:23:27 AI as Operations Transformation
1:29:06 AI Agents & the Analog Life
1:34:21 Books, Media & Default Optimism
1:40:23 Two ideas: sustained thinking and work that faces reality
Guest: Ryan Resch, former Assistant General Manager and VP of Basketball Operations, Phoenix Suns. Leads data and AI at 1949 Capital Partners.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-resch-4a9498130/
Host: Jimmy Soni, editor-in-chief of Infinite Books, guest hosting for Jim O'Shaughnessy.
https://x.com/jimmyasoni
