Feature Friday: The NBA Dashboard

This evening, twenty four of the thirty NBA teams will be in action. If you are an NBA fan, keeping track of all that action is not easy. My colleague Jonathan Libov wanted a quick mobile dashboard to keep track of NBA action and so he and some friends built it.

The app is called Twenty Four and has been in the app store for a few days now.

Last night was fairly light but here’s what it looked like on Twenty Four:

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If you click on the Thunder Cavs card in that feed you get this:

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So Twenty Four makes a nice Twitter client for watching live NBA basketball.

You also get notifications when a game is close in the fourth quarter.

This is tonight’s lineup:

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I’m going to a holiday party but will pull out my phone and check out the action quickly. You might want to try that too. You can get Twenty Four here.

#mobile#Sports

Comments (Archived):

  1. jason wright

    not that i know anything about basketball, but what are those wavy bars saying?what’s “OKC era”?

    1. pointsnfigures

      OKC was in Seattle as the Seattle Supersonics prior to being in Oklahoma City. Supersonics used to have a player that could light it up from way outside, Downtown Freddie Brown.

      1. William Mougayar

        Oh man, I remember Freddy Brown & that team who won the championship in 1979. Used to live in Seattle then.

      2. awaldstein

        Made me think of my days living in Wallingford. Really loved Seattle.

  2. pointsnfigures

    Notice that the Knicks and Celts have played a few more games than the Cavs and Bulls. I like the NBA page Yahoo has for Tumblr. They show you the best dunks from the night before. I don’t know what to think about Golden State’s run. They don’t strike me as dominating as Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Can the app tell me when DRose is going to be hurt?

  3. kirklove

    29 teams. Pretty sure my Sixers are in the D League now.

    1. fredwilson

      I think Coangleo is gonna bring back Elton Brand to mention the young guy. Strong move if it happens

      1. kirklove

        As a player? Oro just mentor/personal coach?

        1. kidmercury

          they should bring AI back in some kind of inspirational role….even larry brown said so!

          1. kirklove

            I’d love that! And I love The Answer.

      2. Michael B. Aronson

        I you havent seen it, watch Charles Barkley’s eulogy of Moses Malone where he talks about how Moses took him under his wing when he was just starting out in the NBA, about practice , diet etc. Great stuff and what JO needs

      3. JamesHRH

        D’Antonio hired as Associate Coach today…….things are so sideways in Philly they make Sacramento look like a model franchise.it continues to amaze how many business moguls treat their sports investments so amateurishly. Robert Kraft should run seminars.

      4. JaredMermey

        If Philly finally gets lucky and gets the #1 pick (~25%) and can draft Ben Simmons, I wonder if Hinkie will ever get credit or if it will fall to Colangelo. The latter is a great hire because the team is about ready to become active in Free Agency and he will be able to recruit.They will be able to trade two of the four b/w Noels, Okafor, Saric, and Embiid. The remaining two plus Simmons plus potentially another lottery pick from the Lakers this year is a strong, young core.#TheProcess has been hampered by bad luck (ping pong balls + injury) but it has worked. Unfortunately it has been painful for Sixers fans to go through, but their future is brighter than a lot of teams stuck in mediocrity.

        1. kidmercury

          #TrusttheProcess for sure! especially the internet crowd, the sixers are taking a very data-driven approach here. if they can sign one big star, get saric, embiid, simmons, plus all the picks they have, they can turn this around real quickly.as a sixers fan i love it, though once this works out well for them, it will really highlight the flawed incentives in the lottery system.

      5. creative group

        Fred:Are you referring to the Olympic team? If so who would be left off? Brand adds nothing but a great attitude but no production at that position.

    2. kidmercury

      no worries….the seeds have been sown. now time to start reaping the fruit. #TrusttheProcesshttp://nba.derekbodner.com/…okafor will be a star. noel has potential to be a solid defender, hopefully joakim noah style. they can turn this around real quickly by signing a big star when the free agent salary cap hike bonanza begins, packaging all the picks they have to trade up or for another star, and hopefully drafting ben simmons. not to mention embiid and saric. saric will fit the trend of having guys 6’10” up who are a serious 3 point threat. embiid might be a bust, but even in the small ball age still gotta go for anyone reminiscent of olajuwon.

  4. cy

    Nice work. Where are you getting the content for this app?

    1. Jonathan Libov

      Twitter

      1. pointsnfigures

        Did they make a seed investment in your app a la Slack? heh

        1. Jonathan Libov

          Not not yet 🙂

      2. Rob Larson

        You get the real-time game scores from twitter as well? (Didn’t know that was possible)

  5. jason wright

    are NBA players wearing data devices?

    1. Oren Moravchik

      Not in games, yet. It requires league authorization. Some teams use tracking in practice, For example GSW use Catapult. All games are currently tracked using Stats’ SportVU system.

    2. Tyler

      The Spurs use them in practice, and I’m pretty sure their D-League team wears them in games.It’s coming soon though, I’d suspect within 2-3 seasons. As much as analytics and advanced stats have changed the game on the court, all the new data coming in from wearables is going to greatly impact and improve player health.

    3. JamesHRH

      Rugby does this.This is really interesting too…http://espn.go.com/nba/stor…

  6. Oren Moravchik

    Looks great! When is it coming to Android, and what am I supposed to do until then?

    1. Jonathan Libov

      We’re looking into that, but first we want to see if we have an app that people really like. Stay tuned

      1. pointsnfigures

        Fred discovers the joys of having an iPhone. He couldn’t have done this a month ago!

  7. Tom Labus

    Lin scored 35 last night for the Hornets. I wish he was on the Nets, we could use something.

    1. creative group

      Tom Labus:The Hornets would be happy to give him to you with contract to boot. At an average of 11 points and 2 assists nothing to write home about. Lion is average. Lowery or I. Thomas are the guards worth desiring.

  8. Vikram

    Since we’re talking hoops, what are your thoughts on Porzingis, Fred? Is he the real deal? I think he might be but it’s obviously early.

    1. JaredMermey

      The question porzingis forces is would you trade Melo? I’m far from a Melo hater and think he is still a top 15 player, but if the NYK can get both Justice Winslow and Willy Caully-Stein as Chad Ford hypothesized the other day then I think you have to do it. With no picks this year, the NYK need guys in the same career arc as the KP.

  9. Bruce Warila

    Exactly! If Twitter could put these types of “dashboard” interfaces on top of the checkbook ledger (timeline), it would be a whole lot more useful. My rant on this: http://j.mp/1ME13vh

    1. Jonathan Libov

      This was one of the other motivations for building the app. There’s too much great basketball content on Twitter that too many basketball fans don’t see because they’re intimidated by Twitter. With Twenty Four we wanted to do the work of curating it for you. In a way, the app icon on the springboard is like a Twitter list.

      1. creative group

        Jonathan Libov: (JL)Intimidated? More like over saturated with useless apps that people who have an interest and investment who push the masses to use.Every app isn’t useful to everyone.There is no non business need for us to use many apps. Letting people know when you are on the toilet, grocery shopping, vacation, etc.Real friends we called and let know.News flash! People on social media you never engaged meaningful anything are not your friends.

      2. jason wright

        you could sell it to Yahoo and keep Marissa in a job.

  10. creative group

    Fred:Thank you for this post but it neglects theone Billion Android users. Android 70% share vsiOS 28% share. We get that iOS developers outpace Android developers in getting compensated. ($10 billion to $5 billion http://techland.time.com/20….Awaiting a more inclusive post.Knicks have rookie of the year to this point.http://espn.go.com/nba/stor…Yankees, Giants, Knicks, Rangers, Liberty!(The only teams worth supporting if youare a New Yorker)

    1. Jonathan Libov

      One step at a time. This is just a side project for us so first we need to see if people like the concept before we explore whether to do this for Android.

      1. creative group

        Jonathan Libov: (JL)If you want to explore or measure interest you do it with the largest possible exposure. You will know quicker if you have an app that is sustainable.Scale, Scale, Scale!

        1. anthonybissell

          Scaling is very important, but JL is right. The current model for most companies is Apple first where the $/user potential is higher, tend to be early adopters of new tech, and you only have to program for 4-5 screens. Android is a monstrous beast–although with huge potential given the larger user base–if wrangled.

          1. Michael Elling

            One would think that someone (some vendor or group of vendors) would by now have built some translation code to handle this issue, no?Simply do not understand the vertical thinking of these folks, when a horizontal solution makes them all so much more profitable against the Apple hegemony.

          2. anthonybissell

            There are. PhoneGap is one of the most popular choices that allows you to create a hybrid app for both stores. However, there are still TONS of nuances given each app’s use case that is difficult to tease out across all of the potential android device formats. You’re still increasing your production time and everyone knows that the best thing you can do is put the app in users hands ASAP. You want to start iterating yesterday.And you’re right that a horizontal solution is definitely better. More users, more downloads, more money. It’s basic numbers. But when you want to prototype, which is what JL said they’re doing right now, simplification is better.

          3. Michael Elling

            Thanks. It still behooves the phone vendors to work together and make the process of PhoneGap and others (more) seamless for the app developer, especially as upgrades will go through the same headaches, no? The vendors still don’t get that it’s “all about the app.” There’s a lot behind that statement and Jobs was one of the few who not only knew it but nailed it.Also, this horizontal perspective isn’t just about apps, but system features like touch (to Fred’s point several weeks ago), character/voice recognition, pencil/stylus in which the vendors could work together and depreciate Google’s control over the ecosystem. By making these standards ubiquitous across many platforms the app developers will be more drawn to the Android ecosystem. (This coming from a frustrated, big thumbed, Note4 user who would love to be using the stylus most of the time; still love the device, notwithstanding.)Note, I am aware there is no “settlement” model to provide incentives between vendors and app developers to create this more horizontal vision. Maybe this could develop from Apptopia or its investor groups’ portfolio companies.

          4. anthonybissell

            I certainly appreciate your sentiment and I think we’ve ended up at exactly the same place with more clarity.Apptopia provides competitive insights (downloads, revenue, among other performance metrics), so we’re not in the app development space. We sure would welcome this sort of movement.

          5. Lawrence Brass

            There are interesting approaches solving this, check Xamarin. It is based on the Mono project, and led by Miguel de Icaza.http://xamarin.comAt an initial stage we evaluated using Xamarin for our products but finally chose to ‘be native’. Targeting multiplatform natively is hard for small teams, but can be very rewarding. We are now playing with Apple Watch (Watch OS 2) and Apple tv (tv OS), and we are having fun!

  11. William Mougayar

    Neat App. JL: how do you pick out the tweets- based on social strength? And do you do further analysis to reject some?

    1. Jonathan Libov

      They’re just lists we’ve curated.

  12. William Mougayar

    Watch for Biyombo from the Raptors. He’s going to keep erupting into new highs. He does meditation too, which is rare for NBA players.

    1. JamesHRH

      Bismack?I think the key to the Raptors success will be the bigs staying healthy (JV & Scola) and the secondary 3 point shooting (Patterson, Ross). And their commitment to team defence.Same as everybody else who doesn’t have LbJ.

      1. William Mougayar

        yup. so early to tell, still. but i prefer they start slow and end better, vs. start strong and fizzle like last year.

  13. kirklove

    Really neat app. Same posse that did the football one?I especially love the game trend chart. That’s slick and gives you that instant snapshot of how the game is going/went and where the runs were or how much a team dominated the entire game.One quibble – pull to refresh is so ubiquitous and habitual now that the pull down to reveal team is awkward.Though bonus points for making the logo tappable to snap you back to “Today”

    1. Jonathan Libov

      Yes, we did Fifty but shut it downRe: Game chart, exactly. Also note that you can tap on the little graph to expand and share. We need to make that more discoverable.Pull to refresh: Yeah we’ve gotten that feedback. Still unsure there but pull to refresh wouldn’t actually refresh anything.Glad you caught the logo tap.Enjoy!

      1. anthonybissell

        If the game was in progress, pull to refresh wouldn’t update the instant snapshot? (Sorry, I have an android and can’t download the app to check if out if I’m missing something).

        1. Jonathan Libov

          no, it’s updated every minute regardless

          1. anthonybissell

            Interesting. I wonder if people would like it better if you could opt-in/out to the auto-update and you pulled-down to refresh the data whenever you wanted it. Might feel more like discovering what’s happening.

  14. anthonybissell

    Fred,The interface is really slick and modern. It has a pretty good following with several hundred downloads (estimate) since launch. Although, it appears to be on the downtrend from a top rank of 114th to now 548th in Sports. Will be interesting to see where it goes especially when basketball heats up in March.Cheers,Tony*note: I am the Lead Data Scientist for https://apptopia.com a Mobile App Insights company.

    1. Jonathan Libov

      Those numbers are accurate

      1. anthonybissell

        Thanks JL, After seeing you had an app on football, I’d encourage you to look at the publisher “Ketchapp” to see what they’re doing with games. They’ve successfully released dozens of ‘template’ games in different topics to see what sticks. Once you have your design template and features down, that might be a viable option with different sports.

  15. Michael B. Aronson

    It would be nice in Philly had an NBA team! Would love this for college (my PENN Quakers), ESPN app is good but more than I need

  16. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Fun 🙂 Is this Swift or something like Phonegap? Can you retweet, reply and like from the Twitter client?

    1. Jonathan Libov

      Swift. And no, we don’t have any of those Twitter features for the time being. We might add it but building a fully-featured Twitter client is a big commitment, we’re not sure we’ll ever get there.

      1. Kirsten Lambertsen

        I’m hip 😉

      2. Kirsten Lambertsen

        Sorry, one more nosey question if you have time: is everything contained in the mobile app? Or did you also build a server-based component to, say, process the data first? Thanks!

        1. Jonathan Libov

          Server

  17. JaredMermey

    NBA League Pass is one of the best $200 I have ever spent — especially living out of market from the Knicks. There is a lot of talent in the league right now, which combined with the rule changes of the last decade has led to some of the most aesthetically appealing basketball in a long time.

    1. Tyler

      Between the talent (Philly the exception obv), the avenues in which one can consume games/content, and the way the game is played now (more passing and ball movement compared to the iso-heavy 90’s), I don’t think it’s ever been better.Having said that, IMO there’s no better experience than going to a live game. I still get chills when I walk out from the concourse and into the “bowl” of the arena – court down below, almost 360 deg view of the arena, teams warming up. Makes me want to go hoop.

      1. JaredMermey

        When you are at the arena, especially when you have a good seat, you realize (1) how big these guys are, (2) how fast/quick these guys are, and (3) how physical the game is.

        1. Tyler

          Yup. Especially in the paint. It’s a bloodbath. When the shot goes up, it’s practically football down low.That, plus running through the dizzying amount of ball screens when you’re trying to defend a guard. I cringe every time I see Tim Duncan smash an unsuspecting guard.

    2. creative group

      We concur!Dialogue from Crimson Tide:__________________Capt. Ramsey: Speaking of horses did you ever see those Lipizzaner stallions.Hunter: What?Capt. Ramsey: From Portugal. The Lipizzaner stallions. The most highly trained horses in the world. They’re all white?Hunter: Yes, sir.Capt. Ramsey: “Yes, sir” you’re aware they’re all white or “Yes, sir” you’ve seen them?Hunter: Yes, sir I’ve seen them. Yes, sir I was aware that they’re are all white. They are not from Portugal; they’re from Spain and at birth, they’re not white; they’re black. Sir.Capt. Ramsey: I didn’t know that. But they are from Portugal.

  18. Jaime Meeker

    There is no need of any apps to follow scores this season. ‘cuz Spurs will win it all and Timmy will get his 6th

  19. Omar Chastin

    For the droidsters among us, check out Thuuz, Warren Packard of DFJ creation, performs game intensity ranking, covers any imaginable sports league and is best way I’ve found to stay abreast in real time via mobile. May the sports be with you!

  20. Nik Bonaddio

    Looks great – but conceptually super similar to numberFire Live. Looks like there’s a lot of movement in this space.

    1. anthonybissell

      Absolutely. Sports is the number 4 category for the most new releases in the last week. Only Dice games, Photography, and Music apps beat it*.*as reported by http://apptopia.com

  21. Thor Snilsberg

    That is a great app for fans. I’ll check it out.Has anyone here attended the NBA’s annual Tech Summit? Please share your thoughts here if you have. It is the toughest ticket to get during the NBA owners meetings traditionally held over All Star Weekend. My uncle is a partner in the (young run and gun) Timberwolves and has been sharing bits of it with me over the last couple years.* Lots of talk on fantasy sports technology and the importance of gambling to future revenue growth* Lots of strategies for apps like the one Fred posted for “in game” engagement* Lots of presentations on sabermetric type statistics general managers are using* Most interesting to me is the sensors players are wearing. Tracking simple stuff like acceleration, total distance traveled, etc. Data analysis on heart rate is already being used to sub players in and out and to see who is playing hard or not. Most impressive to me is the study underway to track the release of specific chemicals in the bloodstream. All this offers a whole new way to see who is clutch when the game is on the line – some players heart rate drops – others see changes in adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. AMAZING STUFF!* Of course everything is fueled by big data.

  22. Thor Snilsberg

    Great app for fans! I’ll share it with the hoops junkies I text with during games.Anyone been to the NBA’s Tech Summit? Share your experiences here if you have! It is the toughest ticket to get at the annual owners meeting held over All Star Weekend. I’ve been getting the lowdown from my uncle who is a partner in the (young and gun) Timberwolves.* Lots of talk on fantasy sports and the importance of gambling to future revenue growth* Lots of examples of new sabermetrics style analytics general managers are using* Lots on the importance of “in game” fan engagement and the role apps like Twenty Four are playing* Most interesting to me is growing use of sensors. Simple stuff is being tracked like acceleration, explosiveness after contact, distance traveled, etc. Some teams are already using heart rate to inform substitutions and see who is dogging it. Most interesting to me are the new indicators of who is clutch. Some players heart rate drops in clutch situations and chemicals in bloodstream like adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are being tracked.* Of course all this is powered by big data

  23. Pete Griffiths

    I’m a lakers fan. Why would I need something that will amplify my pain?

    1. Greg Holmes

      am sorry but you will continue to have this laker pain throughout the next decade.

  24. Greg Holmes

    I am sorry but you will continue to have this laker pain throughout the next decade.

  25. Erin

    Good idea.