Daryl Morey made his way in the NBA by being a pioneer of analytics, dating back to his time working under Bill James at STATS, inc., where he developed several predictive algorithms that later helped guide his time as an executive.
Morey stuck with the plan in Houston, where they launched a ton of 3-point shots and ran up scores, helping to change the way the league looked at the 3-point shot in the process. He’s stayed on the cutting edge of analytics his entire career, right up to the point when he abandoned them completely.
Morey signed the disastrous contracts for Joel Embiid and Paul George, two older players with extensive injury histories that the analytics said were not a fit.