Milwaukee Bucks owners employ face-reading expert to bolster team chemistry

The samebillionaireswho paid $550 million to buy the Milwaukee Bucks in Aprilhave reportedly hired an expert to use emotion metrics and neuroscience tools to help bolster the team by analyzing playersfacial expressions. This is was first reported not in the Onion, but the New York Times.

The experts name is Dan Hill, and he was originally brought on by Bucks owners Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry as a facial coding expert toread the expressions of possible recruits anddecide who had the right emotional attributes and attitude for the team. Hill apparently impressed Bucks management so much that they asked him to stay on to evaluate the chemistry between players for the rest of the season.

I look for quick, micro-expressions and instances of the say/feel gap said this, but felt that to guard clients against what I call speed bumps: hidden objections that keep a person from buying, if not recognized and addressed, Hill told to the Times about his methods, which are said to bolster more traditional evaluations of players, such as analytics.

We spend quite a bit of time evaluating the players as basketball players and analytically, Bucks assistant general manager David Morway told the Times. But the difficult piece of the puzzle is the psychological side of it, and not only psychological, character and personality issues, but also team chemistry issues.

Lest you think the Bucks havelost their minds, however, the team knows this all sounds like hocus pocus.

When daring enough to be creative, you have to be willing to be ridiculed, the Bucks psychologist Ramel Smith told the Times. People laugh until they see results.

The Bucks can use a little extra oomph this season. With a 14-15 record, the team sits third in the Pacific Division.

Actions speak louder than words and are a more natural medium for players who excel in getting in the zone and acting intuitively with great speed and skill, Hill, who previously worked with the NFL doing similar work in 2011, said. Verbal dexterity including in the interview is a nice-to-have, not a must-have. Besides, it might serve as camouflage.

There will be no camouflaging anything on Friday when the Bucks travel to Atlanta to play the 21-7 Hawks. The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST.

Marissa Payne writes for The Early Lead, a fast-breaking sports blog, where she focuses on what she calls the cultural anthropological side of sports, aka mostly the fun stuff. She is also an avid WWE fan.

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Milwaukee Bucks owners employ face-reading expert to bolster team chemistry