The NBA playoff are well underway and the Fantasy Five bets are on. Which team will walk away with the championship? I am betting on the team that uses wearable tech in practice will show enhanced performance over their competitors. Those current NBA teams are: The Golden State Warriors, and Miami Heat.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thomson hold the NBA record in most points scored in a season. This is not by coincidence, within the past two years The Warriors have been using a two devices: Blast Motion Basketball and Shot Tracker. Even James Ennis, from the Miami Heat, has used these wearable devices.
Blast Motion is a visualizer of your movement. You clip a small sensor onto the back of your shorts or wear it on your wrist with their wristband. Then, your coach can record your movement with their phone through the Blast Motion app. Take you shot and see the physics of your ball in motion. Blast Motion can also measure your jump acceleration, vertical height, rotation, and hang time. You can compare progress in their video library and share cool videos on your social media outlets.
Blast Basketball Replay from Blast Motion on Vimeo.
Shot Tracker was already mentioned by WT in this article. Essentially, the player wears a sensor while another sensor is hooked onto the basketball net. Together the devices speak to each other to share the statistics on the physics of the player and the ball.
Maimi Heat uses a device called VERT. These guys made a scene at CES2016 with their loud music and live performance demos. Their technology measures a persons’ jump ability: G-Force, jump height, jump count, surge count and every peak G-Force measurement. They are also used in volleyball.
Catapult Sports is also making their way up from down under (bases in Australia). They create sensor for wearable sports analytics on a hole. Their sensor technology is not only improving performance and decreasing injurie, but it is heating up a debate about privacy regulations. The fear is that the stats of the game, and the health of the body can be used when trading players. However, with the proper updated policies put in places, wearable tech could soon make its way onto the court from practice to games.
Lastly, there are two competing products that are not sensors placed on the body but sensors placed on within the basketball. WilsonX and 94Fifty. WilsonX is used in tandom with headphones to your smart phone. The player will hear sounds as if they are in the game, crowds cheering and information from the sports commentators. 94Fifty is more simple in their ability to just count shots made vs. shots missed.
Let’s see where the season takes us. Innovation is only possibly with implementation. I soon hope that all the teams in the NBA are using wearable tech in enhance their performance and take the players to the next level.
