Drafting In the 21st Century

So why are some players like Cal Ripken and Paul Molitor built for the long haul, while others fizzle out faster than a generic diet cola? The people at Facial Action Coding System (FACS) are telling league and team owners that it's their psychological make-up. Many players have what it takes to physically excel at a sport, but if most of your draft picks never go much beyond their first couple seasons of play, FACS tells us you can by and large predict that.

How? By reading micro-facial gesture expressions during interviews. A few seasons ago, FOX television had a show about a guy who specialized in these emotional micro-gestures to see if people were lying. It was called, appropriately, "Lie to Me." Though based on real science, there really wasn't such an organization.

Until now.

FACS is now working with teams in much the same way as the show portrayed. They put the potential draft picks through a series of tough interviews to see how the players react to tense questioning and uncomfortable environments. Through this they can access all sorts of real reactions from the players even if the rookies to be are looking "cool and calm" to the average interviewer. The micro-expressions register inner happiness, surprise, contempt, disgust, sadness, anger and fear. How they react, tells owners who the top prospects are.

Milwaukee Bucks owners Wesley Edens and Mark Lasry, who bought the team in April for $500 million are the first team owners to fully embrace the organization's technology. They expect to make better picks than other teams when it comes down to that "next draft pick." It also shows them who the troublemakers are likely to be.

They want every advantage when taking their next draft pick. Watch other teams follow suit if the Bucks show improvement. While other teams are dabbling with this new technology, the Bucks are already "all in." They feel that's the best way to compete NOW.

It'll still take a few years to fill their team with top draft picks though. So we won't know the results of this brave new experiment for a few more seasons.

Along with improved metric studies, today's scouts maybe out of jobs before long, all replaced by computer geeks and stat-nuts.

There's hope for me yet. Just remember we're always compiling and watching.