The San Antonio Spurs won the Alpha award for “best analytics organization” at last weekend’s MIT Sloan Sport Analytic Conference in Boston. Afterward, coach Gregg Popovich expressed surprise there was such a conference or such an award. As for analytics, Pop said, “There’s a use for it. But we don’t walk in every day and say, ‘Give me the analytics.’ It’s just one of the tools.” Bottom line: The Spurs aren’t whole hog behind analytics, but the award is given to them anyway because they’re perceived as the model NBA franchise.