Sports franchises
Six seasons with the Detroit Pistons and WNBA Detroit Shock — scouting and draft prep with Basketball Operations, scoring games for NBA.com and WNBA.com — and today on the bench of a varsity program.
Box scores → Scouting → Wins
Data Driven Design · Nashville, TN
Data makes the call. We make it beautiful.
For 25 years Paul Hickey has turned data into decisions — in pro basketball, fantasy sports, the sports card market and the software behind them. Now we build that for card investors, fantasy platforms and sports teams.
Taking on sports card & hobby, fantasy sports and basketball program & team projects.
- 25 yrsusing data to make sports decisions, starting with the Pistons
- 30,000players in the IMPACT Wrestling Fantasy Game
- +1,279%ROI on one raw-to-grade play Hobby Flipper surfaced
- $500K+raised through the Pistons-Palace Foundation auction program
The mantra
One pattern. Every field we've played in.
Find the signal, make the decision, design the result people actually use. It's the same loop whether the question is which card to grade, which player to start, or how a franchise fills a building.
Fantasy sports
Nine years running a fantasy publication, columns for Athlon, Fanball, SI.com and Rotoworld, a 2009 Athlon experts-league title, and a 30,000-player fantasy game for IMPACT Wrestling.
Stats → Rankings → Wins
Sports cards
NoOffseason.com and Hobby Flipper rank cards by ROI from real eBay closing data — so collectors stop gambling on wax and start flipping with a plan.
Sales → ROI → Profit
Web & software
200+ websites and custom applications since founding Data Driven Design in 2016 — every one designed from analytics, not opinions.
Analytics → Design → Growth
What we build
Three lanes. Bring us the question.
We take on a small number of projects where data can change the outcome. If yours fits one of these, let's talk.
Sports cards & hobby
For card shops, breakers, grading services, marketplaces and hobby brands that want to sell on insight instead of hype.
- Pricing, ROI and grading-upside models
- eBay and sales-data pipelines
- Member platforms and analytics dashboards
- Card scanning, analyzer and submission tools
Fantasy sports
For fantasy operators, leagues, media brands and properties that want a game or tool their audience comes back to every week.
- Fantasy games for brands and leagues
- Rankings, projections and trade tools
- Dynasty and IDP league utilities
- Data-driven content and newsletters
Basketball programs & teams
For high school and college programs on Hudl who want more than box scores — and for franchises that want analytics behind the floor, the fans and the sponsors.
- Custom analytics built on your Hudl stats and film
- Player and team action items, not just numbers
- Shot maps, rebounding and possession tagging
- Player cards, scouting reports and team hubs
For high school & college basketball programs
Your Hudl data, turned into action items.
Delivering player and team based action items by taking your Hudl stats and film and turning it into a custom analytics platform with the insights your program cares about.
Hudl is great at storing film and keeping the book. Where most staffs run short is the next step: what does this mean for Tuesday's practice, and what does each kid work on this week? That's the part we build.
Green-light shot maps
Every player's shooting by zone, built from your Hudl shot charts and tagged games, so each kid knows exactly where he's cleared to shoot and where he's earning it. Small samples get pulled toward the team average, so one hot night doesn't hand out a green light.
Shot standards
Standard-shot rate and points per shot by shot tier. It turns "take better shots" into a number your team can chase every game.
Film tagging by voice
Tag possessions from film by voice or tap: set, defense, actions, result and shot zone. The goal is a full game in minutes, not a lost Sunday.
Courtside play-call log
Log play calls and defenses from the bench on a phone, by voice, even offline. Then sync them to film so you can see which calls actually scored.
Rebounding & the Hit Board
Crash or get-back roles for every player, box-outs and hits charted live, and a Hit Board that ranks effort across practices and games.
Player cards & approved insights
Each player signs in to his own card: shot map, development focus and goals. Insights only reach players after a coach approves them, and every one has to come with an action.
Scouting reports
Opponent defense, personnel, end-of-game tendencies and film playlists, all in one report.
Built for your staff
Your terminology, your sets, your metrics. A platform shaped around what your program already coaches, not a generic dashboard.
Selected work
Products we built and run ourselves.
The best proof we use data to create beautiful results: we bet our own businesses on it.
Sports cards · Analytics product · Laravel web app
Hobby Flipper
A card-market tool that tells you the play, not just the price.
Six decision screens — Movements, Raw-to-Grade upside, Top Sellers, Sale Timing, Flipper Rankings and Portfolio Sell Alerts — that rank cards by ROI and say what to buy, grade and sell.
- +1,279%ROI on a single raw-to-grade play it surfaced
- 1,000sof cards ranked by ROI
- 6decision tools in one app
Franchises
Detroit Pistons & WNBA Detroit Shock
Six seasons inside an NBA and WNBA franchise — where the data habit started.
$500K+ raised by the Pistons-Palace Foundation auction program he managed 2001 – 2007 Sports cardsNoOffseason.com
From a fantasy football publication to a data-driven sports card company.
20 years running — since April 2006 2006 – now Fantasy sportsIMPACT Wrestling Fantasy Game
A fantasy game that brought a wrestling brand into the fantasy sports world.
30,000 players over a single year 2010 – 2012 Sports cardsSports Card Strategy Show
A content network that teaches collectors to decide with data.
11 strategy shows across the network Content network BasketballRavenwood Analytics
A program's Hudl stats and film, turned into action items for every player.
11 coaching screens in one platform 2026 – 27 season Your projectThis spot's open.
Card business, fantasy platform or team — tell us the decision you need to get right.
Start a project →How we work
From raw data to the result on screen.
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01
Find the signal
We start with the decision you need to make, then go find the data that actually moves it — sales comps, stats, ticketing, traffic — and throw out the rest.
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02
Model the decision
Rankings, ROI, projections, timing. We turn the data into a clear answer: buy or pass, start or sit, which sponsor, which night.
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03
Design the result
Beautiful, fast interfaces that put the answer first — web apps, member sites, dashboards and games people come back to.
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04
Measure and repeat
Every launch is instrumented. We watch what users do, prove the ROI, and keep tuning — the same way we run our own products.
Who's behind it
Built by an operator, not an agency.
I'm Paul Hickey. I started in pro basketball with the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Shock — scouting and draft prep with Basketball Operations, scoring games for NBA.com and WNBA.com — then spent nine years running a fantasy football publication and writing for SI.com and Rotoworld, and now run NoOffseason.com and Hobby Flipper — while coaching varsity basketball at Ravenwood.
Every one of those jobs came down to the same thing: find the data, make the call, and build something people want to use. That's what Data Driven Design does for you.
The full story →Ready?
Bring us the need. We'll bring the data driven decisions.
Sports card & hobby, fantasy sports, or a basketball program that wants better results. Tell us what you're building.