  Experience is an important asset in almost any professional activity. In
basketball, there is believed to be a positive association between coaching
experience and effective use of team timeouts. Here, we analyze both the extent
to which a team's change in scoring margin per possession after timeouts
deviate from the team's average scoring margin per possession---what we called
timeout factor, and the extent to which this performance measure is associated
with coaching experience across all teams in the National Basketball
Association over the 2009-2012 seasons. We find that timeout factor plays a
minor role in the scoring dynamics of basketball. Surprisingly, we find that
timeout factor is negatively associated with coaching experience. Our findings
support empirical studies showing that, under certain conditions, mentors early
in their careers can have a stronger positive impact on their teams than later
in their careers.
