NBA Scout
Encyclopedia
NBA scouts are professionals hired by NBA
franchises to evaluate player talent or opposing teams' preparation or strategies. A prospect scout typically looks for younger players with potential or existing players whose rights may be available through free agency
or trade. An advance scout, however, helps prepare the team by studying the strategies or tendencies of opposing teams. Scouts travel extensively, attending basketball games to do these evaluations.
In the late 1990s, NBA scouts began using computers to organize information or compile data used to evaluate and grade each player or team being scouted.
capabilities, ball handling, defensive capabilities, and passing
abilities. The scout will also attempt to note the presence or absence of intangibles such as coachability, character
, desire, and instincts.
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
franchises to evaluate player talent or opposing teams' preparation or strategies. A prospect scout typically looks for younger players with potential or existing players whose rights may be available through free agency
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
or trade. An advance scout, however, helps prepare the team by studying the strategies or tendencies of opposing teams. Scouts travel extensively, attending basketball games to do these evaluations.
Scouting attire and equipment
Scouts will sometimes dress very casually so as to blend in with the public and fans at the game. This is done so other teams do not know the players that their respective organization may be actively interested in.In the late 1990s, NBA scouts began using computers to organize information or compile data used to evaluate and grade each player or team being scouted.
Scouting criteria
There are many factors which contribute to a scout's analysis of a player and scouts place differing importance on each of these factors. This is commonly called projection. Projection influences some of the best and worst decisions scouts and general managers make. The most basic projections which a scout must make include the player's physical status such as height, weight, age, position, and conditioning. The scout will also the study the player's skillset including: shooting and scoringScore (game)
In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties...
capabilities, ball handling, defensive capabilities, and passing
Passing (sports)
Passing is a common technique in sports that use balls and pucks. A pass consists of an intentional transfer of the ball from one player to another of the same team. Examples of sports that involve passing are association football, basketball, ice hockey, and American football...
abilities. The scout will also attempt to note the presence or absence of intangibles such as coachability, character
Moral character
Moral character or character is an evaluation of a particular individual's durable moral qualities. The concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits...
, desire, and instincts.