Scouting or CNP-AOL, by Tim Shea

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After having played and coached in Europe since 1972 I began working for the NY Knicks as their European scout in the 1994-1995 basketball season… And although I had been a relatively successful professional Head Coach in Spain and its ACB league and with selecting impact American players like the, at that time, arguably best foreign Point Guard to ever play in Spain in Andre Turner and his COREN Ourense teammate, the phenomenal Chandler Thompson, I soon realized that for the NBA business I still had a lot to learn.  As a Coach and to evaluate possible players to recruit for my teams I had used a personal, very simple formula which was;  T.A.I.A. which represented Talent, Athleticism, Intelligence, Ambition.   I quickly found out that scouting NBA-level basketball prospects involved more than my simple formula. It involved a much wider range of physical, mental, technical, and intangible characteristics. An NBA scout was required to look for not only current performance but also their potential for development on what the NBA experts called ""the next level"".   It was now scouting for and searching for, PROSPECTS and every piece of information that could be found was like finding another gold nugget.  I must add here that, at that time in 1995, there still existed a very strong prejudice in relation to ""non-American"" players. It translated into their being considered, ""too soft"" for the NBA game also known as ""not tough enough"". I disagreed. And in the many, many, many staff meetings that were held prior to Draft Day (which I still consider ""Overkill"") I would on occasion fervently voice my disagreement. In one meeting I was lectured by an ""old school"" NBA veteran expert and told, ""I should never ""fall in love"" with prospects and needed to think of them more as ""Stocks or Bonds"" that I should be colder and calculating.   In my mind that NBA prejudice converted to misled, faulty logic.   To be clear. A total of 6 foreign players picked (of 60) in 1995.   Since then that number has grown exponentially to 27 drafted in 2016.   So much for soft!  To get into the specifics here is a comprehensive breakdown of what is involved in scouting an NBA prospect whether in the US or anywhere else in the world. These categories are ""Musts"" measurements and values used nowadays by all NBA scouts.     PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 
  1. Height & Length
  • Ideal height for position (PG, SG, SF, PF, C) 
  • Wingspan (arm reach) (often more important than height) 
  • Standing reach 
  1. Athleticism
  • Explosiveness: First step, vertical leap, dunking ability 
  • Lateral quickness: Staying in front of defenders, switching 
  • Speed & acceleration: Transition offense/defense 
  • Agility: Ability to change direction rapidly 
  • Balance & Hand to Eye to Foot coordination 
  1. Strength
  • Core and upper body strength 
  • Ability to absorb contact 
  • Post play / box outs 
  1. Endurance & Conditioning
  • Stamina over extended minutes 
  • Ability to play at a high pace for long stretches 
  1. Durability / Injury History
  • History of significant injuries 
  • Body mechanics and durability for the NBA schedule 
   MENTAL and INTANGIBLE CHARACTERISTICS 
  1. Basketball IQ
  • Understanding of game flow, spacing, timing 
  • Reading defenses/offenses 
  • Making the right decisions (on both offense and defense) 
  • Off-ball movement, help defense instincts and capabilities 
  1. Work Ethic
  • Practice work ethic 
  • Commitment to improvement 
  • Gym rat mentality 
  • Offseason development habits 
 
  1. Competitiveness
  • Desire to win 
  • Reluctance to back down from tough matchups 
  • Willingness to defend, dive for loose balls, etc. 
  1. Coachability
  • Takes feedback and implements it 
  • Doesn’t sulk or argue with coaching staff 
  1. Mental Toughness
  • Resilience under pressure 
  • Clutch performance 
  • Ability to bounce back from bad games 
  1. Focus & Consistency
  • Locked in on game plan 
  • Avoiding mental lapses 
  • Can deliver consistently 
  1. Leadership & Team Dynamics
  • Vocal or lead-by-example leadership 
  • Good locker room presence 
  • Not a locker room distraction 
   TECHNICAL SKILLS 
  1. Shooting
  • Mechanics: repeatable, quick release, balance 
  • Range: NBA 3-point line, pull-up range 
  • Free throw consistency (indicator of touch) 
  1. Ball Handling
  • Handles under pressure 
  • Can create own shot 
  • Dribbling in tight spaces 
  1. Passing & Vision
  • Court awareness 
  • Decision-making with the ball 
  • Passing on the move, in transition 
  1. Defense
  • On-ball defense: positioning, anticipation 
  • Off-ball defense: rotations, help 
  • Ability to guard multiple positions 
  • Use of hands, footwork, timing 
  1. Rebounding
  • Reads off the glass 
  • Box-out fundamentals 
  • Rebounds outside of his area 
  1. Versatility
  • Can play multiple positions 
  • Fits in different systems/schemes 
  • Adapts to role changes 
   SCOUTING FOR THE POTENTIAL  For all these young players, scouts project: 
  • Growth potential physically and skill-wise 
  • Age relative to competition 
  • Maturity and learning curve 
   For the more advanced readers these below are the metrics driven prospect/player aspects that have become the bread and butter of the present day NBA clubs. They involve data based formulas that are carefully measured, followed and are constantly updated.      EVALUATIVE METRICS & DATA-DRIVEN SCOUTING  Scouts also incorporate analytics and advanced stats: 
  • PER, TS%, usage rate, defensive rating 
  • Shot chart efficiency 
  • Plus-minus data 
  • Synergy play type data (isolation, pick-and-roll, spot-up) 
  That season, back in 1994, I was FedExing video cassettes from Spain to the New York, USA just as I did later for the Phoenix Suns.   How times, like the game itself, have changed.  And to this point I add a final anecdote.     *A Hall of Fame member and elderly, wonderful man and a ex-NBA player named Dick McGuire (RIP) was a decades long veteran of the NYK coaching and scouting staff.   It became known in the club that when he returned from scouting trips his reports would have the name of the player scouted, the school where he played and below those, where the actual report was expected, there would often be only large bold letters.  Those letters were:  ""CNP"" and nothing more.  Asked to explain what these letters stood for he said:  CNP was Can Not Play.  The NYK President Ernie Grunfeld, surprised and shocked, asked that in future reports he could be more elaborate, explanatory and specific.  Dick agreed and after returning from his next trip he handed in his report, and it had the letters:  CNP-AOL  He was asked to explain this, and he said that the prospect,  ""Can Not Play - At Our Level""  He was one of a kind!  End of story.     Below please find our NYK 1995 (now primitive) Scouting Form