How do you scout?

[the_peacemaker]

Just wanted to say I really hate scouting..
Is there anyway we scout much easier, I know you can scout 5 players each trip but there are lots of players to scout and I hate the way I scout them all each week... Just wanted to know how you guys do the scouting, do u scout all those players?

[Andrew]

There's no need to scout anyone who's unlikely to be available around the spot you're picking at. If you've got the best record in the league, you can generally forget about scouting anyone who isn't projected to be Late First Round or lower. You might want to check out a couple of other prospects in case someone does get passed over but you should only really worry about players you're actually going to have a realistic chance of picking.

I would recommend scouting five players per week, at least until you've got the full scoop on a decent amount of prospects. You may only want to focus on about five different players though I usually like to have up to ten different prospects. I have a Dynasty thread so I usually scout some of the top prospects a little just so that I can work them into an article if I so choose but that's overkill in most cases.

[the_peacemaker]

Btw, what does potential means?... some are average, limited, good, excellent.. what do they mean?

Second, what does projected mean? like top 10, late 1st round, etc...

[droptopflopmop]

Potential means (I believe) how they are expected to play once drafted. For example-if a player has a good potential, they are expected to adapt to the pros fairly well. (someone correct me if I am wrong here).

Projected means where they are expected to go in the draft. So Top 10 means this player is expected to be drafted by one of the top 10 picks. I find this often innacurate, somehow, but even still, it will give you a grasp of where a player is expected to go.

Hope that helps.

[Andrew]

Btw, what does potential means?... some are average, limited, good, excellent.. what do they mean?

Second, what does projected mean? like top 10, late 1st round, etc...

If you're looking for more of a dictionary definition, see here. When NBA analysts talk about a player's potential, they're referring to the possibility that he will improve and/or be a great player in the league, or the likelihood that he won't amount to much if he's considered as having not much potential.

It's much the same in NBA Live. Players with excellent potential are players that are seen to stand a good chance of improving year-to-year. Players with excellent potential are much easier to turn into stars. On the technical side of things, it means they have a high DESTINY rating, which is the hidden attribute that determines whether a player is likely to develop or not. At the other end of the scale you've got players with limited potential. They're not going to get much better over the course of their careers.

If you've got a low pick, you want to look for a player with a lot of potential, no lower than average at the absolute minimum. This means that even though the player you pick won't have impressive ratings now, there's a good chance he'll develop into a better player. On the other hand, a top pick with less potential is a bit safer since he's already one of the most talented players in the Draft.

Projected means where they are expected to go in the draft. So Top 10 means this player is expected to be drafted by one of the top 10 picks. I find this often innacurate, somehow, but even still, it will give you a grasp of where a player is expected to go

Agreed, though that's not unlike real life since players slip in the Draft all the time with teams picking out of need (or just making stupid picks).

[droptopflopmop]

Agreed, though that's not unlike real life since players slip in the Draft all the time with teams picking out of need (or just making stupid picks).

True, but I've scouted ten players around my projected pick (many times) and when draft time comes around, I practically never have a player available to draft that I've even scouted once.

[Andrew]

Really? I've never been that unlucky. Once you get past the projected 1st to 5th picks it gets kind of vague though. Top 15 and Late First Round both cover a lot of picks. In NBA Live 08 (and 07), the Mock Draft is probably a better indicator.

[Bruce]

I try to scout the top 20 most of time... occasionally they do fall to the late 1st round.

Usually, If the player is a pg/sg/sf I'd check if they have good offensive skills, if it is a big, how well they rebound, defense for the 1-3 position would be an extra. Shooting skills for big men would be fudge. It is rare in the game would generate a big man with Dirk Notwikzki type shooting skills.

[droptopflopmop]

Yeah, it happens to me alot, probably because i usually have a high pick in the draft.

[Andrew]

Usually, If the player is a pg/sg/sf I'd check if they have good offensive skills, if it is a big, how well they rebound, defense for the 1-3 position would be an extra. Shooting skills for big men would be fudge. It is rare in the game would generate a big man with Dirk Notwikzki type shooting skills.

Agreed. If they're decent in the areas they should be for their position, have good development potential and aren't undersized for their ideal position you've got yourself a fairly solid late first round pick.

[dascoot]

I try to scout all the players because you don't always know how your team will finish. The more players you scout the best chance to get a really good player. I scout a player and got Atlanta pick and my own pick. I got the 1st pick in a draft with a 6'7" named Aidan Lewis who is a cross between Rip Hamiliton and Kobe Bryant. I got a grade F but Aidan Lewis has ended up changing the face of my 76ers dynasty. Another thing to do is this see below


If you have three scouts and one has an a or b in off the other has an a or b in def and the third one has an a or b in athletics then take your five players and use each of the scouts and go once or twice on offense, defense and athletics.

I drafted 9 times on the first 20 players then 6 times on the next 40 players and then on the last thirty players 3 times. It is very rare in a draft to see a player like Dirk Nowtikzki or Tim duncan style skills.

[Andrew]

Absolutely, if you want to go to the time and effort scouting everyone allows you to make an informed decision no matter what happens but you can usually make an educated guess as the season progresses and your projected position in the Draft becomes clearer.

[dascoot]

another way I am thinking is this if you are looking for a defensive player then scout each player at least once or twice and only scout on defensive that way you can find out how much defense the players you scout will have. If you have one scout who is high on offense, another on def and then your third scout on athletics then scout the same 5 players once on all three. If you can't get through all 90 players and it's not easy to then try to get through at least 60 of them. Another idea is this pick 30 players based on height, draft position, player position.

[Andrew]

If you're not that enthusiastic about scouting though, between 10 and 20 is probably sufficient so long as you focus on players that are likely to be available when you pick comes up.