How to write a basketball scouting report

How to make a Perfect Scouting Report in Basketball

Scouting report in basketball is a very important thing if you are trying to run a serious basketball organization. Depending on the information gathered by your scouts, you are going to know the strengths and the weaknesses of the opponents, and you are going to be prepared to exploit those flaws. Professional teams are spending millions of dollars a year in order to have a perfect scouting report for each game.
As much as it is overwhelming to hear how some of the teams like to invest in a scouting report, I think that everything you need is a piece of paper and goodwill to be concentrated on the game in terms of details.

Scouting report in basketball should contain the next set of information:

1. General Information
2. Team Offense Info
3. Team Defense Info
4. Individual Player Scouting Report
5. Team Offense Patterns
6. Team Defense Patterns
7. Transition Offense

1.

Every scouting report in basketball should start with the General Information. As you can see, this page should have the name of teams that are playing a game and the teams rankings on the leader. I also like to put the current record just because it can tell the urgency for the teams. Then, there must be information about the place, date and time of the game, the league that the teams are playing and the name of the scout.
Underneath should be the score by the quarters, good information on how the teams were playing throughout the game. Many coaches neglect this information, but, it is very important to know what is the dynamics of the opposing team. Some teams play better early, some teams play better late. If you have the information that the opponent is playing its best basketball in the third quarter, then you are going to try and play aggressive defense at the start of the second half.

2. Team Offense Info

Scouting report in basketball is highly dependable on analyzing the other team offense. This peace of information is going to make our defensive preparations better and easier.

1. Team offense is run trough patterns or is it more of a free-minded game where players can play what comes in their mind. If there are patterns, you will need to draw them and point out the targeted players or situations. If its a game without patterns, then you will need to write what is the go-to action, is it 1 on 1 with making the defense move or is it a ball on the low post.

2. This question is important to know because it is going to tell you if you are playing against a team that likes to control the tempo and play a bit slower or you are up against run and gun team.

3. If there is continuity on offense then you are going to have to be prepared and focused on every defense because they are going to play pattern after pattern and they are going to be patient with the finishing.

4. I mean, few teams do not like to play pick and roll. Usually, teams without big players play it less than the others.

5. This is very important to know because if a team likes to set a ton of good off-ball weak side screens, your players will have to be on alert all the time.

6. The defense is a bit different if the team likes to shoot threes and if they like to play inside the paint. The difference is in half a step toward the 3 point line or toward the free-throw line.

7. Every team has an offensive identity. Some attack with the drives, some like to move the ball with the passing. We all know that whatever is the case we need to be prepared and adapt to a certain style of basketball.

8. If the guards are strong on the ball, you do not want and try to attack them on the dribbling. What you want to do is to try and contain the ball and put a body between the ball and the rim. If the guards are bad ball handlers, then you want to press the ball.

9. Isolation is only valid in the NBA because of the 3 seconds rule. I personally do not believe in ISO plays because you can always send a help defender to a certain location.

10. Go to Man is not necessarily the best player on the team and you have to identify the difference. Go to players can be passive for long stretches of the games but in key moments they are the ones to take the shots. Know those players and make assignments. There is no other way.

11. You need to know who is the best shooter on the opposing team because you do not want to help off of this player nor you want to let him alone not even for a second. If there is an off-ball screen for the best shooter, you want to switch everything. It is better to fight another player inside than to let a good shooter shoot.

12. You are winning the game if the worst shooter is shooting the most. Yes, the opponents do not want this but if you double the ball off of the worst shooter, and the help defender is covering the good shooter, this player will have to make a decision every time. Those shots are going to be good looks, but eventually, he is going to miss them.

13. We do not want our bad defenders on the opponent's quickest players. We will rather match speed with speed.

14. We do not want to play aggressive defense on the player that has good handles, because that way he is going to exploit his best skills in order to beat the defense. What we really want to do with those players is to contain the ball and to try and be between them and the rim.

15. We want to press players without handles. These situations are the best for making some steals.

16. If the game comes to the last shot, we want to know who of the opposing players is likely to make a mistake under pressure. What we want to do is to cover other players, or even double them, just to put the ball into those player's hands.

17. We have to know if we are dealing with the team that likes to go for the ball every time, or we are playing against the team that likes organized defense. The difference is in one player because aggressive teams use 2 players on the offensive board and passive players send just one. Either way, we want to identify the best rebounder and we want to box out him every time.

18. And in the end, we want to know the DNK of the offense that we are dealing with. Is the anchor of their offense a low or a high post or their world spins round pick and roll, the information in our basketball scouting report is going to make our defensive preparation easier.

3. Team Defense Info

Defensive information in our basketball scouting report is crucial because it is going to reveal our opponents weaknesses. This way we are going to know how to attack them and how to be as efficient as we can be.

1. First thing we want to know is what is the defensive identity of the opposing team. We want to be prepared for any defense that they are going to try and play.  

2. On ball defense is telling us how aggressive they are on the ball. If they like to pressure the ball then we are going to pass the ball more.

3. Off ball defense is telling us how good of a help defenders they are. If they are bad then we are going to drive the lane more and use back door cuts.

4. If the team is bad at boxing out then we are going to send more guys to crash the boards. More offensive rebounds more second chance opportunities for us.

5. Pick and roll defense is crucial for almost any team because pick and roll action is one of the most used offensive plays in the game on any level.
I mean, if the opponents are defending pick and roll with a drop, being low, we are going to give the ball to a good mid-range shooter who is going to exploit the space given after the screen.

6. We want to attack the slowest player on the perimeter.

7. We want to attack the slowest inside player on the pick and roll as a screener defender.

8. Teams that are not high on the passing lanes are a bit lower in depth and allow more open shots form deep.

9. We want to know who is the most aggressive player on the team so the player who is he guarding can play off the ball.

10. We do not attack the best defender.

11. We box out the best rebounder.

12. We want to know how good is the coverage on the cuts so we can get easy points by simple back door movement on offense.

4. Individual Player Scouting Report

One of the crucial parts of any scouting report in basketball is an individual scouting report. As you can see, if you are scanning a certain player, the first thing that you want to have is his full name, jersey number for easier identification, position, metrics and dominant hand.

Then come the stats. For shooting, what a good report contains is the map of shots. With the X you can mark missed shots, and with the O made ones. This map is going to tell you not just the percentage but it is going to give you insight from where the player is shooting comfortably and which are his struggling points.

After that, you want to take care of assists, rebounds, turnovers, and blocked shots.

And after that, it's the story about the player. Is he a shooter or a penetrator, is he a pass-first or a shoot-first player. Read one by one and rate his abilities on the court, and when you are done, you will have the whole picture and you will know what needs to be done to defend him.

5. Team Offense Patterns

Scouting report in basketball must contain offensive patterns that you were able to see and to write. This way, when you hear a call from a player or a coach...lets say Horns, you are going to be aware what kind of horns are they playing and who is the target.

While I was watching this game, I was able to notify the way of how are they executing horns offense. The screeners are always the best shooter and the center, and in the corners are other two players with the exception that the best athlete is always on the same side with the center.
The action starts with the pint guard dribbling the ball toward the shooter where the shooter is setting the screen for the PG. Then, the shooter is running toward the other player in the Horns, who is a Center, and he is going over him while he now receives a screen. The shooter goes wide and the center dives toward the rim.
If the screen is good, there is a lob pass toward the shooter for and open three, or if the Center is open he receives the ball. Ideally, after he receives the ball, there is a cut from the weak side corner for a lob pass and a dunk.

In these patterns, you can draw any offensive set play. Here you can put some inbound plays or quick hitters or last-second plays, but you have to identify them properly in the Action Name line.

6. Team Defense Patterns

A good scouting report in basketball must contain some of the info about some specific stuff about the opponent's defensive sets. Whatever you see, you can draw here, but make sure that you write every thought you had because there is so much information that is easily forgotten.

Here we had an easy pick and roll action that was close to the sideline, and the screen was in a way that the ball handler has penetrated the baseline.
Help defender from the strong side stayed close to his man while the real help was sent from the weak side corner.

7. Transition Offense

The first thing we want to know is that if we are playing against a fast pace or a slow-paced team. Then, we want to know what do they do if they run. Different teams like to finish the transition differently. Some like to throw touch down passes, some like to wait for the trailer. And In the end, we want to know who are the inbounders, who like to receive the ball and what is the position of the players who receive the first pass.
Teams who like to run like to do it every time, not just after the basket.
Secondary transition options are really important to identify because this is the moment where your defense will be the least organized and you do not want to let some easy buckets.

Scouting report in basketball is easy to make if you go and use this E-Book that we at Hoopsking made just for you. Keep in mind that the scouting is all about the details and writing down everything you saw. Using this kind of information is going to help you prepare your team in the best way possible in order to win, and it is going to teach your players how to look at the basketball.

If you want to learn more about scouting, click on the link below and rent a DVD:

Nov 23, 2019 Viktor Sadikovic

Better Basketball | March 1: Scouting and Game Planning

The following article comes from Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Special Assistant Mitch Cole.

OPPONENT SCOUTING

One of the areas of college basketball this time of year that can occupy the bulk of a coach’s time is scouting of opponents and game planning. Hours upon hours are spent by coaches preparing for what the OPPONENT will try to do both offensively and defensively, as well as figuring out which players are most dangerous AND how to defend them.

There are varying degrees as to how much coaches prep for the other team. Many are still trying to get the players to execute their own system and aren’t as concerned about the opponent quite as much. Others spend a great deal of time devising a game plan to take away the opponents strengths and hide their own weaknesses. Striking the right balance of “worrying about us” and “worrying about them” is a judgement call that every coach has to make from game to game. 

In our case, Coach Kennedy divides the scouts among the staff and that scout coach will view at least 5-8 game films on our opponent before playing. We will condense the information through film edits and written reports that make it understandable for the players. We will usually begin our on-court preparation for opponents 2 days before the game.

Below is an example what a typical schedule of Defensive Game Planning might look like:

2 DAYS BEFORE GAME:
Guard/ Forward Breakdown (1v1, 2v2)
Defending Screens Away from the Ball, Ball-Screens, Post Feed Action, Penetration, Rebounding , etc.
3v3 and 4v4
Fundamental Breakdown (Shell etc), Defending Screening ACTIONS, Ball-Screen ACTIONS, Post Feed Action, HELP/RECOVER

Rebounding

1 DAY BEFORE GAME:
Guard/ Forward Breakdown (1V1, 2V2)
5v5 vs SCOUT TEAM
Transition Defense, Game Plan for Defending Opponents Main Actions
Opponents “PLAY CALLS”, Our Zone Defense vs Actions, Out-of-Bounds Plays
*Night Before: Written scouting report and film edits on opponent<

GAME DAY SHOOT-AROUND:
Guard/Forward Action Breakdowns (3v3, 2v2)
Review of opponents’ continuity, sets, actions, out-of-bounds, zone offense (5v5 scout team), and Personnel Review

BEFORE THE GAME:
POSITION MEETINGS TO COVER RESPONSIBILITIES
PREGAME FILM EDIT (3-5 MINUTES) BEFORE WARMUPS
PREGAME CHALK TALK REVIEW OF PERSONNEL, ACTIONS, KEYS AND GOALS

CONTENTS OF WRITTEN REPORTS/FILM EDIT:
1. Overview of Opponent– Key facts about the team we are playing, RECORD, STYLE OF PLAY, ETC.
2. Personnel and Player Tendencies– Stats, Go-To Moves, HOW TO DEFEND
3. Opponent Offense– Full Court Offense, Half Court Offense, Sets and Special Plays
4. Opponent Defense– Press, Style of Man to Man, Zone Defense, Unique Defenses
5. 3-5 Offensive Keys to Winning
6. 3-5 Defensive Keys to Winning
7. Plays and Actions– Diagrams or Names for Opponents Offense

Developing a scouting rhythm and building common terminology for various opponent actions/plays can make scout prep more efficient and intuitive for the players. The goal of the staff is to get QUALITY information across, but at the same time, keep the players “freed up” mentally to play the game with proper instinct! Younger players can sometimes get overloaded with info, but the guys who are experienced and invested in winning usually get better and better at absorbing the content and transferring it to the court!

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For more tips on improving your defense, check out this video from Spencer Wood. Spencer stresses the importance of mental toughness as it relates to being a great defender.

How the scouting system works in the NBA - Metta Physics - Blogs

Every year at the end of June, one of the most interesting events of the season awaits all NBA fans (we are not interested in the Finals, the opening of the free agent market and other husks) - the rookie draft procedure . After that, the Summer League kicks off, training camps are waiting for us in the fall, but let's look back. The draft itself is preceded by a mandatory "fortune-telling" ceremony called draft mocks. predictions of who will get into which team and for what qualities. Sometimes such reports from eminent resources, like DraftExpress, paint a newcomer from all sides, even finding similar players in the history of the league. I've always been interested in the other side of Scouting reports - namely Scouts. Who are these people who reveal all the secrets?

Scouting has been called "the toughest job in the NBA." It's intense, grueling, and extremely difficult work behind the scenes in the league. Exclusively for basketball geeks, for whom this is just a celebration of the soul.

It is not uncommon for a scout to finish work at 2:30 in the morning and wake up at 4:30 and gallop to another city on the other side of the country. So you can discard the stupid idea that this job is akin to a vacation. But the other side of the coin is that it's hard to complain about life when you can watch the game of the world's great athletes almost every night. Even if it is accompanied by a fairly severe lack of sleep.

What is the NBA scouting system?

The game scouting system in the NBA is currently undergoing a major transformation…gone are the old days of digital video and game cataloging was a newfangled concept where scouts relied more on individual analysis, experience and instinct. Today, with the advent of the SportVU camera system, much of the work that Scouts used to do is now done virtually, through software.

But that doesn't mean that NBA game scouts will be replaced or relegated to the dustbin of history by fancy cameras - it just means they can spend less time on the hard and routine work and more time on direct analysis.

The role of scouts in the structure of the club is rather different. Somewhere - they are part of the "family of coaches", in other teams they are treated as interns, trainees.

So you've decided to become an NBA scout

Do you see yourself only as a basketball scout? Here is your professional mantra:

Relationships. Hard work. Relations. Victims. Relations. Organization. Relations. Confidence. Relations.

The above are some of the key phrases from last year's July session of the Professional Scout School hosted annually by TPG Sports Group. Led by former NBA executive and NBA scout Pete Philo, who was recently a member of the Pacers coaching staff, the school is designed to educate its members in the process of scouting and front office management, and allows them to start building business relationships by arranging meetings with various NBA personalities. and beyond.

When Philo was asked why he organized the Professional School of Scouts, he replied: “When I was a Scout myself, I was often asked about three things: “What does a Scout do? What are you really looking for? And how can I become a scout?” I realized that there is practically no open information, and I could help people understand this issue.”

After a few days of intensive lectures, workshops, and business networking and relationship building, the participants leave the Scout Professional School with the answers to the above questions, but more importantly, with their own business connections that will allow them to start a career in basketball.

Relationships are marked in a noticeable way throughout the entire life of the School. Not just in terms of who you know, but mostly in terms of what your knowledge is. Almost anyone can turn on the TV or go to watch a match, and over time you will develop some understanding of how to watch players. But all you will see is their actions on the floor. All speakers of the School tirelessly emphasize that in order to be a truly successful scout, you need to dig a little deeper.

Scouting components include:

1. Basketball and measurements : The obvious key is to identify if a player can "play" or not. But you definitely have to consider different scenarios and situations. What is the level of competition? Who are his teammates? And you can't make a sudden verdict by seeing the player just once. And you should also be careful with height, weight, wingspan and other measurements. Often in media guides, a couple of centimeters are added to the player’s height, and the scout should be the first to check the accuracy of these data.
2. Medicine : What is the medical background of the player? Are there any issues you need to be aware of? What about his family's medical history? All of these are important factors in compiling a complete picture of the player in question.
3. Background and interview : You need to work with the player. What is the life of his family like? What is he like off the basketball court? What's on his mind? The attitude to the game is no less important than the set of skills. Nobody wants problems in the locker room.
4. Analytics and the latest technology : Two new but equally important aspects are the translation into the working language of player statistics. For example, Tony Ronzon of the Dallas Mavericks noted, “Pass passes are counted differently in Europe than they are in America. In the US, a guy can pass and the other player hits the ball eight times, crosses, scores, and it counts as a pass. In Europe, a pass must result in the ball directly hitting the basket. " It's important to keep this in mind when looking at statistical comparisons of players. Also, against the backdrop of the popularity of Moneyball, almost everyone believes that the key to creating an ideal team is calculated by some kind of formula. In fact, this is another important part of the puzzle, but not the final answer to it.

How can relations be applied to all of the above? You must have a good, reliable, trusting relationship with the people you receive information from. A good scout must be able to navigate a vast sea of ​​information in order to get really useful information out of it. Sometimes a brief commentary on a player's work ethic is far more valuable than a monologue on how good he is with his footwork on defense.

It is also important who you build relationships with. Coaches are a fairly obvious group that you should know and trust. But other team members are just as important. It is possible to collect a good pool of information from both the general manager and the equipment manager. Your goal is to learn everything you can about the players. How do they treat people? Do they participate in social activities? What is their daily life like? The scout also needs to build relationships with the players' agents, families and friends.

Structure of the Scouting System

There are several types of Scouts:

• University Scouts. 99% of people associate the term "scout" with these comrades. For the most part, each of them is responsible for a whole region of the country, but this varies from team to team. This work consists of a huge number of flights and work with the background of the player.
• International Scouts. The work of these scouts covers the entire globe. Because basketball is a global game, most teams have scouts on every continent, except maybe Antarctica. The scope of these scouts' assignments is quite complex, because a large amount of personal and medical data has to be collected, and it is not always easily accessible. Besides, traveling abroad is an adventure in itself. The key to the success of such scouts is building relationships with people.
• Personnel scouts. These guys are focused on working with the NBA and the G-League. As a rule, they are actively involved in preparation for trades and the free agency market, their focus is on players who are directly in or near the league. These scouts are already in the arena hours before the game, watching the players in the warm-up, sometimes without seeing a minute of the actual game. They also linger in the arena after the game, waiting for the media to finish their work in order to collect the necessary information. Building relationships with other scouts, coaches and front office staff is important here.
• Analytics department. As analysts become more important in the team building process, most teams have their own analytics department. (thank you, Manibol!) These people are usually responsible for preparing analyzes and reporting to the general manager on given topics. A high level of technical skills, knowledge of both mathematics and programming is required. These comrades rarely travel and for the most part do not participate in the traditional scouting system mentioned above.
• Game scouts. Do you like to watch basketball? Are you so focused on it that during basketball season the rest of your life is just background noise? Do you like charts and graphs? Then this job is for you. A little later, we will dwell on this position in a little more detail, because it is considered one of the most interesting and exciting in the entire system.
• Video department. The video department, like the game scouts, is also part of the coaching staff. They work in tandem with game scouts, collecting information and flavoring it with a good portion of up-to-date videos. They also prepare video cuts for coaches. It can be players, individual game tactics, specific scenarios. The video department is working hard, cutting video into short segments almost 24/7. There is not much travel here, but the work requires a high level of technical skills, not only for direct installation, but also for the competent presentation of the finished product to the coaching staff, players, front office.

Game scouts.

Game scouts are at the bottom of the coaching totem pole in the NBA. The task of a game scout is to follow the upcoming opponents of his team before a personal meeting, it is advisable to see at least 3-4 games of the opponent, and the last viewing is a week or two before the match. Then, based on the scout's observations and data, a scout report is prepared and sent to the assistant coaches responsible for pre-game planning.

Each assistant coach is expected to come up with a basic strategy/plan for the upcoming game based at least in part on the work of the game scout. Then the assistant gives the plan to the head coach a day or two before the game. The head coach leaves his own mark on him, and then manages the game based on the results of the overall work.

Players also receive information from the game scout. Depending on the player, a scout report can range from a series of simple notes like "he likes to fake a 3-pointer before going to the left" or "don't trust fake shots after hard passes" or look like a complete scout report that is received assistant coaches ... it all depends on the player's intelligence, the task that he faces, etc.

Scouts are usually allocated decent (but not excellent) places to play on a barter basis, ie. The Pacers will give the Nuggets a free ticket for their scout if the Nuggets reciprocate. The scout will try to outline the whole game, then jump on a plane to another city, or go to a hotel and write a report. Scouts travel a lot, don't sleep much, and watch too much basketball (both live and on video).

To be honest, there aren't many obvious reasons to become an NBA scout. It's too difficult, it's a thankless job, and it's not like watching games as a regular fan.

Anyway, here's a sample to-do list for a game scout:

1. They have laptops with software that helps to mark the plays that the players have made for notes during the game. They try to mark every play/action that both teams have made during the game. Keep in mind that during the possession of each team there are several such events ... and there are as many as 200+ such possessions per match.

2. Also included on these laptops is software capable of recording the sound inside the arena, digitally separating the conversations of the players, and then recording the chatter, the names of the schemes played, etc. The scouts then compare the audio to the pranks they've flagged and try to compile what they call "cheat lists" of game tactics. That is why such reconnaissance should be carried out a week or two before a personal meeting - the teams change "passwords and ciphers", i.e. names of their game schemes, on a regular basis.

Note: If you watch NBA games closely, you might notice someone (perhaps a head coach or an assistant) yelling at the players on the floor after every play signaled by an opponent. This is due to the fact that the coach remembers the names of the schemes from the "cheat list" mentioned above (or quickly looks through them), and thereby tries to tell his team what to expect.

3. Scouts use video replays, their notes and observations to provide an in-depth analysis of the opposing team. This analysis may include references to the weaknesses of certain players in defense or attack; certain plays that the opponent has problems countering; the plays they use after the timeout; the tactics they use when their top scorer is on the bench; typical mistakes that the opponent makes during certain actions, etc., etc. etc.

4. The Scout compiles all his notes into a report, catalogs the video fragments (which act as footnotes in the report), and then sends it all to the trainer's assistants.

And then it goes to the next command.

Scouts usually watch at least one game a day, and that means daily flights, you know, and you barely sleep in your own bed. It's not uncommon on the weekend to watch an "early" game and then try to catch a late game in a nearby town...you can watch the Lakers and Raptors play in Toronto on a Saturday afternoon and then fly to New York for a Nets game and "Oklahoma" late at night.

Here is an approximate daily schedule of a gaming scout, on the example of Pat Sipfel, a well -known gaming scout of the Houston Rockets team:

(AM - until noon, PM - after noon)

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