In "My Scouting Process," Matt Babcock outlines his methods as an NBA Draft Analyst, sharing his approach to evaluating prospects, balancing film study, analytics, and live observations. He also previews top prospects for the 2023 NBA Draft and discusses the dedication required for successful scouting.
Transcript from The Matt Babcock Show: My Scouting Process, Nov 16, 2022
Matt Babcock: "As an NBA Draft Analyst, my primary objective each season is to get to know NBA prospects like the back of my hand before we hear their names called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Draft Night. Typically, I closely track somewhere around 150 imminent draft prospects each season. That group includes domestic players competing in college, the G League Ignite, Overtime Elite, or sometimes American players that choose to go overseas, like when LaMelo Ball went to play in Australia before his draft.
"I also evaluate international players, usually in Europe. If that didn't seem daunting enough by itself, I also get a head start on future drafts by attending various high school and youth basketball events. I begin the evaluation process when players are often just 15 or 16 years old. So, one may ask, how do you even evaluate that many prospects?
"I will walk you through some of my processes today and share some of my background that led me to become an effective scout. I will also discuss some of the top prospects I'm set to see in person in the next few weeks.
"I'm Matt Babcock, and this is The Matt Babcock Show.
"Over time, I have established a solid set of protocols that allows me to evaluate a large group of prospects each year effectively. And although the scouting business may seem overwhelming from the outside looking on in, the tricks of the trade are relatively simple. The keys to my success are organization and efficiency.
"But here's the thing: Although I have become organized and efficient, I haven't always been this way. So, before I get into the details of my scouting operations, I'd like to share a little about my path to this point. Suppose you listened to our first episode or followed any of my work before.
"In that case, you already know I was born into basketball, as my family has worked in the NBA for a long time. And I've been fortunate to have had unique access at various levels of the game. I'll admit that I've had some amazing experiences in the basketball world, and I have some incredible stories to share, which I surely will get to in future episodes.
"However, today, I'd like to share with you about my path to this point and some of the hurdles I faced along the way. Perhaps you can glean something from my story and apply it to yourself in some way. So, I was born into basketball and was obsessed from the moment I could remember.
"Growing up, I loved basketball and baseball. Although my parents grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, my dad's family was originally from New England. So, like my dad, I grew up a diehard Boston Celtics and Red Sox fan.
"So, I grew up with Larry Bird, Roger Clemens, and Mo Vaughn as some of my childhood heroes. I studied the history of those teams. I loved reading about Bill Russell, Red Auerbach, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, and all the great players and teams before my time.
"I've always been fascinated by Ted Williams, the Red Sox, and all the great players who have stepped foot at Fenway Park. But I love both sports, not just my favorite teams. Obviously, my dad's side of the family has a lot of history in basketball, but I have deep roots in baseball, too.
"My grandfather, Don Hyman, my mom's dad, was a professional baseball player, and so was her brother, my uncle, Donnie. They both played baseball at the University of Arizona and played key roles on the teams that made it to the College World Series. Then, they both played in the minors for the Giants and Cubs organizations.
"So, our first episode was titled 'My Life is Basketball.' But really, it all started more like 'My Life is Sports.' As a young kid, I was obsessed with both sports and was an avid baseball and basketball card collector.
"I spent many hours organizing my trading cards and studied both sports constantly. I still have boxes and boxes of cards stored in my basement. My parents often used me as a party trick when I was a kid, asking me random questions like, 'Where was this player born?' or 'What school did that player go to?' or 'Who's the all-time leader in this or that?' I had all the answers.
"As I continued to get older, I played both sports and applied my passion for them by practicing religiously. I was very disciplined in doing drills, whether in basketball, my shooting routine, Pistol Pete ball-handling drills, or in baseball, practicing pitching and fielding by throwing a ball against a cinder block wall.
"So naturally, I became skilled at both sports. I gave up baseball when I got to high school, so I could focus on basketball, and I became a good player and earned a scholarship to play in college. However, I didn't play in the pros or accomplish nearly as much as an athlete as I had hoped.
"You might wonder, 'Why am I sharing this with you?' Well, I'll tell you.
"So, as a kid, I organized my trading cards, studied sports, and knew random stats, stories, and information. I was very knowledgeable about sports for a young guy and disciplined in developing my skills. I was hyper-focused on being a great athlete, and those traits carried with me as I got older into high school. I always was good about getting my skill work in and disciplined about taking care of business in the weight room.
"As a result, I became highly skilled and much stronger. Although I always showed tendencies that indicated that I had a type A personality, you might be surprised to hear that I wasn't a great student in school. I had all the tools to do well, but I didn't. I never applied myself.
"My dad was a college coach for most of my childhood, so we moved a lot as he tried to move up the coaching ladder. Then he entered the NBA. My family was along for that ride, and we moved a lot, so I was always the new kid in school, which was hard.
"If I wanted to make excuses as to why I was a lousy student, I could lean on those reasons. But screw that; excuses are for losers.
"Anyway, I have always focused on basketball.
"Initially, I worked to be a good athlete, but I always had my sights set on working in basketball. I wanted to be a great player, start my post-playing career as a coach, get into scouting, and become an NBA general manager. That was always the vision I had for myself growing up.
"When I got out of college, I had no real work experience. Sure, I had worked as a counselor at many basketball camps, volunteered at the NBA Draft Combine, and informally helped out my dad's team, the Milwaukee Bucks, during the pre-draft process for several years. However, I never had any real part-time jobs in high school or college, as all my extra time was spent either working on my skills, trying to get stronger in the weight room, or shadowing my dad and the Milwaukee Bucks team.
"So I'm sure someone is saying, 'Oh, what a spoiled brat!' And sure, that's fair.
"When I left the University of Arizona, I went to Los Angeles for a summer internship with the sports agency Wasserman Media Group. At the time, I wanted to be a coach, so they had me assist Dave Joerger, a D-League coach who became the head coach of the Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies. Joerger and I worked out all of the agency's draft prospects every day for a couple of months leading up to the draft.
"Wasserman represented six first-round picks that year, including LaMarcus Aldridge, Shelden Williams, Brandon Roy, JJ Redick, Jordan Farmar, and Joel Freeland. It was awesome! I felt right at home on the court working with the players.
"However, besides the coaching part of my summer internship, I also had to do some typical types of intern work in the office. To make a long story short, I was unprepared.
"I wasn't mature enough to identify these things at the time. In hindsight, I now realize that as far ahead as I was with anything directly basketball-related, I was as far behind or more regarding my abilities to be effective in a typical workplace.
"After that summer internship with Wasserman, I took a developmental coaching position with the Euroleague team Virtus Bologna in Bologna, Italy. Then, shortly after that, I took a job as a junior agent with the sports agency Excel Sports Management, which started my career as a sports agent. I never planned to work in the agent business, and when I did, it surprised everyone in my family, myself included. I bounced around early in my career, working for several agents and agencies.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it. The agency business is brutal, with many cutthroat characters, and I crossed paths with many of them. I worked in that industry for ten years, and by the time I started figuring things out, I realized I needed to get back to something closer to my roots, which is more directly in basketball.
"However, that's a different story for a different day.
"Anyway, I wasn't very effective during my first few years out of college, and I didn't get much done. I was behind in some areas where other young people probably developed by being committed students in school or working part-time jobs before entering the real world.
"I was immature, and I made a lot of excuses. I realized, over time, that the sports world is highly competitive and that my background in basketball, understanding of the game, and my family's connections would only take me so far. I had high hopes for myself, but I had to improve and get better. I desperately needed to develop. Otherwise, I would fail.
"So, I stopped making excuses and started identifying and addressing some of my weaknesses.
"It didn't happen overnight, but I chipped away day in and day out. Ultimately, I developed myself from someone that was unorganized, immature, and entitled to someone willing to roll up their sleeves, work to improve on weaknesses, and most importantly, I finally started holding myself accountable. As a result, I improved a lot.
"One of my favorite quotes is by Michael Jordan from a Nike ad years ago. He said:
"'I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.'
"I'm certainly not Michael Jordan, but whatever success I have found has resulted mainly because I have learned from my mistakes and failures. And I'm proud of that. I sit here today and confidently tell you I'm very organized and disciplined with my work. Those are the main reasons I'm effective as a scout and cover the NBA draft.
"So that's my story. Now, let's get to some of the nuts and bolts of my scouting protocols.
"Where do you even start when looking to evaluate prospects for the NBA draft? There are so many of them. I noted I evaluate high school prospects in addition to imminent draft prospects.
"To save us some time today, I'll skip to how I approach covering each year's group of draft-eligible prospects only. First, it's essential to identify which players you need to research. Although I respect many other scouts in our industry that evaluate prospects at the grassroots level and for the NBA draft, I trust myself as an evaluator. I don't want to just take anyone's word for it on a player. However, I lean on several media outlets that provide player rankings, and I talk with NBA scouts to assist in putting together an initial watch list, essentially a starting point. As I see it, scouting for the NBA draft is essentially a process of elimination.
"As I evaluate players and rule guys out for various reasons, the cream naturally rises to the top. Once I identify which players I need to get to know throughout the season, I organize those players, categorizing them into one of the five traditional positions: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center.
"I'm not naive to the fact that the NBA game has changed a lot in recent years, and I'm aware that using five well-defined traditional positions is antiquated. However, I still like to organize it that way, and it still challenges me to ask myself relevant questions about prospects, like 'For an on-ball guard, can he get to his spots?' 'Can they defend speedy guards?' Or for a big man, 'Are they switchable?' 'Can they stretch the floor, or are they limited to being a rim runner?' Different things like that. I'm not saying it's the only way, but it's how I like to do it.
"Okay, so the ground floor is set. I know which players I need to research. So now what?
"I need to learn many things to evaluate a draft prospect comprehensively and conclusively. The most critical is who has NBA skills and talent, whether refined or raw. I also need to know about players' body types and movements. Who has the physical tools necessary to play in the NBA, whether it be a player who already has an NBA body and athleticism or the potential to develop?
"I also need to learn about players' personalities and backgrounds because these could show indicators of who can handle being a pro, with all the money, distractions, and pressure that come with being an NBA player. And who has what it takes to continue to improve? For example, I told you I had to work through some things to become effective, and reflecting on myself growing up, there were indicators that I possessed a growth mindset and improved.
"So, it's the same idea when evaluating young basketball prospects. A mature, well-refined player is a safer bet, there's no doubt about that. But it does not mean there's no better player out there for the long term; they just might need to work through some things.
"I know what I need to learn about the prospects. How do I gather all of this information? I do my best to balance my time watching films and seeing prospects play in person.
"And although I'm more of an old-school traditional scout, I have continued to include analytics in my scouting operations more and more. For example, I recently partnered with Cerebro Sports, an analytics company that Mark Cuban backs. When I first met the company's founder and CEO, Ryan Gerardo, he explained that I could use their product to help me raise the right questions when evaluating prospects and cross-reference my eye test with metrics.
"Cerebro Sports is a great scouting tool. Now that I can access it, I can't imagine not having it as part of my evaluation process. Mostly, I can sort through who has talent and who doesn't by watching film, looking at metrics, and talking with people within the basketball industry on the phone. However, I spend a lot of time and money traveling away from my family to see prospects in person.
"I do this because I need to get in the trenches to do it right. When I attend college games, I typically arrive at the arena as soon as they let me in, usually about an hour and a half before the game. I like talking with coaches and parents I know and networking with new people.
"I'm usually able to gather some pertinent information during those conversations. Still, the most critical part of my travels is being a fly on the wall. I want to see all the little stuff.
"How do players carry themselves? How do they interact with their teammates? Do they warm up properly? Are they coachable? Are they serious? Can they handle tough coaching and leadership?
"It could be anything.
"I go into games like a sponge, looking to absorb any information that I can. Every player and person is different.
"When I start the evaluation process, I look at each player like they have their own blank canvas, and my goal is to have a fully painted portrait of them by draft night. All the bits and pieces of information I can gather are necessary to paint that portrait.
"Again, to be a good scout, you have to get in the trenches, and some sacrifices need to be made. You have to be willing to travel aggressively. Expenses add up quickly, and you're away from home a lot.
"The scouting trail has taken me to beautiful places and allowed me to do fun and exciting things. But more often than not, I find myself in some small college town in the dead of winter. And it isn't all that glamorous.
"If you want to be a good scout, you must be dedicated. I could keep going on and on about my scouting processes and philosophies, but I'm going to stop for today. But I hope that gives you a decent taste of how I do things.
"We'll discuss this topic again soon.
"To switch gears a bit, the 2023 NBA draft looks like it has the potential to be very good, especially at the top. I recently saw the projected top pick, French sensation Victor Wembayama, in Las Vegas, when his team from Levallois, France, played projected second pick Scoot Henderson and his team, the G League Ignite.
"Overtime Elite invited me to Atlanta a little while back to speak to their players and watch them work out and practice. Their team features twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson, who I have ranked third and fourth on the Basketball News 2023 NBA Draft Big Board. So, I have a head start on the top guys already.
"College basketball is back, and I can dive in on some of those guys now. I have some great travel scheduled, and in the next few weeks, I'm looking forward to seeing prospects that I currently have projected to be top picks. If they're back from injuries, I'm set to see guys like Cam Whitmore from Villanova, Dariq Whitehead, and Derek Lively from Duke. Keyonte George from Baylor, Cason Wallace from Kentucky, Dillon Mitchell from Texas, and more. November and December are my months of the year to scout, as there are so many great college games and events to attend.
"Well, that's a wrap for this week's episode.
"Next week, I'd like to recap some of my travels and experiences and talk hoops.
"I'm Matt Babcock, and this is The Matt Babcock Show."
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