When I went to Summer League a couple of years ago, I signed up for Pro Scout School, which is now part of Drew Hanlen’s Pure Sweat Basketball. It’s essentially a weeklong workshop run by scouts and former front office personnel on how to evaluate talent for the NBA. I took the class to enhance my experience watching and understanding games. The classes covered various topics, from film study to cap management with Bobby Marks. Importantly, it provided me with a solid framework on how scouts examine talent. One of the most significant takeaways for me was this question:
“Can our coaching staff develop this player, and more importantly, will this player be willing to be coached?”
This realization led me to a few thoughts:
- Quin Snyder has an exceptional staff. The development of players like JJ, Okongwu, and Bufkin shows a lot of promise.
- Snyder had to work with the players David Lindsey drafted, including Trey Burke, Enes Kanter, Dante Exum, Trey Lyles, and Donovan Mitchell. I understand that Snyder and Lindsey’s relationship deteriorated, leading to distrust that affected daily Jazz operations. Snyder has firsthand experience with promising players who didn’t meet expectations.
- Snyder employs very complex and detailed schemes, sometimes to the detriment of winning games. Mike Conley once mentioned that he felt like he needed a PhD to play under Snyder during his time in Utah. Snyder also uses different terminology compared to standard NBA lexicons. For instance, while most teams use the term “switch,” Snyder’s Jazz commonly used the term “black” for the same action.
Out of curiosity, I wonder if this framework below changes or strengthens anyone’s thoughts on our potential picks. If so, would these players have the IQ and discipline to thrive under Snyder’s coaching?
Here’s some material from Pro Scout School. Btw, I highly recommend taking the workshop if you can make it out to Vegas.
by PinDown_404
5 Comments
Sharman is that you?
nice, I would love to do this one year
Thank you for all the pics. Will be studying those tonight…
Think the development of players was highly underrated last year. On top of the 3 you mentioned, Vit went from 2-way no one wanted (not even us) to solid starter, Gueye gave solid minutes toward the end of the season, Lundy looked NBA ready in his scant action before getting hurt. Even vets like Trae (especially defensively), Hunter and Bogi saw solid upticks in their games. If we can keep the staff – especially those in College Park – together, then I wouldn’t mind leaning on them more coming up.
Drew Hanlen is legit. I was kinda hoping Trae and/or JJ workout with him. He’s worked on a lot of successful players today.
UConn players would have ranked at the top of the list for guys who’d be able to mentally grasp our system. No idea on Sarr / Risacher but Clingan likely fits the bill here.