Tag: scouting

New Zealand Breakers youngsters Hugo …

The NBA’s interest in Australian …

The NBA’s interest in Australian basketball has reached an all-time high, with the league hiring more multiple scouts to monitor the NBL and the junior ranks. Boomers legend Chris Anstey is one of countless Aussie hoops officials, legends and coaches who have been sought out by the NBA to evaluate and scout talent. Anstey has unofficial roles with Dallas and the LA Clippers, former NBL forward Mark Worthington is with the Washington Wizards while ex-Adelaide 36ers coach Joey Wright has links with several teams, including the Indiana Pacers.

Detroit Lions sending two staff members to Clemson QB Trever Lawrence’s Pro Day

MMQB’s Albert Breer is reporting that the Detroit Lions sending two staff members to Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence’s Pro Day on Friday.

MMQB’s Albert Breer is reporting that the Detroit Lions sending two staff members to Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s Pro Day on Friday. They will be among 17 teams that will be sending a total of 31 individuals to watch Lawrence workout.

Lawrence is a complete prospect at quarterback and is expected to be the first selection in the 2021 NFL draft. That selection is currently being held by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are sending three members to today’s workout — which will be shown live on NFL Network at 10:00 am EST.

Picking seventh, the Lions appear out of reach to select Lawrence, but with five first-round picks over the next three years and a front office that has shown tendencies to aggressively go after quarterbacks in the past — both Brad Holmes and John Dorsey have traded up for quarterbacks (Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes respectively) in the past — so, nothing should be ruled out.

Clemson is loaded with draft talent, as always, but today’s workout focus is on Lawrence and therefore won’t feature a traditional allotment of players participating. Wide receiver Cornell Powell is the only draft-eligible player who will be working out, meaning the Lions will have to make another trip to Clemson later in the offseason to scout running back Travis Etienne, offensive lineman Jackson Carman, and Amari Rodgers, among others.

Examining new Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes approach to evaluating players

Examining how new Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes approaches evaluating and how player intangables led him to unearth gems.

The Detroit Lions have hired Brad Holmes, former Los Angeles Rams’ director of college scouting, to be their next general manager. Just 41 years old, Holmes is one of the youngest GMs in the NFL and has reportedly agreed to a five-year deal.

Holmes’ 16-year rise through the Rams’organization has been an interesting journey and has influenced his philosophies on scouting and evaluating players when building a roster.

Eric Edholm interviewed Holmes in 2019 and published the interview for Yahoo Sports. In it, Homles discusses his background and why he got into scouting, which I have reorganized and summarized for easier consumption, as well as added my own commentary.

Holmes played football at North Carolina A&T, but his football knowledge dates back further than his college days. Holmes’ father, Mel, played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and his uncle Luther Bradley was a first-round pick of the Lions in 1978.

After college, Holmes joined the Rams’ public relations department as a way of breaking into the NFL, and would eventually take an intern position within the scouting department in 2004. After three years of working out of the office — and making runs to the airport — he got an opportunity to start scouting pro days in 2007, mainly collecting data on players.

Holmes’ work ethic and a keen eye for talent would accelerate his career from there.

“The only reason I’ve gotten to this point in my career now is that I’ve only concentrated on being the best I can be in my role,” Holmes told Edholm. “Whatever that role is at that time. So I was a scouting assistant, and I tried to be the best scouting assistant. I want to get the coffee the fastest, I want to make the best profile tape possible, and all of that. When I was an area scout, I wanted to be the best at that. You know what I mean? So I never really looked ahead. Opportunities — all of them blessings — have landed on me, and I’ve just kind of earned my way to where I am now.”

Over the last 16 years, Holmes has gained a reputation as being one of the brighter minds in the NFL, and one of the top influencers for Rams’ general manager Les Snead.

Former NFL running back Wilbert Montgomery got a chance to work with Holmes as running backs coach with the Rams’ and recently told the Free press’ Dave Birkett that Holmes reminded him of his childhood friend and legendary Ravens’ GM, Ozzie Newsome. That’s awfully high praise.

Holmes is also credited with leading the charge for the Rams to draft All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald when several other teams were downgrading him due to his size. Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic ($), detailed how Holmes went the extra mile to do a thorough scouting evaluation of Donald, despite being the director of college scouting.

Donald is as physically gifted as any player in the NFL, if not more, but at only 6-0 3/4″, his height was a major red flag amongst the analytics community.

“I am so much focused on the intangible traits way more so than the physical traits,” Holmes to Edholm. “Now I am like, ‘OK, yeah, he’s fast, but does he work hard?’ You know? I just don’t care about that stuff quite as much. Of course, I care about it. But I’ve learned so much as to why a player is or isn’t successful in this league. It falls so much on the intangibles more than the physical.”

Donald wasn’t the only player where Holmes illustrated his ability to identify non-physical traits.

“Take someone like (Rams safety) John Johnson. His instincts just stood out so much. He’s just turned into a heck of a run supporter. He’s just been terrific. But I remember during his evaluation process, it wasn’t really … I mean, he’s a good-sized kid, but you know, he didn’t run the fastest. I remember watching him live and then again at his Senior Bowl, it’s not like he was picking off a bunch of balls — and he might have had six picks or something in his [college] career. But he was just cutting off so many routes. He just instinctively knew the angles to take. So I look at him now — I remember that first start he had against Seattle and his picks that ball off on the sideline and I am just like, yep, that’s what you saw.”

Johnson will be a potential free agent this offseason and was the one Rams player that I identified that the Lions should be watching — now more than ever — in last weekend’s Wild Card Playoff games.

While Holmes puts a high value on non-physical intangibles, he’s not going to dismiss the value of analytics.

“‘Why would you turn down extra information? Why would you ignore data?’ Especially stuff that you can use to help guide you and make a better decision. As scouts, we’re looking for the best information, the best sources to talk to, the best game to watch to get to know the player and evaluate him properly. The analytics, they’re nothing but help toward that end. And I think that’s been the biggest (evolution to scouting methods) I’ve seen since starting.”

At the end of the day, Holmes is poised to lean on the evaluation skills that got him to where he is today, and a player’s intangibles will drive decision making, but he has also shown a willingness to adapt to new ideas in the ever-changing scouting world.

“You start with the heart and you put it with the physical abilities, and you see it all come together in your evaluation.”

Veteran Rockets scout B.J. Johnson dies in bicycle accident

“B.J. was a standup and genuine human, and a basketball purist all over the world,” The Athletic’s Shams Charania wrote on Twitter.

Veteran Houston Rockets scout Brent ‘B.J.’ Johnson passed away Thursday night, as first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

“B.J. was a standup and genuine human, and a basketball purist all over the world,” Charania wrote on Twitter.

“I’m stunned. Absolutely stunned,” added Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated. “B.J. was one of the most generous, caring, and humorous people I ever met with one of the greatest basketball IQs to boot. My prayers and condolences to his wife and his children.”

Rockets forward and native Houstonian Danuel House Jr. shared the news on Twitter with several sad emojis.

Per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the 65-year-old Johnson died in a bicycle accident. An avid rider, he typically rode his bike for approximately 30 miles per day, according to Feigen.

“He was riding his bike and hit a culvert,” said Johnson’s wife, Claudette. “There was construction. They are thinking he fell forward and broke his neck, because there was no blood.”

Johnson had worked in Houston’s basketball operations department since the 1994-95 championship season, which was then run by head coach Rudy Tomjanovich and general manager Carroll Dawson. He remained with the department through numerous coaching and leadership changes, primarily working to scout college and NBA players.

Johnson leaves behind a son and two stepchildren.

See below for a sampling of the immediate social media reactions from many connected with the Rockets and the broader NBA community.

What Myers has a firm grasp of, though, …

What Myers has a firm grasp of, though, is how the league has changed since the Warriors’ dynasty began. The way they dominated before has been copycatted and adjusted for by the rest of the league, illustrated by his trip to Orlando. “Just to watch what’s going on in the playoffs, it’s different than last year’s playoffs. Next year’s playoffs are going to be different than this year’s,” he said. “You’re watching it, too, and I want to have the best chance of understanding where the league is going. And our competition. “Last five years we were able to kind of have a front-row seat, but when you’re in it, it’s harder to be objective.”

Myers knows the Warriors have to be …

Myers knows the Warriors have to be pliable to keep up with the Lakers and Clippers, let alone a team like the Nuggets or even the Rockets. It’ll take a bold move to leapfrog the contenders, along with good health and so many other factors that are out of Myers’ hands. And to keep Curry’s new ’do from looking like an early midlife crisis, it’s best Myers be proactive here. “Usually the No. 2 pick is pretty good, so I imagine either we’ll be happy or — I think we’ll be happy with whatever options,” Myers said. “Whatever route we take, I think we’ll be pretty happy about it.”

During the NBA hiatus, from March until …

During the NBA hiatus, from March until the restart in July, one NBA executive told USA TODAY Sports that all he and his staff did was player evaluation for the draft. The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about his team’s draft preparation. He also said teams believed all the preparation would allow scouts and executives to make fewer mistakes. “It’s unique times, and there’s positives and negatives with it,” Rosas said. “We were fortunate to have most of the domestic college season and most of the international season. … Since the pandemic began, we’ve been working around the clock, knowing we had potentially three picks in this draft and knowing how important the offseason was for us. “… Not having in-market workouts, still working through the combine process and all of that, it makes it challenging.”

Prospects coming out of college haven’t …

Prospects coming out of college haven’t played competitively since March. Who knows if someone has gotten better? Or maybe worse … “I think you’ll see a lot of teams lean more towards drafting based on analytic models just because it will help save GMs and scouting directors,” the aforementioned anonymous scout said. “Just because they can point to, ‘Oh, we didn’t get them in our buildings, so we put more weight on what the numbers said from the season.’ It’s always risky, I understand. But I think more teams will lean more on that. It protects them. It covers their ass a little bit.”