Basketball GM and Scouting Course FAQ | Basketball GM Course Instructor
Basketball GM Course Testimonials

Basketball GM & Scouting Course

Basketball Job Training

 

The Basketball General Manager and Scouting Course is an 8 week online course that offers cutting edge theories on how to develop a career in professional basketball. The Basketball General Manager and Scouting Course will cover issues including basketball operations, team management, scouting talent, player personnel, new age ways of scouting, NBA traditional scouting, studying basketball on paper and other essential tools of modern general managers of professional and collegiate basketball organizations

This course is for you if you want to pursue a career in professional Basketball:
  · NBA Player Personnel
  · NBA Scout
  · NBA Management
  · NBA Front Office
  · NBA Agent
  · NBA Game Operations
  · NBA Sports Marketing
  · NBA Account manager
  · NBA Media & Community Relations

Those individuals interested in working their way up in the world of basketball need insider knowledge on basketball operations, basketball scouting, player management and evaluation and the overall business of basketball. If you want to further your career in basketball you need to learn and be mentored by those in the game. This 8 week online course could be the foundation for your basketball career.

With the game of professional basketball constantly changing, GM's and scouts must learn to evaluate players from high school to college to pro leagues all over the world, talent evaluation was changed for everyone in the business. Basketball is now a globe game. Basketball Scouts discover the talent years before the rest of us ever see the athletes hit the floor. With all the high school games in your area and more college games than ever on television, you can learn how to scout talent in your own backyard. With this course you gain all the skills used by professional scouts in today's world of professional basketball.

You do not need to relocate, this course can be taken from anywhere in the world.

Individuals will learn:
  · Responsibilities of a Basketball General Manager
  · Basketball contracts and player negotiation
  · Basketball Scouting, player evaluation, player ratings and in-depth analysis
  · College and International Scouting
  · Overview of Basketball scouting
  · Collegiate basketball scouting versus high school players
  · Relationships between the NBA, CBA, NBDL and foreign basketball leagues
  · Player contracts, player trades and acquisitions
  · Basketball franchise and stadium operations
  · How to run the Front Office of a basketball franchise
  · Methods of ranking high-school and college basketball talent
  · The making of a basketball scouting report
  · The language and history of basketball scouting
  · NBA Draft preparation and free agent signings

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Course Instructors

The course instructor, Dr. Lynn Lashbrook is joined by assistant facilitators Frank Burlison and Ed Gregory, with occassional guest speakers including Chad Ford, Mark Warkentien and Dean Oliver.

 

Frank Burlison is the National Basketball Columnist and a Basketball Analyst for Scout.com Network. His opinion on high school and college players is one of the most respected in the country and he is frequently in communication with some of the NBA’s most respected people in the front office. For Scout.com, Burlison currently focuses on college basketball, recruiting, and the NBA Draft. Prior to his induction into the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame in April of 2005, Frank worked for the Fox Sports Network as a National College Basketball columnist, covering a gamut of college basketball and the NBA Draft.

Over the years, Frank has scouted, analyzed and wrote about 95 percent of the all players currently in the NBA. Frank evaluated some of the great stars in the making at the high school level, including Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade. Many of his career highlights include covering The Final Four and the U.S. Olympic Basketball team. Frank started his illustrious career in high school as a professional sports writer for the Long Beach, California Press-Telegram in 1973. His ability to evaluate talent, scout players, write with finesse, and work his way up the sports ladder will inspire and educate you in working your way up in a career in basketball. You will enjoy getting to know Frank Burlison during his live interactive weekly audio chats throughout the 8 week course.

www.frankhoops.com

 

Ed Gregory, former NBA General Manager, former NBA scout, NBA coach and NBA front office executive is one of the most well known executives in the game. Ed joined the Golden State Warriors in 1986 as assistant coach under George Karl. He eventually took over as Head Coach in final 18 games of the 1997-1998 season. He continued with the Warriors as the Director of Scouting for 10 years (1988-1989) including a stint as Golden State Warrior General Manager. He has been called a super scout with an unbelievable eye for talent and feel for the game. In those years with the Warriors, he was responsible for the drafting of Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway, Tyrone Hill, Latrell Sprewell and Chris Webber. You will enjoy getting to know Ed Gregory during his live interactive weekly audio chats throughout the 8 week course.

Prior to his years with the Warriors, Ed spent three years as a scout for the Portland Trailblazers and three years with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was responsible for one of the best drafts in NBA history in 1986 when he ran Cleveland’s draft of Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper, Mark Price, and Johnny Newman. Ed has circled the globe seeing over 100 games a year, scouting colleges, CBA and foreign stars. Ed served as head coach at University of Las Vegas from 1963-1965 where he posted a 40-15 record (.727) record. He was the head coach at California State University of Fresno for 12 years where his record was 172-143. His 1965-1966 team went to the College Division NCAA finals.

Mark Warkentien is currently the Denver Nugget's Vice President of Basketball Operations. Previously, Mark worked for one season as the Director of Player Personnel for the Cleveland Cavilers. Prior to Cleveland, Mark headed up the Portland Trailblazers Scouting Department for ten years as Assistant General Manager and Director of Scouting. You will love his knowledge of the game of basketball and his cutting edge methods of evaluating talent.

Read a interview with Mark Warkentien.

Dean Oliver is currently a Statistical Analyst and Scout for the Denver Nuggets. Dean is the author of "Basketball on Paper" and an expert at the evaluation of assembling players into a team, including quantitative evaluations of player quality, game strategy, and team chemistry. Dean is a "guru" of basketball statistics, having received a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of North Carolina.

Click here for more on Dean Oliver.

 

 

Dr. Chad Ford covers the NBA and the NBA Draft for ESPN Insider. Ford's also been on the cutting edge of the international basketball explosion, traveling to Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, South Africa, Israel, Turkey, Russia Spain, Italy, France and Germany to document the spread of the sport around the world. Chad is a frequent contributor to ESPN Magazine and makes weekly appearances on ESPN Radio and ESPNEWS. Before joining ESPN in 2001, Ford was the co-founder and executive editor of sportsTALK.com. You couldn't find a better mentor for the game of basketball.

Click here for Chad Ford’s blog.
Click here for Chad Ford’s column archive
Click here for Chad’s work with PlayingForPeace.org

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Course Details

Weekly Audio Chats- A unique aspect of each 8 week course is the opportunity for students to participate weekly in interactive audio chats with fellow students, Ed Gregory, Frank Burlison, and Dr. Lynn Lashbrook and renowned guest speakers. This is a tremendous opportunity to network within the professional and collegiate basketball industry and get to know your instructors and fellow students personally via the internet. This is available via any online computer.

Online Education - This innovative academic course is facilitated through a web-based educational delivery system. You will enjoy the online discussion boards, weekly readings, weekly quizzes, course projects, and interaction amongst fellow sports business-minded students and faculty. All course materials and textbooks are included in the course fee.

The Future of Basketball Scouting & Video Editing

Basketball GM & Scouting Course students will get the opportunity to be exposed to the cutting edge video scouting techniques being used by many teams in the NBA, college basketball and high level international leagues. Video editing positions are one of the best ways to break into the NBA, so students in the Basketball GM & Scouting Course with SMWW, will come away with a specific skill set that will separate them from other candidates. Each student will be provided with a login to Synergy Sports Technology's website and will be asked to complete a video editing exercise.

Synergy Sports Technology is an independent on demand video and statistical firm that provides information to sports professionals. Synergy captures every NBA game (and games from several other markets) and subsequently logs every possession. The output is the most comprehensive scouting database for player and team tendencies.

Professional and collegiate sports teams log on to Synergy's website and have access to the largest collection of cataloged sports video in the world. With a few mouse clicks, a user can pull up all of Steve Nash's pick and rolls on the left side where he dribbled off the pick and make a dribble jumper from less than 10 feet. Never before have sports professionals had access to such a wide-ranging collection of scouting tools.

In the past two seasons Synergy has logged every possession of over 4,000 basketball games and provided the subsequent information to some of the league's most successful franchises. After this season that number will skyrocket to over 8,000 games logged by Synergy Sports.

The more information a team has, and the ease of access for that information, provides a significant edge when it comes to making important decisions. Teams will be able to better evaluate their players' performances and more easily game plan against their opponents' strengths and weaknesses. Students enrolled in SMWW's Basketball GM & Scouting course will have the opportunity to experience first hand Synergy Sports Technology and will make themselves more appealing candidates for teams because of their understanding of how to work with Synergy.

 

Course Certificate & Resume Reference:

Successful graduates of the Sports Management Worldwide courses will be sent a SMWW Certificate of Accomplishment. This certificate represents not only your achievements in the course but also demonstrates your personal commitment to self-improvement and ability to "self train" yourself for higher positions within the sports business industry.

In addition to your certificate, you will be given the stamp of approval by SMWW. This approval includes a personal reference you may add to your resume with contact information for Dr. Lynn Lashbrook and a reference to the mentors of this course.

Become a SMWW Scout:

Upon successful graduation of the Basketball GM & Scouting Course, individuals will be invited to join SMWWscouts.com. This is an exciting opportunity to advertise yourself as a certified scout and feature your scouting reports as a trained talent evaluator! This is a match making service for basketball scouts and those needing a basketball scout around the globe. It assists Managers, Coaches, Agents, and Teams looking for qualified talent evaluations with our certified SMWW Scouts! The site will include your own webpage with your picture and bio, with samples of your best scouting reports. It offers coaching staffs a chance to submit requests for scouting reports and find scouts by region. As a graduate of the Basketball GM & Scouting Course you are eligible to apply for acceptance as a SMWW Scout and be featured on this exciting website. (Free upon graduation!)

Work for a team:

Our goal is to see all Basketball GM & Scouting graduates gainfully employed in basketball worldwide. Your chances of accepting an offer of employment within professional basketball will improve by going through the program. SMWW will customize a basketball portfolio to assist you with your career goals.

Through our extensive network of professional basketball teams worldwide, basketball departments, and basketball organizations, our objective is to prepare you for when the right job opportunities become available. Numerous people that have gone through our programs are now employed in great positions and you could do the same. We want to help you launch your basketball career and help you find a position where you can be the most successful and satisfied.

 

 

 

 

Still have questions?

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Taking the Sports Business Management and Basketball GM & Scouting courses provided me with the confidence to start my own online sports venture. I interviewd Billy King, President and General Manager of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for my Basketball GM & Scouting project. I have since met with him on other occasions to discuss salary cap management and personnel issues. SMWW should be applauded for training and empowering individuals to pursue their dreams. To Lynn, Liz and the entire SMWW team, I say keep up the good work. Robert (SMWW Alum)

I think the whole performance analysis part, plus the video editing, and learning all about what a GM and scout has to do, opened me up to a whole new learning experience.

This course has provided me with the most amazing experience of my life! For those who think they know everything about their particular sport; you know nothing until you have completed this course. You will leave after eight weeks knowing much, much more then you did when you started. For all future sports business leaders, you owe it to yourself to take this course.

The Basketball and Scouting GM Course gives a great insight the how Basketball teams work, the scouting imformation has changed the wayI look at the game and its for the better. Thanks to this course I have made contacts within Basketball Teams and hopefullyI can progress within this industry.

I was fascinated by the amount of information I learned about the business of basketball. Very impressed with the technology and had a great time working/practicing with it. Even more impressive was the staff and how we were able to interact with one another.

This course gives you 8 weeks of what a four year college/university couldn't. Instructors who've been in the business, played the sport and have the actual connections with potential employers. Numerous, years of Basketball experience, open forum to discuss freely the issues surrounding the Basketball world from Prep to Professional. If you want a hands on experience, use software the PROS use, speak to Front Office personnel. Then this is the course for you, don't worry about the coursework........IT'S JUST BASKETBALL!

Overall, the knowledge acquired into the duties and responsibilites of the General Manager was educational as well. I now have a different perspective of looking at how teams are managed and how business is conducted in the NBA.

The SMMW Basketball GM and Scouting course enabled me to learn more about the business of basketball such as salary cap and statistical information that a General Manager would need to know to run and organization. Thank you SMMW!

With work and school every day, I found it difficult to expand my knowledge in the sports field and fit a class with a fixed time into my busy schedule.The online Basketball GM course was a great fit for me; I was able to learn and complete my assignments at my own pace and on my own schedule. This course has also been a great tool for networking with individuals across the country that possess the same interests and career goals as I.