This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball and mentor in SMWW's Basketball GM and Scouting course alongside former NBA Executive of the Year Mark Warkentien. You can follow NetScouts Basketball on Facebook, or on twitter.  If you are interested in our basketball scout apprenticeship program, contact us and forward your resume.

Our company, NetScouts Basketball, is one of the largest basketball scouting companies in the world. NetScouts primarily scouts international youth tournaments for a recruiting service that we market to colleges in the United States. We also scout college players for international professional teams that consult with us.  

The pandemic has seriously affected our business since this past March.

I was in Las Vegas in March with another scout planning on analyzing several conference championships when the virus crisis started. Our NetScouts team had scouted the Mountain West tournament and had just finished the West Coast Conference tournament. At the WCC finals, the arena was filled to capacity with virtually no restrictions in place.  

That was the same night was when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive, changing everything.

The following day was the start of the Pac-12 tournament which was scheduled for an afternoon and evening session with two games in each session.

For the afternoon session, there were approximately 5,000 fans at the 20,000 seat T-Mobile Arena and around a dozen NBA scouts.

Before the start of the evening session, the NBA scouts got word to head home, only one remained for the evening session. Concern spread fast, as only about 1,500 fans and a quarter of the media coverage remained for the evening session.

News of procedural changes and restrictions started coming fast and furious.

During that evening session, we received word from the Pac-12 that the quarterfinals, scheduled for the following day, would be played with no fans, only family, staff, and media would be allowed in. By the time we got back to the hotel the tournament was completely canceled as was the WAC Championships which were also to be held in town.

With no reason to stick around Las Vegas, I hustled to the airport, changed my flight, and flew home that evening.

That was the last live basketball event I attended for eight months.

During the summer a trip to the FIBA European Youth Championships and the FIBA U17 or U19 World Championships is part of our yearly routine. They were all canceled.

All in all, 12 of our regular scouting trips were canceled between March and May, including a trip to Germany for the Euroleague Final Four and one to Brazil with a women’s team we were organizing to play in a tournament in Sao Paulo and two other Brazilian cities. 

2020 was a year of adjustments for everyone, and that was also the case for our team at NetScouts. With nothing to scout in person, we adjusted.

Our team began requesting video from European youth academies on their Division 1 prospects and we were able to adjust our processes to video scouting. Synergy has been a great asset, allowing for further video breakdown and analysis of games that we were not able to attend. 

Nothing replaces being at the game, but we've made do with what was available.

It will still be a while until things get back to the way we used to operate, but with the college season underway, some schools are allowing limited media and scout access, even though most are not allowing fan access to games.

Oregon, Oregon State, and Portland have been extremely accommodating, allowing the team at NetScouts to gain access to their events, while our lead college scout was able to access Bubbleville at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut where about 30 games were played over ten days.

Access in other sections of the country is dependent on local virus protocols. 

It’s the same for NBA scouts. Most normally travel a lot during the season, now most are restricted to the geographic area around their home location if they even can get access there.

The upcoming 2021 schedule is in flux, no one knows what will happen with access to conference tournaments, the NCAA Tournament, the Nike Hoop Summit, Portsmouth Invitational, the NBA Combine, even the NBA Summer League.

For the time being, we, along with scouts in the NBA, have to make do with what is available. 

For you, the aspiring scout, there is no better time to take an online course from SMWW. Learn Synergy so you can scout and analyze via video the way the pro's do. Take the Basketball General Manager & Scouting course as well as sign up to be a part of the Basketball Scout Apprenticeship program.  

And most importantly, stay safe!