NOVEL SIMPLE start with scouting
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The caller was Tom Payne, and he first explained the whole thing to Su Yang.
It turned out that at the end of March, Steve Patterson, the former general manager of the Blazers, suddenly announced his resignation.
Subsequently, the director of player personnel, Kevin Pritchard, was promoted by owner Paul Allen as the new general manager, and the basketball affairs department was reorganized accordingly. Payne himself left the Grizzlies to join the Trail Blazers in May.
They are very busy every day because of various things such as work handover, and the Blazers have a 5% probability of winning the No. [-] lottery. As a result, many drafts and trade plans that have been prepared before need to be adjusted, and they even work overtime many times until late at night.
According to Tom, they recently cleaned up the work emails left by the former general manager, and only found Su Yang’s resume for scouting in the early hours of this morning. The general manager Kevin was very interested in Su Yang’s suggestions on the draft, and even went to Twitter. And Facebook, check Su Yang's previous game predictions about March Madness, and wanted to call at that time.
But because it was early in the morning, he was worried that it would affect his rest, so he specially asked Payne to call around [-] o'clock.
"That's the way it is. I will send you an email later, which contains relevant content about this interview. Please check it carefully. If you have no other questions, I will hang up the phone first, OK?" Tom asked .
Su Yang said thank you, and just as he hung up the phone, the notification tone for the arrival of new mail rang.
I clicked on it and found that the pioneers are very user-friendly in the interview arrangement. Not only does the telephone interview option, but also unconditionally reimburse the economy class air tickets to and from Portland in any city in North America, which can be described as rich and powerful.
Specifically for his interview, the Blazers hope to go to Portland for a detailed discussion, mainly to hear how he made so many correct predictions, and the interview time is scheduled for [-]:[-] noon in the western US time zone .
"The willows are dark and the flowers are bright, another village..." Su Yang took a deep breath of Zhongnanhai.
I thought the Clippers were the only team that was given a chance, but now that there are more Trail Blazers, the key is to offer full-time scouting opportunities. After joining the job, they can participate in video analysis meetings with the coaching staff, and even put forward their own suggestions.
Su Yang raised his hand to look at his watch. It was exactly [-]:[-] in the morning, and it only took about an hour to fly to Portland.
I was in time for the interview at twelve o'clock, and my physical strength and energy were fine, and I was able to take a nap on the plane.
How can such a good opportunity be missed?
"Hey! I'm going to float north this time!"
Su Yang threw away the cigarette butt, got into the Mazda and started it up, then turned around and drove to Los Angeles International Airport.
...
Alaska Airlines was quite efficient, and Su Yang landed at Portland International Airport at ten o'clock.
He called a taxi and rushed to the Rose Garden, next to the Trail Blazers training and office base.
According to the previous agreement, he explained his purpose at the reception, and the staff immediately took him inside.
Su Yang followed closely and looked around the furnishings curiously. The first thing he saw was the golden 1977 championship trophy. At that time, the Trail Blazers made it to the playoffs for the first time in their history, and they miraculously won the championship directly. It can be called a movie plot .
That was also the only championship for the Trail Blazers. In 01, they had players such as Pippen, Kemp, Sabonis, and Flying Squirrel. Such a luxurious lineup, even the talented O'Neal had to sit on the bench, but he ran into the invincible OK combination.
Go a few steps further inside, turn around and enter the core area of the base, and suddenly see a wall with many words printed on it. Read it together, it probably means 'No one is born to be a champion, if you want to win the championship, you must fight for it with all your strength'.
"This slogan is a bit stretched. The sentence is too long and the words are complicated. It doesn't have much momentum when pronounced, and the communication effect is also poor." Su Yang thought of the sentence in the Celtics training base: Which is more painful?Try or regret? .
Soon, the staff led him into the reception room, and after sitting for a few minutes, a black man with a white beard walked in.
"Hello, I'm Bob Bulko, the Trail Blazers scouting director, and I'm in charge of initial interviewing you."
Su Yang greeted with a smile, and the two sat down facing each other. Bob took out a resume from his file bag.
If there are no redundant words, the interview will go directly to the topic.
"Do you know why I only saw your resume in the morning, but the interview time is scheduled for twelve o'clock at noon? Do you feel rushed?" Bob stared at Su Yang with a smile, as if trying to catch his every expression.
Most of the interviews are indeed arranged according to the wishes of the job seekers. There are few notices on the same day, and the interview will be held on the same day.
But the scouting industry is quite special. Because of the need to arrange NBA games, I have to catch a plane almost every day, traveling from one city to another. It is commonplace not to rest overnight, and sometimes I even fly to three cities in one day.
"This is a special need for scouting work. I have a detailed understanding of it before I decide to apply, and I can adapt."
"Very well, please talk in general about how to observe and evaluate whether a certain college player is worthy of the team's attention."
Su Yang nodded. The direction of this question is very clear. There are several key points to answer. The first is generalization, the second is observation and evaluation, the third is college players, and the fourth is team needs.
"I will first communicate with the team to clarify the functions that the team needs most, such as three-point shooting and defense, and then focus on the traditional 3D players, conduct preliminary screening through various statistics, and then arrange priorities In order, starting from a certain competition area, go to the game site to watch their actual performance."
"A lot of website data updates are not timely enough. Aren't you worried that you might miss a good candidate because of that?"
It is now May [-], and some universities have not updated player statistics for a long time, and some data are wrong or confusing, and a few percentage points of three-point shooting will have a great impact on player evaluation.
"Investigation is a long-term and continuous work, and data screening is only a reference method, not completely dependent on it."
Bob nodded with satisfaction: "As a fresh graduate, it's very good that you have your own methodology for being a scout. The next question, please talk about the current tactical characteristics of the Trail Blazers in general."
Su Yang is very familiar with this. The current head coach of the Blazers, McMillan, is one of the representatives of the deadly routine offensive system. Another representative of the deadly routine offensive system is Larry Brown. The tactical characteristics of the two are very easy to identify.
The so-called routine offensive system is different from the dynamic offensive systems of Triangle, Princeton, and UCLA. It hardly emphasizes reading and reaction.
Both systems have pros and cons.
Routine attack is rigid, the upper limit is low and the lower limit is high.
The dynamic attack is flexible, the upper limit is high and the lower limit is low.
Generally speaking, many teams use a mixture of the two.
For example, the Lakers focus on the triangle offensive dynamic system. Fisher usually calls out tactics based on defensive positions, but Kobe sometimes directly plays with his back and back for the ball.
"The Blazers' current tactics are characterized by high-position pick-and-rolls. The shooter squats in the bottom corners on both sides to clear the wings, and stretches the attack through precise positioning and complex running positions to stretch the space. It is mainly driven by Brandon Roy..."
Su Yang spoke continuously for 2 minutes, and Bob nodded frequently, seeming to be more and more satisfied with his answer.
After he finished speaking, Bob asked a few more questions, and then asked him to wait, and someone else would come to the interview.
Su Yang stood up and walked around to move his body. After a few steps, a middle-aged Caucasian man with back hair pushed open the door and entered.
"Hi, I'm Kevin Pritchard, general manager of the Trail Blazers, nice to meet you."
Su Yang responded with a smile, the two shook hands and interacted, then sat down face to face, and went directly to the interview.
"We got the No. [-] pick this year. Who do you think is a better choice? Oden or Durant?"
(End of this chapter)
The caller was Tom Payne, and he first explained the whole thing to Su Yang.
It turned out that at the end of March, Steve Patterson, the former general manager of the Blazers, suddenly announced his resignation.
Subsequently, the director of player personnel, Kevin Pritchard, was promoted by owner Paul Allen as the new general manager, and the basketball affairs department was reorganized accordingly. Payne himself left the Grizzlies to join the Trail Blazers in May.
They are very busy every day because of various things such as work handover, and the Blazers have a 5% probability of winning the No. [-] lottery. As a result, many drafts and trade plans that have been prepared before need to be adjusted, and they even work overtime many times until late at night.
According to Tom, they recently cleaned up the work emails left by the former general manager, and only found Su Yang’s resume for scouting in the early hours of this morning. The general manager Kevin was very interested in Su Yang’s suggestions on the draft, and even went to Twitter. And Facebook, check Su Yang's previous game predictions about March Madness, and wanted to call at that time.
But because it was early in the morning, he was worried that it would affect his rest, so he specially asked Payne to call around [-] o'clock.
"That's the way it is. I will send you an email later, which contains relevant content about this interview. Please check it carefully. If you have no other questions, I will hang up the phone first, OK?" Tom asked .
Su Yang said thank you, and just as he hung up the phone, the notification tone for the arrival of new mail rang.
I clicked on it and found that the pioneers are very user-friendly in the interview arrangement. Not only does the telephone interview option, but also unconditionally reimburse the economy class air tickets to and from Portland in any city in North America, which can be described as rich and powerful.
Specifically for his interview, the Blazers hope to go to Portland for a detailed discussion, mainly to hear how he made so many correct predictions, and the interview time is scheduled for [-]:[-] noon in the western US time zone .
"The willows are dark and the flowers are bright, another village..." Su Yang took a deep breath of Zhongnanhai.
I thought the Clippers were the only team that was given a chance, but now that there are more Trail Blazers, the key is to offer full-time scouting opportunities. After joining the job, they can participate in video analysis meetings with the coaching staff, and even put forward their own suggestions.
Su Yang raised his hand to look at his watch. It was exactly [-]:[-] in the morning, and it only took about an hour to fly to Portland.
I was in time for the interview at twelve o'clock, and my physical strength and energy were fine, and I was able to take a nap on the plane.
How can such a good opportunity be missed?
"Hey! I'm going to float north this time!"
Su Yang threw away the cigarette butt, got into the Mazda and started it up, then turned around and drove to Los Angeles International Airport.
...
Alaska Airlines was quite efficient, and Su Yang landed at Portland International Airport at ten o'clock.
He called a taxi and rushed to the Rose Garden, next to the Trail Blazers training and office base.
According to the previous agreement, he explained his purpose at the reception, and the staff immediately took him inside.
Su Yang followed closely and looked around the furnishings curiously. The first thing he saw was the golden 1977 championship trophy. At that time, the Trail Blazers made it to the playoffs for the first time in their history, and they miraculously won the championship directly. It can be called a movie plot .
That was also the only championship for the Trail Blazers. In 01, they had players such as Pippen, Kemp, Sabonis, and Flying Squirrel. Such a luxurious lineup, even the talented O'Neal had to sit on the bench, but he ran into the invincible OK combination.
Go a few steps further inside, turn around and enter the core area of the base, and suddenly see a wall with many words printed on it. Read it together, it probably means 'No one is born to be a champion, if you want to win the championship, you must fight for it with all your strength'.
"This slogan is a bit stretched. The sentence is too long and the words are complicated. It doesn't have much momentum when pronounced, and the communication effect is also poor." Su Yang thought of the sentence in the Celtics training base: Which is more painful?Try or regret? .
Soon, the staff led him into the reception room, and after sitting for a few minutes, a black man with a white beard walked in.
"Hello, I'm Bob Bulko, the Trail Blazers scouting director, and I'm in charge of initial interviewing you."
Su Yang greeted with a smile, and the two sat down facing each other. Bob took out a resume from his file bag.
If there are no redundant words, the interview will go directly to the topic.
"Do you know why I only saw your resume in the morning, but the interview time is scheduled for twelve o'clock at noon? Do you feel rushed?" Bob stared at Su Yang with a smile, as if trying to catch his every expression.
Most of the interviews are indeed arranged according to the wishes of the job seekers. There are few notices on the same day, and the interview will be held on the same day.
But the scouting industry is quite special. Because of the need to arrange NBA games, I have to catch a plane almost every day, traveling from one city to another. It is commonplace not to rest overnight, and sometimes I even fly to three cities in one day.
"This is a special need for scouting work. I have a detailed understanding of it before I decide to apply, and I can adapt."
"Very well, please talk in general about how to observe and evaluate whether a certain college player is worthy of the team's attention."
Su Yang nodded. The direction of this question is very clear. There are several key points to answer. The first is generalization, the second is observation and evaluation, the third is college players, and the fourth is team needs.
"I will first communicate with the team to clarify the functions that the team needs most, such as three-point shooting and defense, and then focus on the traditional 3D players, conduct preliminary screening through various statistics, and then arrange priorities In order, starting from a certain competition area, go to the game site to watch their actual performance."
"A lot of website data updates are not timely enough. Aren't you worried that you might miss a good candidate because of that?"
It is now May [-], and some universities have not updated player statistics for a long time, and some data are wrong or confusing, and a few percentage points of three-point shooting will have a great impact on player evaluation.
"Investigation is a long-term and continuous work, and data screening is only a reference method, not completely dependent on it."
Bob nodded with satisfaction: "As a fresh graduate, it's very good that you have your own methodology for being a scout. The next question, please talk about the current tactical characteristics of the Trail Blazers in general."
Su Yang is very familiar with this. The current head coach of the Blazers, McMillan, is one of the representatives of the deadly routine offensive system. Another representative of the deadly routine offensive system is Larry Brown. The tactical characteristics of the two are very easy to identify.
The so-called routine offensive system is different from the dynamic offensive systems of Triangle, Princeton, and UCLA. It hardly emphasizes reading and reaction.
Both systems have pros and cons.
Routine attack is rigid, the upper limit is low and the lower limit is high.
The dynamic attack is flexible, the upper limit is high and the lower limit is low.
Generally speaking, many teams use a mixture of the two.
For example, the Lakers focus on the triangle offensive dynamic system. Fisher usually calls out tactics based on defensive positions, but Kobe sometimes directly plays with his back and back for the ball.
"The Blazers' current tactics are characterized by high-position pick-and-rolls. The shooter squats in the bottom corners on both sides to clear the wings, and stretches the attack through precise positioning and complex running positions to stretch the space. It is mainly driven by Brandon Roy..."
Su Yang spoke continuously for 2 minutes, and Bob nodded frequently, seeming to be more and more satisfied with his answer.
After he finished speaking, Bob asked a few more questions, and then asked him to wait, and someone else would come to the interview.
Su Yang stood up and walked around to move his body. After a few steps, a middle-aged Caucasian man with back hair pushed open the door and entered.
"Hi, I'm Kevin Pritchard, general manager of the Trail Blazers, nice to meet you."
Su Yang responded with a smile, the two shook hands and interacted, then sat down face to face, and went directly to the interview.
"We got the No. [-] pick this year. Who do you think is a better choice? Oden or Durant?"
(End of this chapter)
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