Have you ever tracked the miles you've logged in a season while scouting for the draft or the number of states you've been to or the number of arenas you've been to?
That's a little scary. Last year, I went to Europe two times. Normally, when I go there, I try to see at least 10 games over a two-week period, so you might be at a game every day. Sometimes I forget where I'm at while I'm watching. This year, so far I've only seen about five games, but the season has just started. So you've got to figure 30, 40 games. And once we get to the tournament, we just spend the whole weekend going from game to game.
Do you set the schedule at the beginning of the year for the entire college season or do you have to wait to see who's starting to develop and leave the second half of the season open?
I don't go by schedule; I go by players. Since we can't go and watch high school players, I know less about high school players than anybody. I try to hit the young high school players first. One of my favorite tournaments is Coaches vs. Cancer in New York. I was back there last week. Every year, a superstar comes out of that.
If you can't scout high school games, when do you see the high school players?
Nike puts on the Hoop Summit, and that's usually in April. You get one look at them then. You say, "Well, this guy's got potential," and you follow where they go to (college), and you try to get out and see them. As you go along, guys that you really like and guys that you think are going to be drafted high, you want to try and see them as many times as possible. Our guys will go out and say, "I don't think you need to see that guy." That helps eliminate a whole lot of guys.
At what point do your eyes glaze over? January? February? Can you make it to March?
March can be really tough, especially when you're at one tournament and you're at games all day, you get back to your room at midnight, and you're trying to get to the next city, so you might have a 6 o'clock flight to try to catch a game at noon or whatever. But it's fun, especially the games. You keep going, and it's something that you love doing. I don't look at it as a job; I look at it as something I really love.
Toughest place in the United States to get to to scout a game?
Anchorage, (Alaska). I have my favorite cities that I like to go to to see players. Sometimes I might want to look a player up and go scout a game at a place where nobody thinks a scout would be. Everybody's got their own style.
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