Scouting and the draft

For how every game runs a draft, see Drafts. This page covers basketball.

Scouting credits

Scouting is private to your team. Only the GM of the team sees its credits and reports. The commissioner does not.

• Your club gets 12 credits each season. You split them between scouting and development on Front office. See Your team. Each scouting credit buys 6 scouting looks.
• One look is one look at one prospect. A bought look is permanent.
• Looks open in equal installments through the regular season, one every 7 game days. Looks you do not spend carry over. From the play-in on, every look is open. The budget meter names the next date, for example "7 more open Nov 14."
• Looks expire with the draft class.
• Scouting stays locked until your club sets its season budget. The screen shows Set your season budget to open the scouting board. and a link, Open the front office.
• Con is the league consensus grade.
• The first look is Upside. Each later look grades one more skill: Scoring, Shooting, Passing, Rebounding and Defense. A look is an estimate. The true grade stays hidden.

To buy a look:

1. Set your season budget first. See Your team.
2. Open Scouting. The Scouting budget sits above the Draft class list.
3. Find the prospect in the draft class table.
4. Select Buy first look. For a later look, the button reads Buy next look.

A prospect row shows Looks, the number you have bought. The class is on the board from opening day. A league that opened without a class gets it at the lottery.

The draft

The lottery runs in the first offseason press after the Finals. That press stops before the draft. The 14 clubs that missed the playoffs enter the lottery. The 4 play-in losers hold the last 4 lottery slots, 11 to 14, whatever their record. A league that starts in the offseason opens with the lottery already run, ordered by roster strength. See Start in the offseason. See Run your season for the offseason steps.

1. Open Draft. The board lists every prospect with a Con grade and a Read column. Grades are league consensus, not the truth. Read is your own club's scouting grade for his upside, and it shows a dash until you scout his upside. The Draft report shows the truth once a class has played a season.
2. Use the plus button beside a name to add that prospect to Your queue. Drag a queue row to move a prospect up or down. The arrow buttons in each queue row also move a prospect, for keyboard use. The close button removes it. The game saves your queue on the server.
3. When you are on the clock, select a prospect, then select Draft and confirm. A pick is final.
4. Best available selects the top of your queue, or the top of the consensus board if your queue is empty.
5. Skip to my pick runs the board until your pick.

The draft room shows Advance only once a draft class exists. The button hides after the last pick. In a league run by hand, the last pick moves the league to free agency by itself.

AI clubs spend their scouting looks around their own draft pick at the lottery. They draft on their scouts' upside read. When that read changes the pick, Why they did it on the news wire says: "Their own scouts liked this one more than the consensus board did."

AI clubs draft on their own judgment, not on the truth. Each club blends its own scouting with the consensus grade, and each one misreads some prospects. A player you scouted well can slide past clubs that misjudged him. Scouting is how you find those steals.

The clock is real. When your clock runs out, the league drafts the top player in your queue. If your queue is empty, the league makes the pick. Your queue stays when you reload the page.

Trade picks in the draft room

When you are on the clock, the draft strip shows a Calls button. A badge on the button counts the calls that wait for you. When another club sends you an offer, the strip shows a New offer button (New offers for more than one), with a count.

The Draft trades panel lets you swap picks during the draft. Choose a team, choose the pick each side sends, and select Send offer. Offers you receive appear under Pending offers, with Accept and Reject. The clock keeps running, and an offer expires if either pick is used first. For the rules on picks, see Pick trades.

The prospect page

Each prospect has a page with his scouting report. To open it, select his name on the board or in Your queue. When you are on the clock, selecting a name selects the prospect instead. Then select Scouting report.

The page has these buttons:

• Draft, followed by his name. It shows only when you are on the clock. Confirm to make the pick.
• Scout him buys the next look. When you have bought every look, it reads Fully scouted.
• Add to queue puts him in your queue. When he is in your queue, it reads Remove from queue.