There was one year that Walt Perrin decided to keep track of the number of basketball games he attended.
“I was so astonished by the number,” he says, “that I quit. I don’t do that anymore.”
Suffice it to say, Perrin, the Utah Jazz’s vice president of player personnel, works tirelessly each year to prepare for the NBA Draft. With draft night just a few days away, Perrin joined The Note podcast to discuss the scouting and pre-draft workout process, and to share his thoughts on this year’s class.
A rundown of the episode:
6:00 — When do draft preparations begin, and changes to league rules on events scouts can attend
8:55 — What is the life of a scout like? How big is the Jazz’s scouting network?
13:00 — How important are pre-draft workouts? The Jazz 100, the Stockton Drill, and things that make workouts in Utah unique.
19:00 — Memories of Donovan Mitchell’s and Rudy Gobert’s workouts
24:00 — Why Perrin thinks the prediction he once made for this year’s draft could be wrong, and what are the Jazz looking for in this draft
29:30 — What is the war room like on draft night?