“Flight risk.”
Welcome to the new term in the NBA scouting community, one that is impacting decisions teams and executives make about which players to see in the coming weeks. The implicit assumption that a player will be on his team for the entire season no longer holds in an era of surprise NCAA eligibility rulings and elite prospects potentially “shutting it down.”
Those decisions matter because Thanksgiving week marks the unofficial beginning of scouting season in the NBA. Usually, front office staffs spend most of the first month of the season traveling with their team and monitoring the first 15-20 games, getting an impression of what’s working and what might not be.
That all goes out the window at this time of year, thanks to a series of high-profile “Feast Week” college tournaments that allow for much-coveted one-stop shopping. Watching eight college teams in one day, as some of these showdowns allow, can save a lot of trips to…
