Scouting for NBA draft includes character checks
Published: June 23, 2009, 12:30 am
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NBA scouts know all about Jonny Flynn’s ability to hang in the air, finish plays, all while causing overall havoc on the basketball court. They also want to know if he wreaks havoc away from the court.
Most employers want to know what kind of person they are dealing with and in that regard the former Niagara Falls High School and Syracuse University point guard — along with nearly every top prospect available for the upcoming NBA draft — is no different than anyone else seeking employment. So the NBA conducts comprehensive background checks.
“It’s not just Jonny Flynn, every athlete in the draft has had some kind of background work done on them,” said Bryan Colangelo, president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors. “We need to make sure we’re hiring the right people for our company.”
It pays to know what you are getting when you are investing dollars and draft choices, which is why the NBA and its teams are employing detectives to check on prospective players and uncover skeletons in their closets.
They want to know if they had any discipline problems in high school or college, if they had any trouble with the police, if they’re using drugs, and about their sex life. A thorough check will uncover information about drugs, drinking, illegitimate children, overdue credit-card bills, and bounced checks, among other things.
The NBA has conducted background checks for years, but it became more important to the draft process following the disastrous 1986 draft that included Len Bias (second overall), Chris Washburn (third), William Bedford (sixth) and Roy Tarpley (seventh), whose careers were cut short over drug-related incidents. Bias died of a drug overdose.
“I guess if I’m investing a million something into you,” said Sal Constantino, an assistant coach at Niagara Falls High and a longtime mentor of Flynn, “I’m going to check under the hood.”
Flynn broke his ankle in eighth grade and although his elevation and quickness are obvious strengths — he’s been called “Jonny Upstairs” and “Jonny Hops” — the NBA had the ankle X-rayed during last month’s Combine.
Said Colangelo: “It’s part of the process. You try to piece together as much background as you can, not just the basketball or the medical aspect of things but you try and find out what kind of person that individual is.”
Some teams conduct their own background checks, some use agencies while others use private detectives or someone with a law enforcement or security background. Colangelo declined to say which method he utilizes.
“I don’t want [the players] to know what I’m asking,” he said. “Every team does it a little bit different.”
One-on-one interviews can say a lot about a player. One scout, who requested anonymity, said he usually follows a question like, “What’s your girlfriend’s name,” with “When was the last time you smoked marijuana” to try and throw the player off. Flynn has been very impressive during the interview process, which included a meeting with Colangelo during last month’s NBA Combine.
“It was a great chance for us to speak with him directly and get a good read on him and who he is as a person,” Colangelo said. “You start to formulate an opinion of who he is outside of the basketball realm and that’s all part of it.”
Flynn’s background is generally clean. His parents are both reverends and Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim once said the Flynns are “the most close-knit family I’ve ever seen.” Perhaps Flynn’s lone blemish was when he was accused of sexually assaulting a female student at Syracuse last year. He was exonerated by a grand jury.
The NBA hired a private investigator to conduct a background check on Flynn. The private investigator, a one-time FBI agent, spoke with Constantino for an hour recently at Niagara Falls, where Flynn completed his All-American career in 2007. Before speaking to Constantino, the investigator also visited the basketball staff at Syracuse. Officials from the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks made inquiries regarding Flynn.
“The investigator was really in depth,” Constantino said. “Jonny’s home life has been as stable as can be from Day One. He also asked me, ‘How did Jonny react after losing a game in high school?’ Well, he didn’t lose too many so it’s kind of hard to answer that one. They asked about his character and how he got along with his teammates. To judge a kid about how he lost a game when he was 17 . . . do they have to get that in depth? He’s three years older now. Finally I told them if he didn’t have good character, we wouldn’t be sitting here talking right now.”
rmckissic@buffnews.com
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