The CSL

Scouting System
The system is composed of three components: Scouting, CSL Combine, Workouts

Scouting
1. There will be a total of 8 scouting periods, one for each regular season month from November to May and one post-lottery.

2. There will be 2 double scouting periods (for up to 20 scouts!) throughout the season: February and post-lottery.

3. GMs will have to release either one CSL Insider/two Wiretaps/one hosted Podcast (for 10 scouts) or 1 wiretap/Podcast guest appearance (for 5 scouts) within each period in order to qualify for scouting that month. You must post the link to your article/s in that month's Scouting thread as soon as you submit your scouting file. You do not officially qualify unless you post your link.

NOTE: Special requirements may be put in place of regular articles. Please check the schedule to find if there's a special requirement for the period (Season Pre- and Reviews, draft related articles)

4. Each qualifying team will have five or ten (5 or 10) scouts available at their disposal. You may deploy your scouts however you want. You can have each of them scout a different player or you can assign 2 or more to scout the same player.

5. Your scouts will report on the following categories:

RA_RATE, DUNK_RATE, FG_RA, FG_ITP, FG_MID, FT, FG_ATB, FG_COR, DRFL - with +/- 2 points deviation (both current and potential)
SCR PAS HDL ORB DRB DEF BLK STL DIS IQ - with +/- 5 deviation (current) and +/- 15 deviation (potential)
Ball Actions (Drive & Kick, Drive & Shoot, Post Up, Pull Up, Catch & Shoot, Pass) - actual rating
Floor Areas (Paint, Mid Range, Corner, Above the Break) - actual rating

6. The deviation is generated by a program each time. You can scout the same player 10 times and likely come out with 10 different reports. So it may make sense to scout a player more than once. The deviation remains the same and does not guarantee a more accurate report. However, averaging your reports may increase the chance of getting close to their actual rating. Cross-referencing the numbers could also get you closer to the actual rating.

CSL Combine
1. The CSL combine consists of the Pre-Draft Camp and Interviews. It will take place during the playoffs, after the lottery.

2. During the Pre-Draft Camp, prospects are invited to participate in various drills to showcase their skills. Prospects, especially ones whose stock is high, may choose to decline the invite. The camp will reveal the following:

RA_RATE, DUNK_RATE, FG_RA, FG_ITP, FG_MID, FT, FG_ATB, FG_COR, DRFL - with +/- 4 points deviation (current only)
SCR PAS HDL ORB DRB DEF BLK STL DIS IQ - with +/- 10 deviation (current only)
Ball Actions (Drive & Kick, Drive & Shoot, Post Up, Pull Up, Catch & Shoot, Pass) - actual rating
Floor Areas (Paint, Mid Range, Corner, Above the Break) - actual rating

NOTE: The larger deviations are designed to emulate the contained and specialized environment of a real life draft combine. It gives you a general idea of the player but it doesn't give you the same information you can get from watching someone perform in real game situations.

3. The Pre-Draft Camp will be a public affair (meaning you won't have to do anything). The camp will be simulated and the results will be released in excel (.xls) form.

4. The CSL Combine is also the time for teams to request Interviews. For each player you Interview, you will get his rating for the following categories:

IQ (potential) - true rating
CON, GRE, LOY, PFW, PT, PER, DUR, WE, POP - with +/- 15 deviation

5. Each team will be given 15 interviews at the end of the year.

Workouts
1. Teams will be allowed to workout players after the combine.

2. You will be allowed 15 workouts.

3. Workouts will reveal the following:

RA_RATE, DUNK_RATE, FG_RA, FG_ITP, FG_MID, FT, FG_ATB, FG_COR, DRFL - with +/- 2 points deviation (both current and potential)
SCR PAS HDL ORB DRB DEF BLK STL DIS IQ - with +/- 5 deviation (current) and +/- 15 deviation (potential)

I cannot say it often enough.
Thanks draft team and Rizzo for setting up the CSLO!!

This sounds really ambitious, I am looking forward to it thanks Rizzo!

Minor update (2027-28):

As you probably know, the draft team writes our articles from our own spreadsheets that have deviations on all the ratings. This is the same sheet that is used to create your "extra scouts" that are PM'ed to you when you write your own Draft Spotlight articles. Just like when you write your articles, the Draft Team has two scouts for the player, and writes the article based on what is seen with those two scouts.

I am changing the deviations on these reports only. Your regular scouts through CSLO will continue to have the same deviations as before.

New Draft Team Scouting Sheet Deviations:

Personality Traits (CON, GRE, LOY, PFW, PT, PER, DUR, WE): +/- 15

Ball Actions/Floor Ranges: Exact rating

Shooting (DunkRate, RARate, FGRA, FGITP, FGMID, FGCOR, FGATB, FT, DRFL): +/- 4 (both current and potential)

Current Ratings (SCR, PAS, HND, ORB, DRB, BLK, STL, DEF, DIS, IQ): +/- 10

Potential Ratings(SCR, PAS, HND, ORB, DRB, BLK, STL, DEF, DIS, IQ): +/- 15

---------

Thanks for being patient as we start the season. Scouting should open in the next few days, and I plan to make the first scouting period a free one, due to the delay. I hope to see all 30 teams participate!

2029-30 UPDATE: (2032-33 UPDATE)

Your regular CSLO scouts will remain the same as they always have. The prospect article scouting reports will be changed to be slightly more favorable. You will continue to receive two scouts for each player that you write about.

--



Personality Traits (CON, GRE, LOY, PFW, PT, PER, DUR, WE): +/- 10

Ball Actions/Floor Ranges: Exact rating

Shooting (DunkRate, RARate, FGRA, FGITP, FGMID, FGCOR, FGATB, FT, DRFL): +/- 4 (both current and potential) ---> +/- 3 current and potential

Current Ratings (SCR, PAS, HND, ORB, DRB, BLK, STL, DEF, DIS, IQ): +/- 8 ---> +/- 5

Potential Ratings(SCR, PAS, HND, ORB, DRB, BLK, STL, DEF, DIS, IQ): +/- 12 ---> +/- 10

The sheet will no longer give numbers outside of the allowed range of ratings. All fields have a minimum of 0, except for Current/Potential ratings which have a minimum of 30... and a maximum of 100, except for DRFL which is a maximum of 25.

Amendments for 2032-33 season and beyond

In an effort to alleviate the duties of the draft team moving forward, there will be a greater focus on prospect article scouting coming from you guys. There will be fewer periods of scouting, but more total scouts to be had.

Wiretap articles are now worth 20 scouts
Insiders articles are now worth 40 scouts

The first two scouting periods will be exclusively for prospect scouting, and the prospects available to be claimed will be opened in two waves. In each period, you will be allowed to claim and write about two prospects for double scouts if you choose to do so. A further incentive, is that the deviations on the prospect article scouting sheet will shrink further (to be edited in the post directly above this one), so that you have a very accurate read on the players you are writing about.

Scouting Period 1 (to be completed around Sim 25): All Prospect articles worth 40 scouts apiece, up to 2. (Max 80)
Scouting Period 2 (to be completed around Sim 45): All Prospect articles worth 40 scouts apiece, up to 2. (Max 80)
Scouting Period 3(to be completed around Sim 65): Regular scouting period. Insiders worth 40, Wiretaps worth 20. (Max 40)
Scouting Period 4 (to be completed by end of regular season): Regular scouting period. Insiders worth 40, Wiretaps worth 20. (Max 40)
Scouting Period 5 (to be completed during playoffs): Double scouting period during playoffs. Insiders worth 80, Wiretaps worth 40. (Max 80)
Workouts/Interviews Free 15 for each scouts/interviews (Max 15)

If you fully take advantage of each scouting period, you will have 335 scouts. After scouting period 2, any unclaimed prospects can be claimed, you'll get the more precise article scout, and your article will count as an Insider.

I hope this is a system that works for everyone!

Thanks for laying things out clearly, Draft God

This is fantastic
We can draw a plan moving forward to take advantage of scouting as much as possible

Looks great

Can this be updated to reflect 2033 scouting system and beyond in the first post?
Thanks!!!!!