Welcome back to the Taking The Charge Podcast and this week’s interview is with Danny Mills, the general manager of basketball operations of the Perth Wildcats. He talks about taking over his hometown club as well as brings us down memory lane of scouting the world of youth hoops and provides some tips for young scouts looking to rise in the game.
Before that … let’s take a quick look around the world of basketball with the Big Three
2:30 - Story we are watching - A very interesting tweet from super agent Misko Raznatovic about player signings and the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
3:35 - Young player of the week - The 2002-born big man Khalifa Diop is seeing his draft stock rise, especially after his latest game in the 7DAYS EuroCup. The Senegelese center collected 18 points and 9 rebounds in 23 minutes of Herbalife Gran Canaria’s big overtime win over Valencia. He came up with some big time plays in the fourth quarter and overtime to show he can be counted on in big moments. That followed him collecting 11 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes of his previous EuroCup game against Promitheas Patras. Diop has also scored in double figures in four games in the Spanish ACB.
4:40 - Up-coming event we are watching - Interational basketball is great and here we have four totally different styles clashing at the 2022 FIBA Intercontinental Cup. Can’t wait to watch these games!
Before we get into the talk with Danny Mills, we would like to give you a sneak peak of the Taking The Charge Prospects Podcast interview with DR Congo forward Yannick Nzosa from Unicaja Malga - which is part of the paid subscription section of the TTC substack.
5:30 - Sneak preview of interview
Danny Mills - Perth Wildcats General Manager of Basketball Operations (12:50)
13:10 - State of the Perth Wildcats so far
17:50 - Meaning of taking over the Wildcats as someone from Perth originally
20:40 - Role models for the current position
24:00 - Benefit of having a full-time physiotherapist on the team
27:40 - How good the NBL is and how it’s being marketed
32:35 - Advice for young scouts looking to rise in the game
37:15 - Differences between seeing players on tape or live
40:45 - How evaluation differs from roles a player has in different teams
43:35 - Take on the debate of practice with veterans but not much playing time or playing with smaller team
46:40 - Biggest challenge of scouting European players
49:55 - What makes Eurohopes so successful
53:45 - How much NBA people read/follow these scouting websites
56:45 - Is scouting becoming easier or harder
59:20 - Difference between scouting Europe/international and college basketball
1:03:00 - How has the Centre of Excellence changed over the years
1:08:00 - How good was a young Andrew Bogut
1:11:05 - Thoughts about the future of Luke Travers
1:14:05 - What scouts can do for their partners to help make up for the time taken away by basketball
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