![\"Zuby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP26131824062131.jpg\")
Zuby Ejiofor (48) participates in the NBA basketball draft combine in Chicago, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\nScouting hardly stops for Scott Howard and Jim Clibanoff.<\/p>\n
The NBA draft starts with Tuesday\u2019s first round and ends after Wednesday\u2019s second round. Then, Howard, the Nuggets\u2019 director of college scouting, is headed abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo days later, I leave to go to Turkey,\u201d Howard told the Denver Gazette last week.<\/p>\n
While there might be time to sneak in a visit to the Blue Mosque or Hagia Sophia, it\u2019s hardly a vacation. Most of Howard\u2019s time in Istanbul will be spent analyzing some of the game\u2019s best young talents at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup. From there it\u2019s back to the United States to take in some of the grassroots competitions that run for another month before there\u2019s a brief chance to reset.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven during that downtime, you\u2019re kind of starting to prepare for or look at \u2018OK, what (college) teams am I going to want to start going to watch practice in September? ,\u201d Howard said. \u201cWho\u2019s got the best talent? Where am I going? You\u2019re starting to line things up during that quiet period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clibanoff\u2019s role, director of amateur and grassroots scouting, includes checking out the sanctioned events from USA Basketball\u2019s elite youth camps in Colorado Springs to the top AAU circuits put on by sneaker brands and the National Basketball Players Association\u2019s Top 100 Camp.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWhen you\u2019re starting to watch kids at 15, 16, 17, it aids you so much,\u201d Clibanoff told the Denver Gazette a day before the draft.<\/p>\n
The man fondly called \u201cClib\u201d around the organization briefly wondered if there is such a thing as starting too young when it comes to scouting. It didn\u2019t take long to shake off that notion in the modern era of prep and college athletics where amateurism is long gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith NIL and the way everyone is positioning themselves, it reminds me more now of when you would hear the soccer stories when the kid would turn pro at 13 or 14,\u201d Clibanoff said.<\/p>\n
After summer, Clibanoff joins Howard and the rest of the scouting staff across the country to cover the college basketball scene. Following the NCAA Tournament comes the pre-draft process headlined by the combine and individual workouts at Ball Arena in the days and weeks leading up to the draft.<\/p>\n
The cycle starts all over again a few days later.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The scouting department doesn\u2019t have the luxury of zeroing in on a specific range of picks even though it was a safe assumption Denver\u2019s 2026 selection would fall somewhere in the 20s. Getting into the early lottery would require an unlikely trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of our job is being prepared for every player out there,\u201d Clibanoff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you only use that (narrow) focus, then you\u2019re negating or blocking out all these players who down the road you need to know about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in a year like last, when the Nuggets started and finished the draft without a pick, there was plenty of work to be done. There was a chance, however slight, for a draft-night trade to snag a player who had dropped further than expected. That didn\u2019t happen, but the scouting department had to be ready for any outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to prepare for the draft almost, in some ways, like you have all 60 picks, but you also have to prepare for the draft as if you have no picks,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to know what undrafted guys you want to go after on two-way (contracts) and who you want to invite to training camp and all of that. You really have to know the entire draft from top to bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zuby Ejiofor (48) participates in the NBA basketball draft combine in Chicago, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Only so much of the scouting is done in the gym.<\/p>\n
Providing the most comprehensive report on a prospect includes getting to know the person as much as the player.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t take chances on jerks,\u201d Clibanoff said. \u201cWhen you establish your culture, it\u2019s very important that you preserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe value high-character players, so we spend an extraordinary amount of time with our intel work, talking to coaches, talking to grassroots people, the opponents of the players, the teams that the players played on, trying to find out \u2018Hey, does this guy fit with us?\u2019 Because we have such a high-character locker room,\u201d Howard added.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom top to bottom, we don\u2019t have a bad-character guy on our team. It doesn\u2019t work to bring a low-character guy in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The process of getting to know a prospect continues over the course of the pre-draft visits to Denver. Some teams want to see how the athlete handles pressure or uncomfortable situations. Denver has operated in different fashion, something Howard credited to former executive Tim Connelly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to think our interviews, when we talk to them, they\u2019re enjoyable. We want the guy to feel comfortable. We don\u2019t want him to be uncomfortable,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we draft a guy, we want him to be enthused to be coming to our place at the start and not fear us. I think we\u2019ve done a really good job of doing that. Because of that, I think that\u2019s helped us. We haven\u2019t had a ton of guys that just didn\u2019t fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Denver enters the draft with the 26th overall pick Tuesday and a late second-round pick, the 49th overall, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve talked a lot about\u00a0length, athleticism, physicality, improving our defense,\u201d executive vice president of basketball operations Ben Tenzer told nuggets.com last week.<\/p>\n
Executive vice president of player personnel Jon Wallace, a former scouting coordinator for the Nuggets, considers the deep class \u201cguard heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n
For much of the year, the decision-makers are dialed into their NBA priorities. Wallace and Tenzer are tasked with trying to improve the roster throughout the season via trade or free agent signings. Coach David Adelman is too concerned with winning games to grind through film of the top prospects, which makes being on the same page of increased importance.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou understand who DA is as a coach and you can make it even more refined,\u201d Clibanoff said.<\/p>\n
While the coach and executives are managing their primary responsibilities, the scouts have an evolving list of potential targets that ebbs and flows over the course of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly on, you\u2019ll feel like \u2018Man, these are the 10 guys that we should be focusing on with the 26th pick.\u2019 You\u2019ll feel that way in February,\u201d Howard said. \u201cThen, all of a sudden by the combine, 15 more guys come on the scene. Now, all of a sudden, your list is back to 40 guys. \u2026 I think we\u2019ve done a really, really good job of making our coaching staff included in this, because at the end of the day, the player is going to play for David Adelman.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Denver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP22178733092617.jpg\")
Denver Nuggets selections from the NBA draft, from left to right, Peyton Watson, Christian Braun and Ismael Kamagate hold up their jerseys as they are introduced to the media during a news conference Monday, June 27, 2022, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
As much work as the Nuggets put into getting the complete picture, scouting remains an inexact science.<\/p>\n
For every Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Christian Braun or Peyton Watson, there\u2019s an Emmanuel Mudiay, Tyler Lydon, RJ Hampton or Bones Hyland to keep the scouts humble. In such a demanding job where the stakes are high, the Nuggets have found a way to keep things light.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting along with your work colleagues, it\u2019s critical man. \u2026 We\u2019re on the road so much, you better get along,\u201d Clibanoff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been one of the most important things, just understanding where everyone else is coming from, respecting their opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n
While some teams are better than others, none can boast a perfect record when it comes to evaluating talent. The almost continual work done by Denver\u2019s scouting department, led by Clibanoff and Howard, certainly has its stories of success.<\/p>\n
\u201cShoot, I\u2019m wrong probably more than I\u2019m right. You just got to make sure your right is really right, and your wrong is only a little wrong. When you do it the other way around, you\u2019ve got a problem,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve swung and missed, but we\u2019ve got the rights really right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
<\/p>\n