Courtney Witte: I Spy

by Brian Kirschner


Sixers Director of Scouting Courtney Witte spends a rare moment in his office at the Sixers practice facility.
Courtney Witte is to basketball operations what the CIA is to the U.S. Government. He is a spy, sent into opposing arenas to glean as much information about the 76ers next opponent. That information will then be used by the Sixers coaches to give the team a competitive advantage. Of course, every NBA team has a Courtney Witte and most times they sit next to each other in the arena watching the games.

Witte, the team’s director of scouting, has been with the Sixers for the last five years and counts 16 seasons all told in the NBA. He also assists with the draft and personnel moves, which he considers a nice equalizer. And although he does not see many collegiate games during the year, he does get a chance to see the NCAA tourney, along with various draft workout camps that the Sixers hold.

For those who have never seen an NBA scouting report, it is a quarter-inch thick document that gives a comprehensive write-up of a team’s opponent. It includes a cover page with among other things, line-ups, basic offensive and defensive philosophies, best and worst foul shooters, and three-point threats. It’s a condensed form of a team’s abilities that is culled from statistics.


Witte's play charts make up the majority of the scouting report. The information is later entered into a computer program.
The second and third parts are what make the good scouts and give a team the advantage. The bulk of the report is the offensive and defensive sets that the team runs. Witte will watch the game from a seat close to the court where he will chart the plays on both ends of the court by hand. He will also watch, and more importantly, listen to the play calls being shouted by the coaches and players.

“Each coach is different,” Witte said. “Every team has a somebody like me, and we are there every night. Some coaches don’t really care if you are there and are open with the play calls or are very verbal. Some know that you’re there, and they try to disguise it or hide the verbal or visual signs just like baseball coaches.

“Teams do change their plays. Head Coach Larry Brown does it weekly, if not daily. We adjust all the time. In a playoff situation, you adjust daily. There are probably only about nine or 10 basic sets that exist. Out of those sets, you can run numerous different options. You can make subtle adjustments, and you always have counters. There are counters to everything.”

The third part of the report is player bios. While the bios contain the same basic information that is found on the roster, they also contain information that can only be seen by watching the players in person, talking to other coaches and even beat writers. Witte takes all of the information that may even include team chemistry issues, and uses what he feels is pertinent.

“Watching warm ups is really important to see rookies, some guys who do not play a lot, maybe some European players, that necessarily do not get a lot of minutes,” Witte said. “Bios are strength and weaknesses of each player on the roster. The season is so busy and so long, a lot of times, players and coaches don’t have time to look at a lot of collegiate games. They certainly don’t go to Europe, and don’t have an idea about the players as more and more people come from overseas. They don’t have a good feel, but they are going to get it from that player bio.

“The bios say if he’s left handed, six-foot-eight, 240 pounds, where he gets the ball in transition, what does he do with it. Does he like to post up? Which shoulder does he normally go over? We can get real specific. We can get into plus-minuses and all that. We generally don’t do that in the regular season. We key more into that in the postseason.”


Witte likes to watch an opponent at least twice on film before seeing them live.
In the last six years, there has been a sort of revolution in the way scouts operate as everything has become computerized. The laptop computer and e-mail have transformed the job into a highly efficient enterprise. After watching a game, Witte returns to his hotel room on the road to decipher, group and categorize everything he has gathered and enters the information into a specially designed computer software. The report can then be e-mailed back to the 76ers basketball operations department.

For someone who spends an abnormal amount of time a year in hotels around the country, time is extremely critical. Witte is ahead of the team when it comes to the opponent, and has his report in the hands of one of the Sixers assistants a few days before the game so that they can understand the information before presenting it to the team.

“Typically on average I see three to four games a week,” Witte said. “There are times where I see games nine or 10 nights in a row. Then, come back and spend one or two days in Philadelphia before heading out again. It’s all dependent upon our upcoming opponents. I’ve been on a road trip 22-straight days and out of those days were at 19 different games.”

With that kind of schedule, no time is wasted. Witte can watch one or two games on DVD on his laptop while flying across country. He likes to see an opponent two or three times on “film” before going to the game in person. He can do prep work in his hotel before the game and then after the game file his report via email.

“Six years ago, I had to get up at three in the morning, go down to the hotel lobby and fax everything out,” Witte recalled. “I had to fax 50-60 pages, and sometimes the fax on the other end was out of paper, or the material couldn’t be read well. It’s so much easier now.”

The next time the Sixers take the court, don’t look for Witte behind the bench. He will most likely be at one of the other 28 NBA cities playing a crucial role in the Sixers quest for an NBA championship.