NBA teams use three different methods to manage their scouting databases.
The most common is a custom-built program by the team that lives on a private, internal server, which cost between $50,000 and $60,000 to design, and around $20,000 per year to maintain. Those teams include the Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz.
"A third of the league builds their own very high-end, very sophisticated, very comprehensive internal database, which you can't get into," another scout said. "They'll tier it. The GM can see everything. The assistant GM can see most. But the scouts won't read the GM's notes."
The second way is to share emails, Word documents and spreadsheets among the front office.
The third, which is the trendiest, is a password-protected online account through basketball website RealGM.com. Eleven teams are now involved, including the Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Pelicans and New York Knicks.
"It’s the depth of information, and the quality of our tools and reports that set RealGM apart," said Todd Essman, RealGM's chief operating officer.
But one NBA scout was surprised to hear that teams use RealGM, saying, "I'm really not sure why they would for security purposes."
To note, at the recent MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, a big conversation piece centered around "high-profile hacks," according to another scout, in the wake of a breach of credit and debit card data at Target that may have affected as many as 40 million shoppers.
"NBA teams were saying that they feel like that could be the next big embarrassment, like if somebody downloads all your scouting files and tracks them or leaks them to Deadspin," the scout said.
But Essman made it clear, "We have never had a security issue. We practice the protocols that big financial institutions do so everything is as safe as an online banking session."
RealGM's scouting service—which also has a salary cap and player transaction software product—first arrived during the 2011-12 season. Each team's cost per season is between $30,000 and $40,000, and the overall price tag is about $50,000 less than an internal database over a five-year span, according to a scout.
