Ep. 34: Advance Scout Jimmy Powell
He knows the X\u2019s and O\u2019s of all 30 NBA teams, is on the road over 200 days a year, and his work each season begins when the schedule is released, as it was on\xa0Aug. 11.\nRight then, he begins\xa0mapping out his plan,\xa0where he needs to be and how he\u2019s going to get there. The entire process will take him into September, the final month of the NBA offseason.\nJimmy Powell resides in\xa0Springfield, Massachusetts and he\xa0is entering his 19th season as the Pacers Advance Scout. He was originally hired by Donnie\xa0Walsh, his former coach, and it\u2019s a job \u2014 breaking down every single opponent in the way each\xa0Pacers assistant coach prefers \u2014 that he is quite fond of.\n\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand, but I do because I\u2019ve been in this league over 20 years. It all starts with the owner,\u201d he tells me on the podcast. \u201cWhen you got good ownership,\xa0you\xa0know there\u2019s going to be stability,\xa0they\u2019re always going to give you a chance to win, and they\u2019re going to create a good environment.\u201d\nThe way in which he completes his job has changed and been streamlined with the advancement in technology. All 30 NBA teams employee an advance scout, who studies opponents\u2019 playbook and learns all of their play calls.\xa0Attending games days ahead of the Pacers playing them, Powell then inputs their calls into\xa0FastDraw, a\xa0piece of software used by scouts across the league.\nIn his time with the Pacers, he\u2019s worked for six different head coaches. Nate McMillan is No. 6.\n\u201cIf it was another organization, I probably would have been somewhere else. But it\u2019s Indiana, and it\u2019s been great.\u201d\nOver the summer, I sat down with Powell for a conversation on his role as advance scout.\nSubscribe to the Pacers Podcast\xa0on iTunes.\nI welcome your questions and comments @ScottAgness on Twitter\xa0or via email.\nTopics Discussed:\n\n* His long history with Pacers consultant Donnie Walsh\n* Why\xa0working for a great owner\xa0is\xa0critical\n* How he got\xa0\u2014 and has remained \u2014 in the NBA\n* What it\u2019s like to book his schedule, and to have millions of airline miles\n* Why he has remained in his role for so long and not opted for a \u201cnormal\u201d life\n* What makes longtime assistant coach Dan Burke so special