Basketball Tryout Evaluation Form: What to Score and How

A basketball tryout evaluation form puts every coach in the gym on the same rows, and its notes explain a decision when a parent or an administrator asks. Judgment still picks the team. The sheet only keeps that judgment honest.

This page gives you a form to copy, the scales coaches use and what each score means, the drills that fill each row, how a staff scores together and how the scores become a team. Planning the whole tryout is on basketball tryouts, and the drills in full are on basketball tryout drills.

The Basketball Tryout Evaluation Form

Start with eight rows and a comments column. The comments, two or three lines a player, are the most valuable part of the sheet. Copy this into a spreadsheet or onto paper, one sheet per player:

Put the player's name and the date at the top. A season sheet that grades the same player later adds height and weight.

Keep the sheet short enough to fill between drills.

What the Scores Mean

Pick one scale before the first session and print its meaning on the sheet, so every coach reads a number the same way:

• 1 to 5, poor to excellent. 1 is poor and 5 is excellent, with two or three lines of comments for every player.
• Four words. Rate each row Excellent, Good, Fair or Weak, with a comments column.
• Weighted. Score the intangibles, such as hustle, attitude and being a gamer, from 1 to 10, and the skill drills from 1 to 5. The intangibles then count more than the drills.

Coaches split on whether to score with numbers at all. A numeric sheet can miss hustle and attitude, can make players play scared of the clipboard and can pull the coach away from watching and teaching. The weighted scale is the answer for a coach who does not want numbers but needs documentation. The other view keeps the sheet, because a decision has to be documented for parents and administrators.

Whatever scale you choose, use one, and keep it the same for every player in the gym.

Four Sheet Layouts

The same eight rows fit four sheets. Pick by group size and by how close the decisions are:

• Individual, simple. One sheet per player with the eight rows and a comment for each. Use it when the group is small enough to watch every player closely.
• Individual, advanced. Each row split into parts: shooting into finishing, three-point and post-up, defense into on-ball, off-ball and mentality. Use it with older players or to separate two close candidates.
• Group, simple. The whole group on one sheet with five skill columns, fast enough to fill between drills with 20 or more players.
• Group, advanced. The whole group on one sheet with all eight rows and a comments column.

A group sheet for a big tryout looks like this:

Big group, short sheet. Close decisions, long sheet.

Other Rows Coaches Score

Build the rows from what your team needs. Settle the team's needs first, then the criteria, then the form, and try to hold the form to 10 items or fewer. The higher the level, the more detail the form needs.

• Character rows. Determination and competitiveness, work ethic and coachability, experience and years of eligibility, positive attitude and appearance, reliability and dependability, poise and self control, loyalty and integrity.
• Physical and skill rows. Shooting, passing, inside presence, quickness and speed, size and jumping ability, dribbling and ball handling, offensive rebounding, defensive skills, defensive rebounding and conditioning.
• A season sheet. Attitude, hustle, conditioning, strength, speed, vertical jump and lateral quickness. Then defensive stance, ball defense, help-side defense, defensive rebounding and blocking out. Then offensive rebounding, passing, dribbling, screening, reading the defense, spacing, creating offense for teammates, assists and layups. Then foul shooting, the mid-range jump shot, the three, shooting off the dribble and shot selection, and a row for turnovers.
• Four categories. Skills and abilities, physical attributes, basketball IQ, and work ethic and attitude, each scored separately with its own drills.

For a school team, add passion and enjoyment for basketball, a positive attitude and keeping the rules, energy and effort, and the basketball skills shown. John Wooden's perfect player is a team player who plays both ends, rebounds, is a fair shooter from outside and a good one inside, has good study and work habits and is never an embarrassment on or off the court.

Every row on the sheet tells the players what you value. Put first what you want them to chase.

Which Drill Fills Which Row

A row needs a drill that shows it. There is no special tryout drill, just practice drills chosen for what they reveal, run as half skill drills and half competitive games.

• Rebounding: 2-on-2 box out. The coach shoots, two offensive players attack the glass and two defenders box out. Rebounding is under-tested at tryouts, and it shows toughness faster than anything else.
• Passing and basketball IQ: 3-on-2 full court. It shows which players pass on time, which force the ball and which sprint the floor both ways, and it shows conditioning with no sprints.
• Basketball IQ: 4-on-3 advantage. The best offensive players find the open man at once, and the best defenders read the pass before it is thrown.
• Defense and moving without the ball: 3-on-3 half court. Play it with regular rules, then with three dribbles per touch at most. You see who can guard the ball and his man.
• Dribbling: Dribble Tag. Every player dribbles inside the half court while trying to tag others, which shows ball control with the eyes up in a crowd.
• Shooting: any shooting drill with a score. A race between partners to 10 makes, or a team shooting to a target. Skill drills still need a winner.

2-on-2 box out, scored on the rebounding row. The coach (C) shoots from the top of the key, and X1 and X2 turn and box out 1 and 2.

3-on-2 full court, scored on the passing and basketball IQ rows. 1 dribbles up the middle while 2 and 3 sprint the wide lanes against X1 and X2.

Tests with a number you can write straight onto the sheet:

• Free throws. 50 free throws, ten at a time. Record the total made.
• Five Spots. Five close-range spots in front of the basket. Shoot at each spot until 5 in a row go in, then move on. A miss sends the shooter back to the beginning. The goal is 25 in a row, so record the best run. It checks form and confidence.
• Range Finder. Five spokes run out from the basket. On one spoke at a time, the shooter steps back after three makes in a row and steps in after three misses in a row, which sets his range.
• Pass Pass. Partners 12 feet apart, the width of the lane, chest-pass down the floor to a layup, starting with six passes, then five, four and three.
• Speed dribbling. A chair course: right hand to half court and back left, weave the chairs, then left hand out and right hand back. Race two courses side by side if you can.

Five Spots. Five close-range spots around the front of the rim, numbered from the right side to the left. 1 starts beside spot 1 and moves on after 5 makes in a row.

Range Finder. Five spokes run out from the basket. 1 shoots on the middle spoke and steps back after three makes in a row.

Group drills by position and ability, and use several baskets at once. A player trying an unfamiliar drill in front of his peers can fold under the pressure, and a poorly run drill can hide a good player. More box out work is on box out drills, and scored shooting on competitive shooting drills.

If you cannot name the drill that fills a row, cut the row.

How a Staff Scores Together

A head coach cannot judge fifty players alone. More eyes give a fairer sheet:

• Score alone, then meet. Each coach fills out a form for each player on his own. Then the staff meets to reach a consensus.
• Put an assistant at every basket. A trusted assistant runs a station at each basket, and the head coach compares notes with each one after every session.
• Compare mock teams. After session one, each coach writes down a mock team. The players everyone agrees on and the players the staff is split on show up at once, and the split ones get the most attention in session two.
• Coach while you score. Do not be a prison guard who stands at the wall with a clipboard. Give an instruction, correct a stance, tell a player to sprint back, and watch whether he takes it on board or forgets it five seconds later. Coachability cannot be scored without coaching.
• Document every player. Notes on every player, not just the obvious top group, let you justify a decision later.

Two short sessions beat one long one. Two 60-minute sessions give the staff time to step away and plan what to look for next, and a second session takes away the bad-day excuse.

Many eyes, one sheet, one meeting. That is how a staff stays fair.

From Scores to Selections

The form ends in three piles, sorted on basketball ability alone after the first session, never before tryouts start:

• Definitely on the team.
• Might be on the team.
• Will not be on the team.

Spend 80 percent of your attention on the middle pile. With 20 players for 10 spots, expect about 7 clear selections, 7 clear cuts and 6 players competing for the last 3 spots. Plan session two around a clear look at those 6.

Weigh the maybes in this order:

• Skills. The form covers this. Compare the players to each other.
• Natural feel. Some players look ordinary in technical drills and take over the live games. Note which players stay in the right spot and which keep finishing on the team that wins.
• Character. Coachability, work rate, being a good teammate and positive body language. It matters most for the final spots, where players spend time on the bench.
• Positional fit. With two strong point guards already on the roster, a center of similar ability beats a third point guard.

Coaches weigh the order differently:

• Defense first. Wanting to play defense, then ball security, then demeanor.
• Character first. Character and what the player does well, then whether he knows his limits.

Write your order on the sheet before the first session. Telling the players the decision is on cutting players: what to say, and the roles that follow are on managing bench players.

The top of the roster picks itself. The form exists for the middle.

What Happens to the Paper

Decide before day one what happens to the sheets. Coaches split three ways:

• Shred it. Once the forms have helped pick the team, they go in the shredder, never to players or parents. A subjective score in a parent's hands becomes the reason the child did not make it. Give feedback in person instead.
• Hand it over. Give each player who did not make it a copy of his composite evaluation with a list of skills to improve.
• Keep a written copy. Keep a written copy of every player's composite evaluation, especially on a school team, to use when a player or parent challenges a decision.

Feedback on the floor during the season is on how to give feedback to basketball players, and the rest of running a team is on the coaching hub.

Choose the paper policy once and tell the families before the tryout, not after.

More Program and Rules Guides

• AAU vs High School Basketball: How Coaches Work Together
• Cutting Players: What to Say and How to Say It
• FIBA Basketball Terminology: Words Coaches Hear Abroad

Back to Basketball Tryouts and every Coaching page.

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