Marty Blake, the “Godfather of the NBA Draft,” is widely recognized for being responsible for changing the landscape of professional basketball. He received the 2005 Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame and is credited with discovering such players as Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, Tim Hardaway, Ben Wallace, Devean George and Karl Malone.

Blake shared stories and advice from his 55 years as a scout and general manager in the National Basketball Association in a presentation Thursday in Williams Hall.

The event, sponsored by the Student Activities Board, was designed to bring a speaker to the college that would attract a different crowd than past speakers.

“He has been such an influential person to the NBA,” sophomore SAB films co-chair Jacqueline Eichorn said. “We have never brought a person like him here and thought he would bring a different group of people to one of our events.”

Like any good Godfather, Blake imparted his wisdom and experience to the next generation.

Noted for his talent at identifying skilled players at smaller colleges, Blake was instrumental in starting the NBA Scouting Program. The evening opened with a career video containing tributes from members of the NBA recalling the contribution Blake has had on the game.

Blake has traveled around the world to scout the best future NBA players. Blake’s son, Ryan Blake, who works with his father in their scouting agency, Blake and Associates, calls his father a “living biography of basketball.”

“My father has been through it all for many decades from G.M. to the inner workings of the NBA,” Ryan Blake said.

Ryan Blake said his father’s work ethic and photographic memory are invaluable skills that have helped to sustain his father’s long success in the recruiting field. Blake’s story is so riveting and full of well-known basketball personnel that Ryan Blake is encouraging his father to write a book about his career, including what he looks for in a player.

“You need speed,” Marty Blake said. “Everyone knows you can teach shooting, but you need to know how to work with the pick-and-roll in today’s basketball. Point guards today need to make quick decisions at the top of the key … to drive or pass or shoot. Can he run a play and create movement? Can he drive for a layup and pass the ball to a teammate for an easy score?”

Since he first began, Blake noticed the method behind scouting has changed. Increasingly there is a great deal of interest in recruiting international players. Blake and his son further acknowledge the impact that technology has had on recruitment.

“Now it is possible to obtain instant statistics, video and information from all over the world on any player from any level of basketball,” Blake said.

He said he would prefer if the NBA would increase the amount of time a player must attend college before entering the draft. He said the current one-year rule has created several problems.

“First, there are too many players entering the draft,” Blake said. “Second, when they reach the NBA at that young age, they are not that successful without an education to fall back on. Third, many players enter the draft that have no intention of playing.”

When an audience member asked Blake about high school basketball prospect Jeremy Tyler, a 6-foot-11 junior who is skipping his senior year of high school to pursue a professional career in Europe, Blake quickly dismissed the decision as “dumb.”

Senior Zack Aronberg said he could relate to Blake’s comments about how difficult it is today to break into the basketball-operations portion of the NBA.

“He pretty much validated everything I thought about the process,” Aronberg said. “To be successful at scouting one must be good with people, be willing to travel and know the ins and outs of the game.”

Blake ended the evening by saying that his half-century of work in professional basketball has been well worth the time and travel commitment. The job has taken him around the world, and he has been an instrumental figure in the transformation of the NBA.

“Overall it’s been a lot of fun,” Blake said. “I would not have changed a thing in my career. It’s been great ride, and you would not believe the stories I have had and places I’ve been.”