by Ben Osborne
If you’ve played, watched or written about high school basketball in the New York area, you know Tom Konchalski, writer of the HSBI Report for college coaches.
As friendly a man as you’ll ever meet, Konchalski always treats me and my SLAM colleagues with complete respect, typically remembering our names since he is a complete genius in that regard.
New York Magazine skillfully turns its attention to Konchalski in this week’s issue, with writer Jason Zengerle painting the picture of a man who has resisted all forms of technology yet remains one of the best talent scouts in the country, all while remaining above the fray of “scouts” who have alterior motives.
You can and should read the entire story here, but if you’re too lazy for that, this paragraph gets to the crux of the matter with Konchalski:
Indeed, Konchalski is the rare figure in the world of big-time high-school hoops whose integrity remains unimpeachable. “If you’ve ever been around those summer camps, you walk in and out and you feel like you need to shower for three days,” says sportswriter John Feinstein. “But that’s not Tom. He’s the last honest man in the gym. He’ll tell you exactly what he thinks about a player. He’s not in it to try to get to know players and broker them to a school. He’s just trying to evaluate kids and give them honest marks.”
