Most scouting reports fail on the same page: the one about the opponent's best player. Not because the information is wrong, but because it's written as description when the bench needs a decision. The fastest way to show the difference is to write the same page twice.
Both versions below use real numbers from the free sample teardown on this site (Marwick, 18 games of public box scores; the season is real and the club's name is not, which is how a public-data sample stays fair to the club in it). The first version is the industry default. I've written pages like it myself, years ago.
Before
Erin Voss is Marwick's primary offensive option, averaging 21.8 points and 4.8 assists per game. She is a high-volume three-point shooter (9.6 attempts per game at 33.5%) and an excellent free-throw shooter (81.7%). She plays over 30 minutes per game and is capable of scoring at all three levels. The defence should be aware of her at all times and try to limit her touches where possible.
Every sentence is true. None of it is a plan. "Be aware of her at all times" assigns nothing to anybody; "limit her touches where possible" is a hope with a verb on it. A coach reading this page knows what Voss did last month and nothing about what to do on Saturday.
After
Take Voss out of the game and make anyone else beat you. Every possession routes through her, but she's 42.8% from the field: she takes tough shots, and the two blowout losses this season came in games she was contained. Length on her at the point of attack, help early on drives, live with pull-ups over stopping downhill. She cashes 81.7% from the line, so don't reach at the arc: the contested three is a better outcome than two free throws. Get the ball out of her hands late in the clock.
Same player, same box scores. What changed is the grammar of the page.
The verdict leads. The first five words are the assignment. Everything after exists to justify it or execute it.
Every number is attached to a decision. The 81.7 percent doesn't sit in a stat line; it's the reason you don't reach. The 42.8 percent isn't trivia; it's why forcing her into help is a win even when she shoots. A number that doesn't change someone's behaviour on Saturday is decoration.
It names what you'll concede. Live with pull-ups. The before version implies you can take everything away, which is how players end up defending nothing by trying to defend everything. A real plan buys its stops somewhere and says where.
It has an author. The after version can be wrong. That's the point. "Limit her touches where possible" can never be wrong, which is exactly why it's worthless; a claim that can't fail can't help. The scout's job is to make calls that could be wrong and stand behind them, because the alternative is handing the coach a page of true sentences and making the real decisions their problem at 7pm on game night.
The test
Take any scout page you've been handed and read it asking one question: if I deleted the player's name, could this paragraph describe half the league? The before version could. The after version could only ever be about this player, this season, this Saturday. That's the standard every page has to clear before it ships.