ESPN has recently slashed a lot of their top tier talent, and the cuts hit the college basketball department especially hard.
However, two guys who did actually survive the massive purge are Analyst/International expert Fran Fraschilla andย reporter Jeff Goodmanย who answered questions to preview the 2017 NBA Draft this week.
You can read the entireย transcript of their media conference call at this link.
Both were asked to assess the NBA Draft prospects of Biggie Swanigan and this is what Fraschilla had to say (Goodman analysis and feedback over at this link).
Fran Fraschilla: “Itโs really interesting about Caleb, he dominated college basketball this year, and he obviously is an elite rebounder.”
“He does struggle to score over length, and he did again this year, and there are things that he needs to do better in the low post in order to have any effectiveness as an NBA player, but what Caleb has proven that he can do is make jump shots, and if he can be a pick-and-pop guy or even stretch his range out to the three-point line, then I could see him being what I would call a second-unit power forward or small ball center. Thatโs how I look at it.”
“There might be a team that likes him in the first round, but if he hangs his hat on a couple of skills to get in the league, itโll be his rebounding, and itโll be his ability to make outside shots, as crazy as that sounds, because he dominated the paint in college basketball.”
Fraschilla was also asked about the decision Biggieย Swanigan made not to go through the competition at the scouting combine this past week and if that was indeed the right call.
Fraschilla pointed out, as anyone who pays close attention to the combine knows, the guys who actually play five-on-five at the so-called “event” are basically either second-round guys or undrafted guys.
Yes, there’s plenty of valid reasons that next to no one cares about the NBA scouting combine. Fraschilla elaborated on the strengths of weaknesses of your Biggie Swanigan NBA Draft stock.
With Caleb, the conditioning is definitely one thing thatโll stand out, assuming heโs in the shape he played in this year,” said Fraschilla.
“The second thing, again, is Iโm very high on his ability to shoot the ball, which is going to come in handy for him, and then the third thing is his likability, how will teams like him when they sit down and interview him.
“Given what heโs accomplished in two years at Purdue, I think heโs making the right decision, and heโs got ways to help himself at the combine besides just playing five-on-five.”
Go here to see where we have Biggie Swanigan in our NBA mock draft. Go here to see a NBA Draft lottery conspiracy theory for ever single team in this year’s lottery.ย
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.netย and TheBank.News, partnered withย FOX Sports Engage Network.ย andย News Now.ย Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times,ย NBC Chicago.comย andย Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes toย WGN CLTVย and KOZN.ย
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