Fraschilla is a global draft guru
Analyst Fran Fraschilla is ESPN’s NBA draft expert on international players and the longest running broadcaster on the network’s draft set.
Fran Fraschilla was a novice college basketball broadcaster at ESPN in 2003 when some Einstein high on the network food chain asked if he might like to take on a foreign role. Would the former coach at New Mexico, St. John’s and Manhattan work at becoming ESPN’s NBA draft expert on international players? Fraschilla, who had conducted clinics around the globe in his coaching days and a freshly minted University Park resident, was game.
And so Fraschilla tiptoed onto ESPN’s 2004 NBA coverage and has aged into the longestrunning broadcaster on the network’s draft set.
He’ll be back for his 14th draft Thursday evening armed with proper pronunciations of names and backstories he has gleaned straight from players’ mouths. His coach’s eye also helps with his talent assessment.
“You know the ‘t’ in Frank Ntilikina is silent,” Fraschilla volunteered, referring to the 18-yearold, 6-5 point guard from France who may be on the Mavericks' radar when they select with the draft’s ninth pick.
“And did you know that the German kid, Isaiah Hartenstein (a 7-1 center/forward who played in Germany and Lithuania the last two seasons) played Little League baseball in Eugene where his father played basketball at the University of Oregon,” he added.
And then simply to flex his muscles, Fraschilla threw in the name of 7-2 Latvian center “Anzejs Pasecniks,” who played in Spain. And no, I’m not going to even try to assist with a pronunciation.
Fraschilla insists he is not the main act on ESPN’s draft coverage. He prefers to think of himself as a “role-playing middle-inning relief pitcher.”
But some years his workload is heavier than others.
Last season, Croatia’s Dragen Bender, who’d been playing in Israel, went fourth to the Phoenix Suns. Australian Thon Maker was drafted 10th by Milwaukee. Then came Greek center Georgios Papagiannis at No. 13. He was followed by Spain’s Juan Hernangomez at No. 15; France’s Guerschon Yabusele at No. 16; Croatia’s Ante Zizic at No. 23; France’s Timothe Luwawu at No. 24 and Turkey winger Furkan Korkmaz at No. 26. Seven additional overseas players went in the second round.
That made Fraschilla responsible for a grand total of 15 of the 60 players drafted in 2016.
Note: Fraschilla is only charged with foreignborn players who never played college basketball in the United States. Once Lithuanian-born Domantas Sabonis, who now plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder, signed on at Gonzaga he was removed from Fraschilla’s workload.
Ditto Lauri Markkanen, the 7-foot Finn in the 2017 draft who played at the University of Arizona.
Yet Terrance Ferguson, who played his high school basketball at Dallas’ Prime Prep before moving to an Australian pro league, is on Fraschilla’s to-know list for Thursday. He is a potential pick for the Thunder.
This all may seem somewhat ironic considering Fraschilla’s first duty at ESPN is working college basketball, including a plethora of Big 12 games. He says he knows the college game even better than the overseas game.
Come Thursday, Fraschilla believes that only Ntilikina, Hartenstein, Ferguson and Pasecniks will earn him first-round airtime with Australian Jonah Bolden, who played at UCLA before finding a home in Serbia, a possibility.
By the way, Fraschilla likes the teenage Ntilikina but thinks it might take some time for him to ripen. “He’s still a kid playing against men,” Fraschilla said.
He noted Ntilikina, whose statistics are far from gawdy, played in the same French league that produced established NBA players Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Rudy Gobert.
Back to a baseball analogy: If the NBA is MLB, Fraschilla considers the French league and other top overseas leagues, Class Triple-A and college basketball Class Double-A.
And don’t think that Fraschilla waves pompoms for all foreign players.
When Toronto drafted Brazil’s 6-9 Bruno Caboclo with the 20th pick in 2014, Fraschilla told the draft audience: “He’s two years away from being two years away.”
He’s averaged 1.2 points in the 23 NBA games he’s played in three seasons.