NBA Draft

Fraschilla Compares Exum To Young Jordan

ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla has seen Dante Exum play against strong competition, and he compared the PG to a young Michael Jordan

Published

7 years ago

March 4, 2014

Jabari Davis

Australian NBA prospect Dante Exum has already caused a great deal of debate among analysts and fans, and he hasn’t even set foot on the court for a pre-draft workout yet. Just as there are plenty of believers in the somewhat limited (but highly impressive) footage and statistics we have available on Exum, there are many who believe we need to see the 18-year-old phenom against stronger competition before determining whether he is worthy of a top five pick in the upcoming 2014 NBA Draft.

Highly regarded former college basketball coach and current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla is one of the few who has seen Exum play against stronger competition on more than one occasion. Fraschilla offered his views on the 6’6 guard during a recent interview with 710 ESPNLA’s John Ireland.

“He reminds me of a young, 1982 circa North Carolina Michael Jordan,” Fraschilla said of Exum. “He’s not going to be as great, obviously, unless I’m wrong… but he kind of reminds you of a young colt that’s just about to run his first claimer race, and you’re looking at him (thinking), ‘This guy could win the Kentucky Derby someday.’”

Obviously, he’s not comparing Exum to the Jordan that finished a legendary NBA career with six titles. There’s certainly no need to place that type of added pressure and increased expectation on any young player, but Fraschilla is drawing a direct parallel to what he sees in Exum and what he saw out of an 18-year-old Jordan as a freshman at North Carolina.

“He’s got great basketball instincts,” Fraschilla said. “He’ll drive in, and when you think he’s going to use his right hand, he’ll switch to the left hand at the last minute. He’ll take off about a half step earlier than you think he should, but then he’ll hang in the air and bank it off the glass…Getting your own shot in the league is a skill.”

High praise of that nature, whether you agree, is certain to turn a few heads and raise an eyebrow or two when it comes from someone as respected as Fraschilla, and he certainly didn’t back away from his praise of Exum when asked about his actual draft stock.

“If I had to pick today, it would be in some order of Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker and Dante Exum,” Fraschilla concluded.

Part of why Fraschilla is so impressed with Exum is a result of how he performed at the 2013 Nike Hoop Summit. Exum was able to showcase his all-around game against a team that boasted Duke’s Jabari Parker, Kentucky’s Aaron and Andrew Harrison and Julius Randle, and Arizona’s Aaron Gordon.

http://youtu.be/HAdbE72z2VE

Exum turned even more heads just a few months later, when he led Australia to an impressive win over Spain at the FIBA Under 19 Men’s tourney in Prague. He was absolutely dominant in the quarterfinal game, notching 33 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.

The footage from these clips makes it easy to see why scouts have also compared Exum to players like Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose. Not only is he lightning quick with the ball in transition, but Exum’s first step has him routinely attacking the paint and rim in the halfcourt set as well.

Perhaps a slight difference between his game and that of a young Westbrook and particularly Rose is that Exum already appears to have an outside game. His jump-shot is smooth, and he appears to have the ability to comfortably rise above a defender off the dribble and hit catch-and-shoot opportunities. He even appears to be able to handle the pick-and-roll effectively, which should please a growing number of coaches.

Fraschilla is not in the business of throwing out hyperbole or ranking a player that high just for the sake of grabbing a headline, so these are not words to be taken lightly. Praise and limited footage aside, Exum should have plenty of opportunities to prove himself during the pre-draft process. Reportedly already working out in Southern California in preparation for that early-to-mid June period, Exum can expect to hear from many lottery teams.

Whether he’s truly worthy of some of the recent hype will soon be known, when everyone will have the opportunity to judge his game for themselves. It doesn’t appear that Exum will by shying away from that spotlight anytime soon.

Mock Drafts

2020 NBA Mock Draft – The Final 60-Pick Mock

What a long and winding road the 20201 NBA Draft has been. While this draft cycle has seen its ups and down, the moment of truth if finally upon us.

Published

3 months ago

November 18, 2020

Steve Kyler

What a long and winding road the 20201 NBA Draft has been. While this draft cycle has seen its ups and down, the moment of truth if finally upon us.

Here is a final look at the 2020 Draft, and how it may play out in this final 60-pick Mock Draft of the 20202 NBA Draft process:

Mock Drafts

2020 NBA Mock Draft – First Round – 08/21/2020

The 2020 NBA Draft order is now locked in, however, there are tons of additional questions to be answered in the coming weeks. Here is a look at the first round, in this Basketball Insiders Mock Draft.

Published

6 months ago

August 21, 2020

Steve Kyler

To say the 2020 NBA Draft has been chaotic is an understatement, however with last night’s NBA Draft Lottery out of the way, things are starting to at least trend in a positive direction.

That doesn’t mean there are not challenges ahead, namely when the actual NBA Draft will take place.

There is a growing sense that the NBA and the players are going to push back the start of the next cap year, which will likely impact when and how the NBA Draft plays out.

Typically, the Draft is a major transaction window for NBA teams, and with so much unknown surrounding how the salary cap will be set, and when trades and transactions typically consummated around the draft would become official, there is a lot of uncertainty, making the 2020 NBA draft wide open on many fronts.

The hope among teams is that some clarity on all of this will surface in the coming weeks, but for now most teams are operating in uncharted waters.

With all of that in mind, here is a look at the 2020 NBA Draft First round, which will be the first of many weekly Mock Drafts we’ll be dropping all the way up to the draft, whenever that finally gets set.

The Basketball Insiders Annual Consensus Mock Drafts will begin in September, as will full 60-pick mocks starting next week, so stay tuned.

NBA Draft

NBA ANNOUNCES EARLY ENTRY CANDIDATES FOR 2020 NBA DRAFT

The National Basketball Association announced today that 205 players — 163 players from colleges and other educational institutions and 42 international players — have filed as early entry candidates for the 2020 NBA Draft

Published

10 months ago

April 29, 2020

Basketball Insiders

NEW YORK, April 28, 2020 – The National Basketball Association announced today that 205 players — 163 players from colleges and other educational institutions and 42 international players — have filed as early entry candidates for the 2020 NBA Draft presented by State Farm.

Players who have applied for early entry have the right to withdraw their names from consideration for the Draft by notifying the NBA of their decision in writing 10 days prior to the 2020 NBA Draft.

Following is the list of players from colleges and other educational institutions who have applied for early entry into the 2020 NBA Draft.

EARLY ENTRY CANDIDATES FOR 2020 NBA DRAFT

Player	School	Height	Status
Precious Achiuwa	Memphis	6-9	Freshman
Milan Acquaah	California Baptist	6-3	Junior
Jordyn Adams	Austin Peay	6-3	Freshman
Abdul Ado	Mississippi State	6-11	Junior
Ty-Shon Alexander	Creighton	6-4	Junior
Timmy Allen	Utah	6-6	Sophomore
Derrick Alston Jr.	Boise State	6-9	Junior
Cole Anthony	North Carolina	6-3	Freshman
Joel Ayayi	Gonzaga	6-5	Sophomore
Brendan Bailey	Marquette	6-8	Sophomore
Saddiq Bey	Villanova	6-8	Sophomore
Tyler Bey	Colorado	6-7	Junior
Jermaine Bishop	Norfolk State	6-1	Junior
Jomaru Brown	Eastern Kentucky	6-2	Sophomore
Marcus Burk	IUPUI	6-3	Junior
Dachon Burke Jr.	Nebraska	6-4	Junior
Jordan Burns	Colgate	6-0	Junior
Jared Butler	Baylor	6-3	Sophomore
Manny Camper	Siena	6-7	Junior
Vernon Carey Jr.	Duke	6-10	Freshman
Marcus Carr	Minnesota	6-2	Sophomore
Tamenang Choh	Brown	6-5	Junior
Kofi Cockburn	Illinois	7-0	Freshman
David Collins	South Florida	6-3	Junior
Zach Cooks	NJIT	5-9	Junior
Jalen Crutcher	Dayton	6-1	Junior
Ryan Daly	St. Joseph’s	6-5	Junior
Nate Darling	Delaware	6-5	Junior
Darius Days	LSU	6-6	Sophomore
Dexter Dennis	Wichita State	6-5	Sophomore
Lamine Diane	CSUN	6-7	Sophomore
Ayo Dosunmu	Illinois	6-5	Sophomore
Devon Dotson	Kansas	6-2	Sophomore
Nojel Eastern	Purdue	6-7	Junior
Anthony Edwards	Georgia	6-5	Freshman
CJ Elleby	Washington State	6-6	Sophomore
Mason Faulkner	Western Carolina	6-1	Junior
LJ Figueroa	St. John’s	6-6	Junior
Malik Fitts	St. Mary’s	6-8	Junior
Malachi Flynn	San Diego State	6-1	Junior
Blake Francis	Richmond	6-0	Junior
Hasahn French	St. Louis	6-7	Junior
DJ Funderburk	NC State	6-10	Junior
Both Gach	Utah	6-6	Sophomore
Alonzo Gaffney	Ohio State	6-9	Freshman
Luka Garza	Iowa	6-11	Junior
Jacob Gilyard	Richmond	5-9	Junior
Grant Golden	Richmond	6-10	Junior
Jordan Goodwin	St. Louis	6-3	Junior
Tony Goodwin II	Redemption Academy (MA)	6-6	Post-Graduate
Jayvon Graves	Buffalo	6-3	Junior
AJ Green	Northern Iowa	6-4	Sophomore
Darin Green Jr.	UCF	6-4	Freshman
Josh Green	Arizona	6-6	Freshman
Ashton Hagans	Kentucky	6-3	Sophomore
Tyrese Haliburton	Iowa State	6-5	Sophomore
Josh Hall	Moravian Prep (NC)	6-8	Post-Graduate
Rayshaun Hammonds	Georgia	6-9	Junior
Jalen Harris	Nevada	6-5	Junior
Niven Hart	Fresno State	6-5	Freshman
Aaron Henry	Michigan State	6-6	Sophomore
Jalen Hill	UCLA	6-10	Sophomore
Nate Hinton	Houston	6-5	Sophomore
Jay Huff	Virginia	7-1	Junior
Elijah Hughes	Syracuse	6-6	Junior
Feron Hunt	SMU	6-8	Sophomore
Chance Hunter	Long Beach State	6-6	Sophomore
DeJon Jarreau	Houston	6-5	Junior
Damien Jefferson	Creighton	6-5	Junior
Isaiah Joe	Arkansas	6-5	Sophomore
Dakari Johnson	Cape Fear CC (NC)	6-0	Freshman
Jalen Johnson	Louisiana	6-7	Junior
Andre Jones	Nicholls State	6-4	Junior
C.J. Jones	MTSU	6-5	Junior
Herbert Jones	Alabama	6-7	Junior
Mason Jones	Arkansas	6-5	Junior
Tre Jones	Duke	6-3	Sophomore
Corey Kispert	Gonzaga	6-7	Junior
Kameron Langley	NC A&T	6-2	Junior
AJ Lawson	South Carolina	6-6	Sophomore
Saben Lee	Vanderbilt	6-2	Junior
Kira Lewis Jr.	Alabama	6-3	Sophomore
Matt Lewis	James Madison	6-5	Junior
Isaiah Livers	Michigan	6-7	Junior
Denzel Mahoney	Creighton	6-5	Junior
Makur Maker	Pacific Academy (CA)	7-0	Post-Graduate
Sandro Mamukelashvili	Seton Hall	6-11	Junior
Tre Mann	Florida	6-4	Freshman
Nico Mannion	Arizona	6-3	Freshman
Naji Marshall	Xavier	6-7	Junior
Kenyon Martin Jr.	IMG Academy (FL)	6-7	Post-Graduate
Remy Martin	Arizona State	6-0	Junior
Tyrese Maxey	Kentucky	6-3	Freshman
Mac McClung	Georgetown	6-2	Sophomore
Jaden McDaniels	Washington	6-9	Freshman
Isiaha Mike	SMU	6-8	Junior
Isaiah Miller	UNCG	6-0	Junior
Matt Mitchell	San Diego State	6-6	Junior
EJ Montgomery	Kentucky	6-10	Sophomore
Andrew Nembhard	Florida	6-5	Sophomore
Aaron Nesmith	Vanderbilt	6-6	Sophomore
Zeke Nnaji	Arizona	6-11	Freshman
Obadiah Noel	Massachusetts-Lowell	6-4	Junior
Jordan Nwora	Louisville	6-7	Junior
Onyeka Okongwu	USC	6-9	Freshman
Isaac Okoro	Auburn	6-6	Freshman
Elijah Olaniyi	Stony Brook	6-5	Junior
Daniel Oturu	Minnesota	6-10	Sophomore
Reggie Perry	Mississippi State	6-10	Sophomore
Filip Petrusev	Gonzaga	6-11	Sophomore
John Petty Jr.	Alabama	6-5	Junior
Nate Pierre-Louis	Temple	6-4	Junior
Xavier Pinson	Missouri	6-2	Sophomore
Yves Pons	Tennessee	6-6	Junior
Immanuel Quickley	Kentucky	6-3	Sophomore
Darius Quisenberry	Youngstown State	6-1	Sophomore
Jahmi’us Ramsey	Texas Tech	6-4	Freshman
Paul Reed Jr.	DePaul	6-9	Junior
Nick Richards	Kentucky	6-11	Junior
Colbey Ross	Pepperdine	6-1	Junior
Fatts Russell	Rhode Island	5-10	Junior
Joe Saterfield	Ranger CC (TX)	6-4	Freshman
Jayden Scrubb	John A. Logan College (IL)	6-6	Sophomore
Aamir Simms	Clemson	6-9	Junior
Ja’Vonte Smart	LSU	6-4	Sophomore
Chris Smith	UCLA	6-9	Junior
Collin Smith	UCF	6-11	Junior
Jalen Smith	Maryland	6-10	Sophomore
Justin Smith	Indiana	6-7	Junior
Mitchell Smith	Missouri	6-10	Junior
Stef Smith	Vermont	6-1	Junior
Ben Stanley	Hampton	6-6	Sophomore
Cassius Stanley	Duke	6-6	Freshman
Isaiah Stewart	Washington	6-9	Freshman
Parker Stewart	UT-Martin	6-5	Sophomore
Terry Taylor	Austin Peay	6-5	Junior
MaCio Teague	Baylor	6-3	Junior
Tyrell Terry	Stanford	6-1	Freshman
Justin Thomas	Morehead State	5-11	Junior
Ethan Thompson	Oregon State	6-5	Junior
Xavier Tillman Sr.	Michigan State	6-8	Junior
Jeremiah Tilmon	Missouri	6-10	Junior
Obi Toppin	Dayton	6-9	Sophomore
Jordan Tucker	Butler	6-7	Junior
Devin Vassell	Florida State	6-6	Sophomore
Alonzo Verge Jr.	Arizona State	6-3	Junior
Chris Vogt	Cincinnati	7-1	Junior
CJ Walker	Ohio State	6-1	Junior
Trendon Watford	LSU	6-9	Freshman
Ibi Watson	Dayton	6-5	Junior
Nick Weatherspoon	Mississippi State	6-2	Junior
Kaleb Wesson	Ohio State	6-9	Junior
Jarrod West	Marshall	5-11	Junior
Romello White	Arizona State	6-8	Junior
Kahlil Whitney	Kentucky	6-6	Freshman
DeAndre Williams	Evansville	6-9	Sophomore
Emmitt Williams	LSU	6-6	Sophomore
Keith Williams	Cincinnati	6-5	Junior
Patrick Williams	Florida State	6-8	Freshman
James Wiseman	Memphis	7-1	Freshman
Robert Woodard II	Mississippi State	6-7	Sophomore
McKinley Wright IV	Colorado	6-0	Junior
Omer Yurtseven	Georgetown	7-0	Junior

The following is the list of international players who have applied for early entry into the 2020 NBA Draft:

Player	Team/Country of Team	Height	Status
Berke Atar	MZT Skopje (Macedonia)	6-11	1999 DOB
Deni Avdija	Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)	6-8	2001 DOB
Brancou Badio	Barcelona (Spain)	6-3	1999 DOB
Darko Bajo	Split (Croatia)	6-10	1999 DOB
Philippe Bayehe	Roseto (Italy)	6-9	1999 DOB
Marek Blazevic	Rytas (Lithuania)	6-10	2001 DOB
Adrian Bogucki	Radom (Poland)	7-1	1999 DOB
Leandro Bolmaro	Barcelona (Spain)	6-6	2000 DOB
Vinicius Da Silva	Prat (Spain)	7-0	2001 DOB
Henri Drell	Pesaro (Italy)	6-9	2000 DOB
Imru Duke	Zentro Basket (Spain)	6-8	1999 DOB
Michele Ebeling	Kleb Ferrara (Italy)	6-9	1999 DOB
Paul Eboua	Pesaro (Italy)	6-8	2000 DOB
Osas Ehigiator	Fuenlabrada (Spain)	6-10	1999 DOB
Joel Ekamba	Limoges (France)	6-5	2001 DOB
Selim Fofana	Neuchatel (Switzerland)	6-3	1999 DOB
Miguel Gonzalez	Baskonia (Spain)	6-7	1999 DOB
Killian Hayes	Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)	6-5	2001 DOB
Sehmus Hazer	Bandirma (Turkey)	6-3	1999 DOB
Rokas Jokubaitis	Zalgiris (Lithuania)	6-4	2000 DOB
Georgios Kalaitzakis	Nevezis (Lithuania)	6-8	1999 DOB
Vit Krejci	Zaragoza (Spain)	6-8	2000 DOB
Arturs Kurucs	VEF Riga (Latvia)	6-3	2000 DOB
Dut Mabor	Roseto (Italy)	7-1	2001 DOB
Yam Madar	Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)	6-2	2000 DOB
Theo Maledon	ASVEL (France)	6-4	2001 DOB
Karim Mane	Vanier (Canada)	6-5	2000 DOB
Sergi Martinez	Barcelona (Spain)	6-8	1999 DOB
Nikola Miskovic	Mega Bemax (Serbia)	6-10	1999 DOB
Aristide Mouaha	Roseto (Italy)	6-3	2000 DOB
Caio Pacheco	Bahia Basket (Argentina)	6-3	1999 DOB
Joel Parra	Joventut (Spain)	6-8	2000 DOB
Aleksej Pokusevski	Olympiacos (Greece)	7-0	2001 DOB
Sander Raieste	Kalev/Cramo (Estonia)	6-9	1999 DOB
Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos	AEK (Greece)	6-8	2001 DOB
Yigitcan Saybir	Anadolu Efes (Turkey)	6-7	1999 DOB
Njegos Sikiras	Fuenlabrada (Spain)	6-9	1999 DOB
Marko Simonovic	Mega Bemax (Serbia)	6-11	1999 DOB
Mouhamed Thiam	Nanterre (France)	6-9	2001 DOB
Uros Trifunovic	Partizan (Serbia)	6-7	2000 DOB
Arnas Velicka	Prienai (Lithuania)	6-4	1999 DOB
Andrii Voinalovych	Khimik (Ukraine)	6-10	1999 DOB