The national college player of the year last season, Frank Kaminsky is going to be a top 15 draft pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, with the most likely scenarios for him involving the Indiana Pacers or the Phoenix Suns selecting him.
Kaminsky spent four seasons at Wisconsin, leading them to the Final Four on his last two, including the championship game in 2015. He was an All-American last season, Big Ten player of the year, the Big Ten tournament MVP and twice named to the All-Big Ten first team. It was quite a finish for his time with the Badgers after being on the bench for the first two seasons.
Kaminsky averaged 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game during his senior year. The 22 year old is 7’1, making him another big man (like Porzingis) who has a center’s height but his playing style might be more fitting for the ‘4’ position. Kaminsky has fantastic range, making 54.7% of his field goal attempts last season and even more impressive, 41.6% of his shots from beyond the arc. There isn’t a spot on the floor he can’t make baskets from, and he’s done well against all levels of competition in college basketball.
He hasn’t worked out for any team selecting beneath the 13th, which belongs to the Suns. Phoenix are reportedly very high on Kaminsky and are even thinking about trading up to get him. The rumors of them sending Eric Bledsoe to New York might be a bit murky, but are they planning on using the fourth overall pick which belongs to the Knicks to take Kaminsky? Isn’t that a bit early for him?
The Pacers, a team he has already worked out for, are also very high on his talents. Obviously, there are questions about his defense and strength (although he never was bullied by anyone in college or showed a problem dealing with players defensively), but Kaminsky isn’t going to slip too far down the first round, and somewhere between 10th and 15th seems like a good place for him, and he’ll probably be able to contribute right away.