Fran Fraschilla InterviewBy: Joel Steiner

Akron (OH) – At the Lebron
James Skills Academy we sat down with camp instructor Fran Fraschilla
to discuss player development and coaching the top players in the country
in this type of setting. After enjoying a successful college basketball
coaching career he is currently an ESPN basketball analyst. Fran
brings a unique perspective to player development covering European
prospects for ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage.

NBADraft.net: How
is the camp going so far?

Fran Fraschilla: Well, it is
an excellent concept and when you have this many good young players
from around the country it is fun to work with them. But getting
them to realize although they are the best player in their city or state,
there is a lot they can keep working on and improving. So that
is the challenge. However, the attitude has always been very good
at the Nike Skills Camps.

NBADraft.net: What
do you enjoy most about coaching at a camp like this?

FF: You get to see the
college counselors and high school players develop right before your
very eyes. It’s fun for me, an ex-coach now broadcaster, to
coach these high school players then watch them and talk about them
for the next 3 to 4 years. Last year was a great example.
In the college counselor section the point guards I coached you had
Johnny Flyn, Steph Curry, Patrick Beverly, Kalin Lucas and Jack McClinton.
It was a bevy of point guard talent. It was fun to watch them
work against each other, then have success during the college season.

NBADraft.net: Do you
coach or help as an instructor at any camps in Europe?

FF: I work at the Reebok
Eurocamp to get ready for the NBA Draft. It is a very valuable
experience and this [Nike Skills Academy’s] is sort of the equivalent
to that. Here we are working with a lot of really good players
and a lot of them have been really well coached already. But a
lot of them still need work on the fundamentals of the game. So
while they may be great athletes there is still areas of their skill
development they really need to improve and if they improve them a really
good high school player can become a great one. Then when they
go onto college the adjustment is easier as they have coaches like at
this camp actually pushing them to go harder. This is important
for them to understand since they will not be babied when they are in
college.

NBADraft.net: If you
could make a change to the developmental system in the U.S. when compared
to the European development system what would it be?

FF: This is a sore subject
for me but what Nike is doing is a start but it’s a shame we can’t
coach these kids for three weeks or three months. What we are
missing here in the U.S. is the skill development at this age is much
more serious [in Europe]. Their percentage of time of skill development
to games would be 70% skill development and 30% games. Here in
the States it seems like it is 30% skills and 70% games. Both
systems could probably learn from each other but I wish we had more
time in America to develop a players basic skills. Just the simple
aspects of the game that used to be very common is not anymore.
High I.Q. players at the high school level are not as common anymore.
We develop some of them in college and on into the NBA but they do not
come to college as well coached as they use to.

NBADraft.net: What
high school players have you been around here are the most impressive?

FF: It is hard for me
to say at this particular camp since I work with one group [point guards].
Certainly a guy who impressed me at the Paul Pierce camp was Harrison
Barnes. He is an example of a very athletic player but very fundamentally
sound. He can play multiple positions, is multi-skilled and has
the athletic ability to run the floor and rebound. He [Barnes]
would be the model of what we are trying to develop as a high school
player in this class. He [Barnes] has a lot of what we have seen
in recent years from the great high school players in terms of being
fundamentally sound in all aspects of his game. He is very much
like Kevin Durant or Mayo, he is not just an athlete but skilled.

NBADraft.net: The
college counselors here you have been able to watch on TV all year.
But now that you are coaching them has any of them really stood out
in your mind because you did know much about their game before this?

FF: They are all impressive
in their own way or they would not be here but a guy like Patrick Christopher
who has been part of the Nike Skills Academy, has been at camps the
past few years gets better and better every year. {NBAdraft.net:
We noticed the consistency in his jump shot during drills that day.}
His jump shot was not one of his strengths a few years ago. Now
that is a guy (Christopher) that has continued to improve every year.

Larry Sanders is an excellent
shot blocker and a guy that comes to a camp like this, 15-20 pounds
from now and with a little more experience develops into a better player
than he already is.

Manny Harris at the Paul Pierce
camp was very good. He has a very compact game that does not waste
a lot of energy. He can shoot the ball obviously and that is a
strength but has the quickness to get by you [opposing players].

What I like most about the
college counselors is that they are all highly regarded by ESPN and
the rest of the media. They come to a camp like this, check their
egos at the door and they allow you to coach them. That is probably
the greatest thing about the group of counselors every year is that
they allow you to coach them.

NBADraft.net: What
do you think the benefits are for the college players to come to a camp
like this compared to playing USA Basketball overseas?

FF: I think they both have
benefits. You know I wish more and more of the college players
would take part of the Team USA experience. There is aspects of
that type of experience that can be life changing from going to another
country and experiencing another culture. You also play against
high-level competition. On the other hand spending three days
at a skill camp where it is non-stop high intensity skill work gives
them a chance to get feedback from coaches that don’t coach them during
the year on what to work on is very valuable for those guys coming from
a skills camp. Now I am one that thinks if you can represent your
country you should do it but certain things get in the way such as summer
school or other things that do not allow you to do that.