NBA Draft 2019: 5 best undrafted players

2. Robert Franks, Forward, WSU

Robert Franks’ status as an undrafted free agent feels especially crazy in the wake of the Phoenix Suns’ significant reach down at pick 11 to take Cameron Johnson of UNC. Franks plays in much the same role, shoots equally well from a standstill and better off the move, has better physical tools, can play an additional position due to an extra five inches of wingspan, and so on. He’s 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan but is capable of moving like a combo forward more than a strict power forward. Seeing this big a difference in players for whom the better one probably went undrafted and the worse player was in the middle of the lottery is borderline unfathomable.

Franks’ fall likely has to do with questions about his defense, which was more the byproduct of since-fired coach Ernie Kent playing a series of virtually random defenses on any given possession. Some possessions, Washington State would come out in a 2-3, some they’d play in a 1-3-1, and some they’d play in a man, and which defense they picked was almost totally independent of the choice from the possession before. And even more than that, none of them worked. The Cougars were the 331st ranked division one defense. And the Cougars were abysmal in general, recording an 11-21 record despite two fairly high-end players in Franks and freshman CJ Elleby. But Franks should hardly be faulted as a prospect for his poor coach and teammates, and for a future NBA role player, he made the absolute best of a poor situation, making it even more surprising that the whole NBA didn’t see through that situation and only one team will get to benefit immensely as a result.