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San Diego St. Aztecs shooting guard Jamaal Franklin ended up slipping quite a bit in the NBA Draft, and was taken in the second round by the Memphis Grizzles with the 41st pick. A lot of mock drafts had Franklin going in the first round, so the drop to the 11th pick in the second round is surprising. A comparison that is being made right now for Franklin is to to Grizzles guard Tony Allen, not a bad player to be compared to.
Franklin is an extremely high energy player and is one who an make plays. While at San Diego State he did not have a set position as he was asked to play shooting guard, small and power forward. In addition to being an athletic player he is also quite strong and that came from having to go up against bigger players. That skill will help him be successful as a shooting guard in the NBA.
Here is some from Franklin's scouting report:
Franklin is aggressive. To say the least. Here's a small forward who had no problem driving the lane, taking the shot from afar and putting on some showmanship while in the process of leading the Aztecs in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals; becoming the only player in the nation to do so at the time. He started every game this past season, and averaged 33.1 minutes a game. So it's tough to argue against his endurance and energy.
Are there worries about Franklin in the NBA? Sure, everyone has their flaws. Franklin turned the ball over plenty, usually trying to make some ridiculous play. When it worked it was pretty, when it didn't, well it could look awful at times.
Ball defense has been a tad questionable (a career turnover stat of 2.5 times per game looms large), so one can probably expect this part of his game to be worked on most.