Wisconsin Badgers big man Frank Kaminsky went from total obscurity to NBA Draft prospect last season. He dropped 43 points in one pre-conference game and ended the season with a Most Outstanding Player in an NCAA Regional award. After guiding the Badgers to their first Final Four in 14 years, he decided to leave some money on the the table, by returning to school.
In late April, Frank Kaminsky wrote a letter to Wisconsin fans
His blog included:
“I am at the pinnacle of my basketball playing career, at least in my eyes, I know the NBA has their crazy fans and all, but if you look at all of their games, there are games when teams like the Bobcats get hardly any fans, and it looks flat out boring. At the Kohl Center, we play in front of nearly 17,000 fans every single time we step onto the court. When we travel, we play in front of sell out crowds who absolutely hate us. Not because of who is on the team, but because of where we go to school. Who could leave that?”
Obviously the money quote is that the NBA is “flat out boring” and his particular criticism of the Michael Jordan-owned Charlotte Bobcats. To be fair, the closest NBA franchise to Madison, Wisconsin is the Milwaukee Bucks, and they barely qualify as an NBA team; by any metric.
At Big Ten Media Day, I asked Kaminsky to explain and elaborated on the “NBA is boring” blog. I offered to him a chance to explain what he really meant to this who misunderstood. Here is the podcast, so you can hear Frank Kaminsky in his own words, with his own voice tones, inflections etc. It’s not just a words on a screen. The discussion begins at the 2:30 mark.
If you don’t love Frank Kaminsky as a person just yet, you certainly will when you see just how self-aware he is. He was quite frank (sorry, couldn’t pass up the pun) about his pro potential and how his career after college could develop last May:
“I sat down and thought about it for a long time, and I kept coming back to the same exact point,” Frank Kaminsky wrote.
“I don’t think I would be able to live with the regret of skipping my last year of college to be a potential D-League player or end up in Europe. I have no doubt in my mind that I would have been drafted. I believe that one day I will be put on an NBA roster, but that doesn’t happen right away for most people. Especially for a 7 foot white kid with average athleticism.”
“I am going to be honest, I absolutely love college. Call me Joe College if you please,” he added.
“The NBA can wait. The NBA isn’t going anywhere, so neither am I. I know my benefits of coming back to school just as well as I know my risks.”
Frank Kaminsky isn’t the only guy that you can refer to as “Joe College.” Every silly season, numerous college coaches get courted by NBA GMs to take coaching positions at the next level. Most turn them down.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. You can read Banks’ feature stories and op-eds in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and hear his regular guest spots on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)