Armaan Franklin says leaving IU was 'best decision for my development'
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Armaan Franklin returned home to Indianapolis just in time to decide whether it really is time for him to become a pro.
The former Cathedral High School star and IU starter had a draft workout Wednesday with the Pacers, having entered the draft after spending the past two seasons at Virginia. Prior to the day's 11:59 p.m. deadline for early entrants, he told CBS’ Jon Rothstein he had decided to stay in the draft, passing up his fifth and final season of eligibility.
Franklin said he and his family hadn't discussed it in the time he'd been home and he spent Tuesday night hanging out with old friends. But after his workout for his hometown team, he had to come to a conclusion.
"(My family) didn't want me to think about it,” Franklin said. “They just wanted me to come out here and play my game and not have that on my mind. Just being able to come out here and try and showcase what I have. Just being home is good. We didn't plan for it to be at the deadline. That just happened."
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Franklin is not at all certain to be drafted, but he would have an opportunity to play professionally somewhere, whether that's in the G League or overseas. He moves on from college as an established three-level scorer who has proven he can play on and off the ball and defend multiple positions. He credits both of his college stops for making that possible.
When he won the starting job at Indiana as a sophomore, he became the Hoosiers' go-to perimeter scorer. Rob Phinisee was the nominal point guard, but when Franklin was healthy, Phinisee deferred to him when Indiana needed a big bucket. So he got all kinds of work in screen-and-roll actions, pairing with Trayce Jackson-Davis and other IU bigs.
When coach Archie Miller was fired, however, Franklin transferred to Virginia, though coach Mike Woodson tried to keep him. Franklin played a different role in a much different offense than Woodson was pitching, but said he thought it made him a better player. He also proved he could hang in Tony Bennett's pack-line defensive system.
"Indiana, I was on the ball a lot," Franklin said. "But I think at Virginia I learned to be a more off-ball cutter and a secondary ball-handler. Defensive wise, Virginia's defense is second to none, so being able to go in there and compete on the defensive end is a big part of being in the Virginia program. You're not going to touch the floor if you're not playing defense. You also have to shoot on the move. A lot of my catch-and-shoots at Indiana were a lot of standstill catch and shoot. Being able to move and coming off down screens was really good."
After averaging 11.4 points per game as a sophomore at Indiana, he started all but one game in his two years at Virginia, scoring 11.1 points per game as a junior and 12.4 as a senior. However, he played just one NCAA Tournament game in two years with the Cavaliers. They were a No. 4 seed after finishing first in the ACC in the regular season, but lost the conference tournament title game to Duke and then fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Furman.
Still, Franklin said he never questioned the decision to transfer and believes it made him a more complete player.
"I missed my friends and my teammates at Indiana," Franklin said. "But I think leaving ultimately was the best decision for my development, to become a true 2 guard and player off the ball who can move off others. I think at Indiana I was primarily trying to create for myself and off others. To get that load off and play with two primary guards in Kihei (Clark) and Reece (Beekman) was big for my development, being able to feed off them."
Franklin says he keeps up with his ex-IU teammates, especially Jackson-Davis, comparing notes about the draft process. He said he kept up with IU the past two seasons as they reached the NCAA tournament in each of Woodson's first two seasons.
"Just because I left didn't really change anything with our friendship," Franklin said. "Making the tournament back-to-back after not making it for that long, Trayce was very dominant. It was good to see that. I tried to watch the games that I could. We always talked about our games coming up, potentially the idea of maybe playing each other in the tournament. That didn't align, but I was supporting them from afar."
Jackson-Davis and Franklin joined IU in the same freshman class in 2019. Jackson-Davis has said there's no chance he'll return for a fifth year, but he's showing up as a late first- or early second-round pick on most mock drafts. The 6-4, 204-pound Franklin isn't on such sturdy of ground. He's also worked out with Memphis and Utah and has workouts scheduled Friday with the Magic and then another with the Denver Nuggets.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NBA Draft 2023: Armaan Franklin discusses Indiana basketball, Pacers
