In general I’m skeptical of guys that tall ending up playing the four for Beilein. Seems like we’ll always trend towards anyone 6’9”+ being a C and the PF being a thickly built wing. Even when we had DJ, we found our groove by putting him at C.
Brandon Johns will be a 4 and he’s 6’9 though
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I guess I didn’t see the one tweet listing him at 6-9. He’s usually been listed at 6-7 in the past, so I’m a bit skeptical. DJ Wilson also played primarily the four (and a bit of five). Guess you’d have to see, and it is tough with an international kid, but I’ve always thought of Franz as a wing.
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Yet he’s only played 5 so far and is a little shorter (listed at 6’8" so I’d guess he’s 6’7" without shoes right now). He’ll probably primarily be a 4 next year, but I would bet that Johns ends up spending a lot of time at the 5 post-Teske as well.
And it seems that Franz is probably gonna grow another inch or two since it looks like he’s exploding through a growth spurt like Mo did.
We ALSO viewed Mo as a wing when we were recruiting him. I feel like I’ve learned my lesson on that, lol.
Did we? I don’t remember it that way but that was a while ago.
Yeah. Just checked to confirm. All of our talk on the forums viewed him as a PF.
Euro scouting report here describes him as a SF
And here’s a quote post-commitment:
Yeah I guess we talked about him as a stretch four. I never even really thought of Franz as a stretch four until this conversation 
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I do remember people thinking he’d be a 4 when we were recruiting him. Although while Dylan describes him as a skilled 4 man, he also described his game to a T. Mo had the skills to be a 4 imo, just too slow and nonathletic.
DJ would have real quick guards get by him but he at least had the agility to contest. To me Franz seems like a Brandon Johns/DJ Wilson PF that could be a small ball 5. Although with less defensive upside. Also I wouldn’t say we unlocked DJ when we had him as small ball 5, he still played way more 4. We just found that to be a good option for us if Mo was struggling. If Franz ends up filling out like Mo, then yeah he’s a 5.
I went back and watched some of Mo’s vids and then watched Franz. All of Mo’s defensive highlights were at the rim. Franz looks much quicker side to side and was somewhat capably guarding professional wings on the perimeter and didn’t look out of place.
DJ was a 4 all year unless Moe went to the bench.
Johns definitely is taller than 6’7 I know him and his dad personally. Every bit 6’8 and close to 6’9
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Smotrycz played the 4 I believe
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Would be a big time get from what evan Daniels and some of the nba guys have said it sounds like he’d be a top 50 prospect.
His comment about Stanford is so funny to me
“The academic part obviously. I like that a lot. That’s probably it. Basketball-wise there are schools that are way more competitive but I think it’s unique that you can play NCAA and at the same time get that kind of education”
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Franz has been my favorite option if we need to add someone late in the game. If Iggy leaves I’d offer Franz immediately. Sounds like his timeline will fit well with us, saying he’ll try to head stateside for visits over the summer.
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Okay, this sounds like it’s potentially a real thing. Fun.
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Would be a great late add but curious if he is redundant from a roster management standpoint with Wilson, Bajema and Johns around and lack of depth at the 2.
If they believe he’s THAT good, then you take him and things end up working out. Bajema is versatile enough to play some two.
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I think he is expected to play the two.
The more ball handling length we have the fewer switches we need to make, he is a take for sure in my book if we have the room.