Less than 12 months ago, Frank Kaminsky drooped on a podium chair between guard Josh Gasser and head coach Bo Ryan with his left hand buried in his messy black hair. His body language told the story of what had ensued earlier that evening. The Badgers had just lost the National Championship Game to Duke and Kaminsky, visibly depressed, was addressing the media. The normally playful and cheery Kaminsky was barely audible and, after four minutes of fielding questions, the Wisconsin power forward walked off the media podium for his final time as a Badger.
That was only last April. Kaminsky was still a student athlete at UW. For the previous four years he went to class in the morning just like any other student, but in the afternoon he played the game that he grew up loving: basketball.
Only two months after the Badgers came up short against Duke, Kaminsky, a native of Lisle, Ill., was drafted ninth overall by the Charlotte Hornets. And while he may be playing only about two hours away from the school that crushed his college dreams, his four years at UW still remain invaluable to him as he’s entered the professional ranks.
Up to this point, Kaminsky’s college and pro careers have had strikingly similar beginnings. Kaminsky came off the bench in almost every game during his freshman and sophomore seasons in Madison. Kaminsky’s first and, so far, only NBA start came more than 50 games into the season and occurred just last week against the Milwaukee Bucks due to a flurry of trades by the Hornets as well as an injury to usual Hornets starter Al Jefferson.
And while Kaminsky was the focal point during his last two seasons during college, it was his first two seasons in Madison that were almost as instrumental for what he is currently going through.
“I get to see the game from a different perspective. You had to really analyze the way the game was going and the flow of the game, and try to see your spots and what you have to do when you go in there to change the game or continue the game plan and what’s working,” Kaminsky said. “Those first two years at Wisconsin really made me a student of the game. And I had to learn a lot more than I was able to go out and do [on the floor].”
The 2015 National Player of the Year expected to come off the bench this season.
“It’s the next jump in the talent of basketball. These are the best players in the world. And I really gotta find my way,” Kaminsky said.
But that doesn’t mean Kaminsky hasn’t relied on his role models from the past to help guide him this year. Almost immediately after hearing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver call his name, Kaminsky called the man who was instrumental in his growth as both a player and a man: Bo Ryan.
“I talked with him a little bit after the draft, and he was just saying how much I deserve it and how proud he was of me and how he can’t wait to see how my future goes,” Kaminsky said.
On the surface, Kaminsky transitioned from one disciplinarian of a coach in Ryan to another in Hornets head coach Steve Clifford. But Kaminsky says that the two actually vary incredibly in how they conduct themselves.
“An NBA coach is innately different than a college coach,” Kaminsky said. “You know coach Ryan, he was dealing with the personalities of 18-to-22 year-olds, some immature people, some people who need to grow up. But in the NBA you’re expected to act like a professional. It’s just run different from that standpoint.”
Being a professional is one of the biggest challenges for Kaminsky as he has transitioned to the NBA. For starters, Kaminsky misses Madison.
“[I just miss] the college atmosphere. Having things to do. I don’t miss going to class and things like that. I really do miss being on a college campus with all my friends,” Kaminsky said.
But more importantly, Kaminsky is now forced to live like a grown-up as well.
“Just going from a college campus to living on my own. I don’t know how to pay taxes and do stuff like that. So I’ve never had to worry about any of that stuff before,” he said. “It’s becoming a grown-up now and becoming a professional and working day in and day out for the rest of my life pretty much.”
But just because he now has to file his own taxes doesn’t mean his parents haven’t been an integral part of his life as he has began his NBA career.
“I talked to my dad a lot. Both of my parents, my mom and dad. They’ve always helped me with everything ‘cause they understand me and they understand where my mind is at most of the time,” Kaminsky said.
Kaminsky has also maintained close contact with many of his former college teammates such as Josh Gasser, Sam Dekker, Duje Dukan and Traevon Jackson among others. And over the All-Star break two weeks ago, he returned to his hometown to relax with his family and friends as well.
But the Badger great hasn’t forgotten about the UW brethren he helped lead last season either.
When Ryan shockingly retired in mid-December, Kaminsky reached out to him and pretty much everyone on the staff he interacted with last year to check in with them.
“We all had a feeling that it was coming to an end,” Kaminsky said. “He’s doing well. I’ve talked to him. I’ve seen him. He came to my game in Los Angeles. He’s enjoying his time.”
Kaminsky, of course, has also been keeping a close watch on this current Wisconsin team. And while he didn’t really vocally critique the 2015-’16 Badgers during their early season struggles, after a disappointing 70-65 loss to Northwestern in mid-January dropped the Badgers to 1-4 in the Big Ten, Kaminsky felt the need to speak up.
“I didn’t really try to butt in and say much until that Northwestern loss when it just looked like everybody was out of it. I talked to Nigel [Hayes] and Bronson [Koenig] and told them that they’re the leaders on the team, that they’ve got to pick things up,” Kaminsky said. “And they really gotta’ go on a run if they want to continue the level of success that guys like me and Josh and Sam and Duje and Trae really paved for them.”
Since then, the Badgers haven’t looked back, winning seven of their last eight games, the lone defeat coming last week in East Lansing against Michigan State. Interim head coach Greg Gard has looked fully deserving of the job. And while Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez says he plans on conducting a full coaching search during the offseason, Kaminksy thinks Gard’s done more than enough to earn the permanent gig.
“I think he’s proven he can take this team that was struggling and turn it around,” Kaminsky said.
And Kaminsky wasn’t exactly surprised to see Gard’s success either.
“He’s the guy that was behind the scenes for all those years. He does so much work, so much scouting, so much film. He just knows pretty much everything about every team. And that’s what you want in your coach,” he said. “In the Big Ten conference, coach Gard knows most things about most teams. And that work ethic that he’s had for the last 14 plus years isn’t going to change when he becomes the head man.”
One player who has stepped up into Kaminsky’s prominent frontcourt role is redshirt freshman Ethan Happ. Happ has emerged as one of the Badgers’ most consistent as well as dangerous players and while he didn’t play in any games last season, going up against Kaminsky in practice still left a huge imprint.
“It’s helped a lot. Frank was the best player in the nation last year,” Happ told The Daily Cardinal in early November. “So for me to be able to practice against him and get exposure against a player like that, I’ve learned a lot of his moves, I’ve learned a lot of his knacks around the hoop, it’s going to help a lot.”
And every time Kaminsky turns on a Badger game, he sees just what an effective teacher he was last season.
“That back-tap that Ethan is starting to do now, I used to do that to him every single day in practice,” Kaminsky said. “He’s picked up on a lot of my stuff and I see him using it. And he’ll text me once in a while saying, thank you for teaching me this.”
“You’ve seen how he’s been able to play this year. It’s stuff that we saw in practice all last season.”
Happ and Kaminsky both have similar goals for their respective teams in the upcoming weeks: make the postseason. And whether thinking about the university that elevated him to the highest of heights in college basketball or his current professional team, Kaminsky hopes that both are accomplished.
The Hornets currently sit on the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff standings. And while injuries set the Hornets’ potential back a bit during the first half of the season, Kaminsky’s goal never wavered.
“I want to make the playoffs. Everyone on our team [the Hornets] does and that’s the goal that we’ve set for ourselves.”
And while early season struggles looked to set the Badgers back, Kaminsky knows that this late-season push might be enough to get them back into the big dance.
“If they finish up the rest of the Big Ten season the way they’ve been playing, I think they’ll be fine.”
