<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Very high on the Magic's NBA draft board is a 6-foot-11 forward from Italy. I'd tell you more about Andrea Bargnani . . . an excellent shooter who is putting up big numbers in Europe . . . but what's that terribly loud ringing in my ears? Oh, yeah. Those are the alarms and sirens going off around Orlando when foreign player and Magic are mentioned in the same sentence. That's the Fran Fall-Out. Not that you need to be reminded, but the Magic picked Spain's Fran Vazquez No. 11 in last year's draft. He remains a no-show. I don't know whom the Magic will pick, although you might want to start tracking shooting guards and small forwards. However, I can give you some names of players they won't pick. Bargnani. Splitter. Fernandez. Sefolosha. There is no way the Magic can select another international man of mystery -- unless they want to re-create the storming of Frankenstein's castle at RDV Sportsplex. Once smitten and bitten, twice shy. Right? Riiiiiiiight, Dave Twardzik? Actually, Twardzik doesn't reject out of hand the possibility of picking a foreign player, even after being burned by the Vazquez snub. If an international player is "head and shoulders" above the next pick when it's the Magic's turn, the Magic assistant GM said, "I don't know. We'd have to think about it." Of course, the Magic will consider Bargnani -- for a millisecond. They can't stop scouting overseas for the next Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol or Tony Parker. They just can't afford to take him with this pick, in this draft, on the heels of the Fran Fiasco. Let somebody else gamble on the 21-year-old Bargnani, who is playing for Benetton Treviso. (I've been told on good authority that this Andrea Bargnani is really not a female tennis pro, but who knows? How can you trust anybody from overseas now?) Twardzik says the Fran Factor has caused not only the Magic to investigate future foreign crops with FBI precision. "Obviously, you have to be a little more concerned -- not just us, but the entire league," Twardzik said. This selection for the Magic is going to be made in America. He'll be plucked from a college campus, given the NBA threw an age-limit barrier at the high schoolers.</div> Source
