This NBA Draft prospect has been called a 'homeless Scottie Pippen'

This NBA Draft prospect has been called a 'homeless Scottie Pippen' originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Fran Fraschilla knew people weren't gonna like what he was about to say, but then he said it anyway.

He was looking for a way to describe the game of St. John's wing Dillon Mitchell, who was taking part in the NBA Draft Combine scrimmages on Wednesday. Fraschilla came up with this: "a homeless Scottie Pippen."

That's a lot to unpack in a small phrase.

So first, the Pippen part, where Fraschilla compares Mitchell to the Chicago Bulls legend.

His point is that Mitchell is lanky, defensively minded and well-rounded. In his final college season, he put up 8.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.

Mitchell averaged more than a steal per game in three consecutive seasons at three different schools, from Texas to Cincinnati to the Johnnies.

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The modifier, "homeless," is pretty much a brand new phrase creation by Fraschilla.

He seems to be drawing on the idea of one guy being a "poor man's" other guy.

But in this case, calling Mitchell a "poor man's Pippen" would've been too much praise for Mitchell's game, in Fraschilla's eyes.