payitforward wrote:nate33 wrote:payitforward wrote:If he jumps from year 2 to 3 at the same rate of his jump from year 1 to 2... he'll be knocking on the door of Giannis territory! So... I guess that's not happening!
As to "budding star," I don't think there was a 3-game stretch this year where Moe produced the kind of per-40-minute numbers Thomas Bryant produced in 2018-19. I haven't checked, but even without taking a look I'd put $$ on it.
Still, the best predictor of improvement tomorrow is improvement today, so for sure there's reason to hope he'll become a pretty good player.
Wagner's early season defensive metrics were way better than anything Bryant has ever posted.
Oh, and Wagner had a 3-game stretch from 11/15 to 11/20 when he averaged 30 points, 13.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks, 3.3 turnovers per 40 minutes on a TS% of .863, with a 3P% of .750. Let's see Bryant beat that!
Most important -- I just wrote an extremely positive post about Moe Wagner. I'd rather it not be turned into a criticism of him, which it was not.
As to the 3 game stretch, Moe had an unbelievable game on 11/15, grabbing 15 boards & scoring 30 points on 13 of 15 shooting. On top of which, he did all that damage in just over 25 minutes. Wow!
In our next 2 games, on 11/17 & 11/20, he scored 26 points in 45 minutes -- @3 more points per 40 minutes than his season average. He grabbed 9 boards (in this case a lot fewer than his season average).
Still, in the 2d & 3d of the stretch he shot the ball great! He got the combined 26 points on only 16 shots & 1 FTA.
In fact, it didn't stop there! in the next game -- the 4th of this run -- though he only scored 7 points, he did it on just 5 shots.
That's some amazing shooting over those 4 games! 26-38 -- & 10 of them were 3-point makes, so it was 62 points on 38 shots.
On top of which he proceeded to go 17-24 in the next 3 games for a total of 36 points (.750 TS% for those 3 games) before finally cooling off vs. the Lakers.
In all, that was an incredible run of shooting -- 98 points on 62 shots & 3 FTAs over 7 games for an astronomical .774 TS%. It does seem unlikely that Thomas Bryant ever did that (he did go 14-14 in one game last season, if I remember right). Bryant, otoh, did post a .674 TS% on that entire season -- over 1500 minutes.
The comparison is pointless of course. If I initiated it, then it's my fault. These guys are both Washington Wizards -- the better either of them plays the happier everyone is. The main story on Moritz Wagner is that he got a lot better this year! May it continue.
Mo Wagner will have a long, productive NBA career.
I think the Wizards are mathematically challenged and they don’t appreciate numerical improvements in a player’s growth. They’re idiots.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wagnemo01.html
Aside from prodigious fouling Mo’s a damn good young player. He made strides last season. He’s been as good in short minutes as Robinson has been bad but last year’s data and 15 PER means NOTHING to doofuses who want veteran names.