zaymon wrote:pepe1991 wrote:MagicFan101 wrote:
He plays defense so Pepe doesn’t understand his value added.
My all time favorite players are Duncan and Durant... So it's clear i value defense. But not Mo Bamba and Aaron Gordon type of "defense" where players goes fishing for blocks or steals and ruins concept of team defense due > 60 BBIQ . 37 years old Duncan could hardly move and was better defender than those 2 were in mid 20s by using his brain only.
Anyway, i don't think things Wagner was able to do at college are that transending in nba.
I don't think he has latheral quickness nor strenght to be anything more than average defender. If he plays SF he will be tasked to guard some of most athletic players in whole world.
His shooting today isn't really his strenght, he isn't terrible nor he has broken form, but it doesn't go in at good rate.
As a ballhandler, against elite athletes, i just can't see him creating any serious ,effective offense. His handles are not that good and he does not have quick enough first step to be effective if he is slotted at SF.
I also don't think his best postion in nba is SF, it's probably PF. Especially if he is 6'10 now.
Now, can you move him at PF and play Isaac at Center? Maybe. But to me that's too many moving parts of roster to be sucessful, especially because it's just easier to use top 5-8 pick in 2022 to draft "normal" center anyway.
I'm not "mad" on Orlando for drafting him, but it's boring safe pick. Low upside, low ceiling.
I think you are underestimating him. Not many players move like him at 6'10. Players like him are often silent parts of contenders.
Hedo Turkoglu, Tayshaun Prince.
He moves at least as good as Turkoglu and his shooting and passing also feels more advanced.
Guys like Turkogulu and Galinari were able to beat their men off dribble because they were amazing shooters so defenders would overreact to their pumpfakes and spotups and sprint to contest it, it would allow them to serve them pumpfake, keep defenders on heels and pass by. But if player can't shoot and in same time can't beat his man off dribble (especially because defenders can sag off a bit ) how execlly he will influence offense?
I mean, do you really want to run pick&pop mid range jumpers with him? I don't. No serious offense will implement that in their set.
Franz right now flat out is not good shooter. We have 234 shot attemps to prove it. He wasn't even average college outside shooter. It doesn't even take in account that he never felt comfortable taking them. There were many times where he was wide open and just pass shot for worst shot or his teammate's worst shot.
I mean his brother actually shot ball better at college level than he did, and his brother flat out can't be nba "shooter". (or nba player for that matter...)
In his pre-college years, Wagner’s main appeal was his jumper. Wagner shot 38.4% from three on 125 attempts as a 17-year-old. He had a .472 3-point attempt rate and shot an absurd 89.2% from the foul line. So, it was a tad bit surprising when Wagner shot 31.1% from three as a freshman at Michigan.
This is clear indicator that size and lenght at college level bothered him to the point where he never felt confident shooting. In NBA 3 point line is even further and athletes are 5 times better.
He hit 37.7% of his 69 two-point makes away from the rim but more on the account of his non-dunk finishes that didn’t qualifying as coming within the immediate basket area. For the most part, Wagner hasn’t yet shown much dexterity or particularly impressive touch on his runners (at times launching what seemed like a catapult floater) and struggles to create enough separation to launch high quality pull-up jumpers from mid-range because of his long, slow release.
Franz overall isn't terrible pick if you are fine with 8th pick being 10 years pro, role player like Aminu is ( also 8th pick). But if you want some star player or game changer, you won't find one in him.