Why Scouts Imagine Michigan’s Franz Wagner Is A ‘Consensus Lottery Choose’

[ad_1]

Former Michigan basketball standout Franz Wagner is about to see his dream of being drafted to the NBA realized.

Wagner is seen as a future lottery (top-14) choose within the first spherical, with Bleacher Report draft analyst Jonathan Wasserman projecting him to be off the board at No. 9 to the Sacramento Kings in his newest post-NBA Finals mock draft.

At 19 years previous, Wagner averaged 12.5 factors, 6.5 rebounds and three assists per sport final season, whereas capturing 47.7 p.c from the sphere and 34.3 p.c from past the three-point arc. He additionally ranked third within the nation with a defensive field plus/minus ranking of 6.1, and averaged 1.3 steals and one block per outing, displaying he additionally shines on the defensive finish of the ground.

For Wasserman, it was a no brainer putting Wagner at ninth total.

“Scouts I’ve talked to have come to the consensus that he’s a lottery choose,” Wasserman informed TheWolverine.com lately. “And I feel that he’s simply one of many best prospects to image becoming as a result of everybody talks about his versatility — that’s his signature energy and what his id shall be constructed round.

RELATED: Michigan Wolverines Basketball Up to date 2022 Sizzling Board: Forwards & Facilities

RELATED: Caleb Houstan’s 2022 NBA Draft Inventory Rises After Impressing At World Cup

Former Michigan Wolverines basketball wing Franz Wagner was projected to be picked by the Sacramento Kings at No. 9 overall.

Former Michigan Wolverines basketball wing Franz Wagner was projected to be picked by the Sacramento Kings at No. 9 total. (AP Photographs)

“He has the basic shoot-dribble-pass talent set for a 6-foot-9 combo ahead. You possibly can plug him into actually any scenario at a number of positions, after which every little thing form of will get elevated by the truth that he’s an excellent defender and a flexible defender who could make performs across the basket and transfer his toes away from it.”

That versatility does not simply permit Wagner to play totally different positions and guard a number of spots — it provides him choices when he has the ball, and defenders have to arrange for all situations.

“You mix his positional top and skill to work off the dribble — and he’s received a excessive basketball I.Q. He simply has a superb really feel for making reads, and he’s unselfish,” Wasserman stated. “He exhibits a willingness and typically it appears like he’s — I don’t need to say ‘assist-hunting’ — however he’s on the market seeking to get the ball to his teammates. And once more, with that sort of dimension, based mostly on who’s guarding him, it’s powerful to disrupt his passing lanes and disrupt his imaginative and prescient.

“He can ship all these passes, and he simply is aware of which of them to make. He’s not some extent wing or something, however I feel in at present’s NBA — 10 years in the past, it was like an enormous need to have stretch forwards, stretch fours. After which over the previous few years, now you need them to be stretch fours who’re additionally playmaking fours, and I feel particularly if he grew a pair inches, and at 19 — it appears like he has a physique that may proceed to fill out — if he generally is a playmaking 4, which indicators point out that he can and shall be, I feel that reinforces his worth one other notch as properly.”


Click the image to sign up for TheWolverine.com, free for 60 days!
Click on the picture to enroll in TheWolverine.com, free for 60 days!

Wasserman’s participant comparability for Wagner is Los Angeles Clippers win Nicolas Batum, who was drafted within the first spherical choose by the Houston Rockets again in 2008 and was a key contributor together with his present workforce even in his thirteenth 12 months within the league.

“He has the prospect to be an elite position participant,” Wasserman stated, noting that Batum has been simply that over the course of his profession. “His worth to his workforce goes to be very excessive, and so a ‘star position participant’ would form of be the label I’d give him by way of ceiling.

“Once more, he could not have celebrity potential, however once you bear in mind how well-rounded he’s, the bins he checks, his match and the truth that he’s nonetheless 19 and has extra expertise than any of those guys popping out of the draft, he’s only a very protected choose.

“I can’t get myself to image an everyday All-Star sort participant. However at 6-10, within the mid- to late-lottery vary, he’s Batum in each manner. You actually neglect how good Batum was again within the day. He has the prospect to be an elite position participant, a star position participant. Not Draymond Inexperienced, however that sort of man who’s tremendous beneficial to his workforce, the place he makes a ton of cash doing it due to how beneficial he’s to his specific workforce, however he could not common 20 factors a sport ever.”

• Speak about this text inside The Fort

• Watch our movies and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Pay attention and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Study extra about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Join our every day publication and breaking information alerts

• Comply with us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett

• Like us on Fb



[ad_2]

supply

Leave a Reply