[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 What are everyone’s thoughts on him as an nba prospect? 6-11 player with excellent outside shooting touch. Very refined offensive skill set and outstanding pick and roll slash pop player at the college level. Not a great athlete but very skilled with surprising ball-handling ability to attack close outs. Probably won’t play in the low post all that much at the next level due to lack of strength but at least has the size and footwork to attack mismatches. Wagner is also a highly emotional player who can really pick up the energy of a team. Guys like that are always valuable to have around.

The downside: He struggles defensively. The effort is there but he has slow feet and can get pushed out of position easily due to a lack of lower body strength. He picks up a lot of fouls by reaching because he is out of position. Also not much of a rim protector and could struggle to get rebounds.

Despite his athletic and defensive limitations I believe there is a spot for Wagner in the modern nba as a stretch five. He is too talented offensively and brings a lot to the table from an energy perspective, which shouldn’t be overlooked. I’d compare him to frank kaminsky from a skills perspective. What do you think his ceiling is in this draft? Is he worth a first round pick?

 

 

[Andrew1984Participant]

 Jokic without the passing?

I kinda like thinking of him as the reincarnation of Beilein’s Pittsnoggle.

 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 He can do a lot more offensively than pittsnoggle. Pittsnoggle was just a big guy who could shoot from outside and didn’t really do much else.

[Andrew1984Participant]

 In those very early days of Facebook, I used to poke Pittsnoggle every Monday morning.

Haha, I bet he’s a trucker now.

 

[SwatLakeCityParticipant]

 Possibly Jonas Jerebko, but I haven’t watched enough of him to really give him a fair comparison. He could slide in as a late first pick with a good tourney run, but most likely he will be a early to mid 2nd round pick.

[Lotto StudParticipant]

 Josh McRoberts

[sweaterflexParticipant]

In the NBA I see Wagner maxing out as a seventh man along the lines of Spencer Hawes. Starting centers need to either be excellent defenders or so good at offense and rebounding that they limit opponents to only working out of their half court offense. 

He is less mobile than Jerebko, who actually started his career as a 3, and less athletic and worse at passing than McRoberts. Beilein excels at getting the most out of his players, and I’m not sure I can name anyone besides Lavert who has met expectations in the pros from a Beilein-coached team.

 

 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 I don’t think jerebko or mcroberts are good comparisons at all. I see him as being much closer in terms of skill set to spencer hawes or frank kaminsky (who for the record were/are both more than serviceable nba players despite physical limitations).

As far as Beilein’s players not succeeding in the nba, I think it’s kind of a mixed bag. Guys like trey Burke (probably a reach to be drafted as high as he was) and Mitch McGary (substance abuse and maturity issues) didn’t meet expectations but you could easily argue that guys like Tim hardaway jr. and caris Lavert have more than lived up to their draft projections. It’s too early to really form an opinion on DJ Wilson as an nba player and Glenn Robinson jr. has easily met and probably surpassed expectations for a second round pick.

 

[khoss76Participant]

defensively against athletic fours. He is a 4/5 with good outside touch but a flagrant lack of athleticism and not a physical monster either. His hustle can allow him to get a NBA spot and be a long term contributor but I don’t see him  being better than a rotation big.

weballin.net

 

[Jr. ROXASParticipant]

Kelly Olynyk

[Author]

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