Especially with the freedom of movement offensive players now have. But, as far as his shot, it’s peerless.
Many Pistons are out of the protocol but are still listed as out for tonight’s game. DWjr. should get another start. Though he missed his last few shots in the 2nd half against the Knicks, I thought he looked really good running the offense, and easily could’ve had 4-5 more assists if guys were hitting open shots. It’s probably his scoring-ability that is keeping him from being on a roster for a longer term.
I also saw that Chaundee put up 9 points (all coming from 3’s) last night for the Hawks and Nikki Buckets had 6 points for the Heat. DJ Wilson averaged 12 and 7 in 2 games for the Raptors but had to enter health and safety protocols yesterday. I still think he’s a guy the Pistons could use, at least as a stop-gap.
I had actually read a few rumors that the Raptors were considering giving DJ a 2 way.
Walton with a through the legs pass to Saddiq Bey for a game winning overtime 3 in a surprisingly entertaining game.
He also finished with 40 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Not bad for a GLeague guy filling in. Hopefully he does enough to stick around a while.
Not sure if I’m happier for Walton or unhappier for tanking purposes
4 steals too!
He missed the last several shots he took but did make a pretty big 3 in the 3rd quarter, or early in the 4th. It was quite an exciting game and I’m happy the G-Leaguers contributed in a big way to get a W.
We’re still a win behind Orlando and it’s a near-lock that we’ll lose the next game at the Bucks. Last place is still ours!
Think all four of those steals were in the backcourt too. Including forcing a now jacked Bryan Forbes into a ten second violation.
Even when tanking, I struggle to be as optimistic as you…
You have the same odds for staying in the top 4 or getting the top pick if you finish in the bottom three. We are 7 games back of the 4th from bottom team. We can have a win once in a while as a treat
If or when he plays he would be the 14th former Wolverine to play in the NBA this year. Pretty wild!
Franz has 7 of the first 15 Magic points as they’re off to a big lead vs the Bulls. 3 assist too.
He’s guarding DeRozan, which he’s struggling with, but a sign he’s getting the oppositions #1.
#update# Magic haven’t scored in the two minutes Franz went to the bench
#2nd update# Franz has really only taken1 jumper - missed a three. It’s all floater range/ rim finesse. Still having a bit of a tough time with DeRozan.
I haven’t had much chance to watch the Magic this year but they played my Bulls tonight and wow I’m super impressed. He was attacking right from the start. Seem to remember many games at Michigan where he would disappear for long stretches but in this game he was aggressive from the start.
I always figured he had a safe high floor but figured he was the kind of guy that helped his team win by doing many things that don’t always show up in the box score but I think he has legitimate superstar potential now. He made his presence felt almost the entire time he was on the court.
Kind of funny that while both Wagner brothers are beloved at Michigan and will be, I’d guess that Michigan fans probably look at Moe as the one that made the bigger impact at Michigan (not that Franz didn’t either but Moe was a 3 year player and the leader on a team that played jn NC game) yet in the NBA Franz is going to be much more impactful while Moe is a fringe rotation player at best.
Poole went off tonight, 32 points on 12/17 (5/8 from 3), with 5 assists to one turnover in 26 minutes.
Yeah, Poole was seriously ballin’ tonight. Noticed near the end of the game they had Poole, Payton II and Curry in the game at the same time. Seemed to be effective. ,and on Sunday, back comes Klay. I see they’re already positioning Poole for the sixth man role, but it’s still going to be really interesting as to how they divvy up the minutes.
I imagine Poole will play 28ish minutes per night once Klay gets back to full fitness, which won’t be for awhile. Poole will certainly have the 6th man role and will likely be in at the end of games in crunch time in the playoffs with Curry, Klay, Green and Wiggins if I was guessing. Wiggins and Poole would be swappable for a big like Wiseman if they need a bigger lineup vs teams.
To your last point- Moe was just a fun player. His trash talking and overall demeanor on the court is not something we’ve seen a lot at Michigan. The fact that he torched the league in his final year and went to the NC is hard to top. He’ll always have a spot as one of the most exciting players (and successful) to have played in the maize and blue.
Meanwhile, I think Juwan getting Franz was such an important piece of his wildly successful first two years (arguably the MOST important piece). I don’t want to say securing Franz was a program changer, because we obviously had success with Beilein, but more of a program maintainer. I think he had an underrated Frosh year (look at how Houstan has struggled at times, I think Franz was just more consistent) and blossomed as a do-it-all second year player. I’m grateful that he was here, because I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have been nearly as good without him, and his skill set helped ease the transition from Beilein to Howard (which looking on it now, imagine if this was Howard’s first team - people would be losing their minds).
So to me, Moe was obviously playing at such a fun time in Michigan basketball history and he’ll always be one of my favorite alumns. Franz was arguably just as important and also fun to watch (and helped make the Howard transition exciting during a dark pandemic time).
Mo may have went to the finals and participated in some very fun years, but Franz is an undisputed Big Ten champion.
At this point to me, I love them both and if there aren’t younger brothers let’s scout first cousins