With those arms and his defensive instincts, I’m surprised Franz doesn’t get more steals and blocks.
Indiana 
1 Like
The cool thing about that stat is that I genuinely wasn’t sure who the fourth one was - Caris or Duncan. Turns out Duncan just missed the cut at 14.4ppg. Also, Moe isn’t that far behind at about 13ppg…which means we’re almost tied for second on this list!
We also probably do pretty well in a similar ranking of DNP-CD players.
4 Likes
27/7/8 for Franz
18/5 a block and a steal for Moe.
4 Likes
Franz with another 30 piece
https://x.com/statmuse/status/1730779545660195271?s=46&t=SywsRwjImAPP0DFzyXGjwg
3 Likes
Lotta free throws tonight for Franz
I think that’s his longest 30-point streak.
Orlando has really found a lineup combo that really maxes Mo out - if you could make a PF to pair with Mo in a test tube, it probably looks a ton like Jonathan Isaac, they basically cover for each others shortcomings.
6 Likes
Yeah that really is a perfect pairing. I’ve always like Isaac’s game, glad he’s healthy.
As happy as I am for Franz I’m even happier for Mo. I was not at all sure he’d still be in the nba at this point a couple years ago, much less playing rotation minutes for a playoff team.
13 Likes
https://x.com/sam_vecenie/status/1732001637542383897?s=46&t=aDh8NkT4I1bGjqImv_NXRw
Sounds good to me!
10 Likes
OK, 2 more weeks in the books:
- An omnibus bullet here for the guys not playing or barely playing. Kobe Bufkin is still hurt, I can’t find anythong on a timeline. Jett Howard was sent to the Osceola Magic. For a guy of his playstyle it’s a bit tough as he’s playing with G League Legends Trevelin Queen and Mac Maclung. He’s scoring 19 a game on ok shooting (42% from the floor, 35% from 3) there, but has a 35 point game in his 3 games (ie, his other clock in around 12). Fine as it goes so far. Moussa Diabate played 2 of the Clippers’ 7 games, a total of about 4.5 minutes. Not much to say - he went 3/4 from the line?
Caleb Houstan tends to play when the Magic are playing laughers in either direction (89 minutes in games decided by 13+ points) and not when it’s competitive (6 minutes in 8 games decided by less than that). Good news for him, is that the Magic have mostly been laying the wood to teams lately (or getting slaughtered by the Nets), which means more minutes! He shot 5/10 from the floor since the last update, with every single one of those attempts a three pointer.
Isaiah Livers is back full time now, and on the surface, it’s not bad - 33% from three (7 attempts per 36, so high but not super high volume), 38% from 2 (not good). The thought (and I shared it) was that while he’s obviously not an awesome pro, he had a skillset the Pistons were desperate for, and would generally help…which has not been the case. The Pistons have gotten absolutely shelled with him on the floor (-24.6 points per 100 possessions). Now, it won’t stay that bad assuming he keeps playing because it’s nearly impossible for it to continue to be that bad (for posterity sake, the Pistons have the 2nd worst net point differential in the league at -9 per 100, so they’ve been far worse with him on the floor). Not to poison this thread with my Pistons’ takes, but relevant here: I think there are two conflicting ways to see the Pistons’ individuals - they either stink, or everyone else stinks so bad that even ok players can’t help stinking. I tend to think it’s a bit of both - Livers hasn’t been good, and being fringe here probably puts him on the absolute fringe of the NBA without a turnaround.
At our last update, Franz Wagner had been bumping along a little below last year’s levels, mostly due to some appreciable erosion in three-point accuracy. That has improved - he shot 41.4% from three in the last two weeks (about 4 attempts per game). In this timeframe, though, he took 86 2’s (12.3 per game) and made 60% of them (he’s at 53% on 2’s season to date - so this is a big improvement). If you haven’t read between the lines here, he’s scored an absolute bucket of points - 24.7 per game in two weeks. He’s also been more involved as a playmaker - contributing about 1 additional assist (4.5 per game) than his season average. The Magic went 6-1 over this stretch to drive to 2nd in the Eastern Conference despite missing their theoretical starting center (Wendell Carter) and point guard (Markelle Fultz). Their replacements haven’t been on fire, but Franz, Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony have (and another guy to be named later) have been pretty spectatular to drive these results.
OK, now bummer time. We all had a good laugh at NBA Twitter’s newest meme craze - “Look at this ridiculously dumb thing Jordan Poole did”, so I’ll leave that aside here. Jordan scored 18.6 ppg in the past 5 games (he missed 1), in which the Wizards (awful well beyond just him) went 1-4 in those with a win over the Pistons. He shot 37.8% from the floor, 29% from 3, and had 18 assists (3.6 per game) to 13 turnovers (2.6 per game). He’s also committing a (Mo) Wagnerian 3.5 fouls per game. All of this is basically representative of his season to date. Dunks & Threes “EPM” model has him in the 4th percentile of NBA defenders, over, among high minute players, only Gradey Dick, Tyrese Halliburton, and Benedict Mathurin. He probably has too much value to the Wizards right now (driving a mountain of losing to steer the tank) but it’s hard to see a happy outcome here at the moment. I’m not sure what he needs to do better specifically (everything?), and his seperation from a real franchise (that to it’s eternal shame supported his attacker and not him in the specific case of him being attacked, admitted) seems to have sent him into freefall, with his worst tendencies bubbling to the surface. We know the Wizards can’t fix him, because that’s not something this organization does, but hopefully he can find a way to fix himself.
Better news! Mo Wagner is just killing it. 15.3 ppg and 4 boards in a bit over 19 mpg over the past two weeks, shooting 63% from the floor, and hitting over 70% true shooting (centers are about 62% on average this year) on over 22 usage (centers generally in the teens). IE - he’s being used more than most centers offensively when he’s on the floor, and is way more efficient. Perhaps most shocking is that the Magic - admittedly a very good defense (#3 in the league) put out an above average DEFENSE when Mo is on the floor - about a point better per 100 possessions. Now, this is worse defensively than they are without him, but given they’re 5 points/100 better than league average offensively when he plays, it’s a pretty nifty trade. Part of this is own reduction of fouling, but another is the team’s ability to find him the perfect foil - the finally (for now?) healthy Jonathan Isaac. The Magic are +20 points per 100 when he and Isaac play together and show up in two bench-mob lineups (Mo, Isaac, Anthony, Gary Harris, Joe Ingles for one, then the same group with Franz in for Ingles) that are just killing the competition.
Caris Levert has been trying to play through knee pain (he’s missed three of their past 8 games, and is permanently on their “questionable” list) and it’s definitely showing up in on court results. Efficiency has always been a struggle with him, but he’s been quite poor the past two weeks - 36.5% from the floor, 30% from 3 - and with the exception of an 8 assist outburst vs the Lakers, his playmaking has largely fallen off a cliff in the same time. The Cavs really need him to be a 2nd guy who can dribble when Garland/Mitchell are staggered, so hopefuly he can round back into form. After possibly not touching often and firmly enough on Duncan Robinson’s hand problems the past few years, just want to give our guy the benefit of the doubt, given a documented lower-grade health issue.
Similarly, Tim Hardaway Jr. has had back problems that held him out of 2 of the Mavs’ 5 games. Odds were that he wasn’t going to maintain his extreme spike in both volume and accuracy from earlier in the year, and, injury concerns noted, he hasn’t - making 28% of his threes (volume still high!) in those three games. Obviously, guys are going to have three game stretches where they don’t shoot well, so I’m not going to lose it yet.
The Heat are just wild. Their second and third best (and highest paid) players go down, and Duncan Robinson and (board fave) Jaime Jacquez step in and just do the job. Duncan, like our two prior players, missed some time - 2 of their 6 games - with a knee issue, but unlike the others has shown no real degredation in play quality, hitting 52.6% from the floor, and the same from 3 (not because he’s shooting all threes! only half his shots are threes!). The other features - the increased usage on ball screens, the passing, the two point finishing, have all maintained relatively intact from our last update (about 3 assists per game). His season to date 3 point % is now dead-even with his absurd break-out season at 44.6% (less volume)…the question is really “what happens when they get healthy?”. I think he’s playing entirely too well (they’ve been above average defensively with him on the floor) to put on the bench, but this is still a team in search of playmaking. My money right now would be on seeing Herro put Lowry on the bench, before rigor mortis completely sets in on Kyle’s career.
13 Likes
Their whole interview is worth a listen. Really really love these guys. The best.
2 Likes
Colin Castleton (and Rob Pelinka!), NBA Cup winner.
1 Like
Hardaway is having a great year. Currently the second best betting odds for Sixth Man of the Year. Caris with the 8th best odds.
lol “first half points off the bench when there is a full moon in Cape Verde”
1 Like