Victor Moritz “Moe” Wagner, the German Giant out of Michigan, and the Los Angeles Lakers 25th pick . The 21-year-old 7'0 footer from Berlin Germany may be new to the NBA but isn’t new to the big stage.
Wagner is a stretch-four and known for his recent success while playing for Michigan. Moe won the Big Tens Tournament MVP. He also led Michigan to the NCAA National Championship Game, where they lost to Villanova. John Beilein, the head coach of Michigan first noticed Moe in a video through an email. Beilein would travel to Germany to contact Wagner. He would end up recruiting Moe to Michigan. Moe was already playing professional basketball overseas.
Wagner has played in the Euroleague. Won a championship while playing in Bundesilga. He also was on the German International Basketball Team. While the NBA is the worlds largest stage for basketball, it’s something Moe should feel adjust to with time.
Strong Pick at 25
Wagner declared for the 2017 draft as a sophomore but never hired an agent. After the combine, Moe removed himself from the draft to return to Michigan. Wagner came back and averaged 14.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, shot 52.8% from the field and led the team with 39.4% from three.
The exciting part about Wagner is the improvement shown in a years time. According to The Michigan Insider “ Wagner improved his lane agility by 4.3 percent, his three-quarter court sprint by 5.3 percent, his standing vertical leap by 5.7 percent and his max vertical leap by 4.4 percent. […] and 10.2 pounds of sustained athleticism and body composition.(1).
There is no doubt that Moe has improved and has played well over the past two years while at Michigan. While he has used his body to create mismatches in college, he won’t be able to do that in the NBA. Moe doesn’t have a freakish body, but rather his measurements at the combine were average. Wagner is a 7'0 footer with a 7'0 wingspan. What makes Wagner special though, is his quickness, footwork, and shooting. While his measurements were mediocre at best, Moe dominated agility tests. He placed 2nd in his position for the Lane Agility drill and shuttle run. While taking 3rd in the three-quarter sprint.
FiveThirtyEight has Wagner as a “Marginal Prospect”. If we judged Wagner on his +/- projection it appears he isn’t worth taking. After taking another look at his “vitals, we can see that Moe was at the top of his draft class in a few categories.
He appears to be in the 90th percentile for his true shooting percentage. Found through a formula which demonstrates a more holistic shooting percentage. This means that Wagner is one of the top shooters in this draft class. Moe ranks near the 75th Percentile in his turnovers and rebounding. Meaning he holds onto the ball and can crash the boards. FiveThirtyEight has some of the most comparable players listed as Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis, and Marcus Morris.
Wagner was without a doubt one of the top performers in the 2017–2018 NCAA season. His record-breaking performance in the semi-finals tied Hakeem Olajuwon from 1983. He was on the all-tournament team. Finally he holds the NCAA record for the most three pointers for someone any person his height.
How does it translate?
Moe has played three years of college basketball. He was playing overseas before he turned 18. The 21-year-old rookie will have lots of his game transfer over well. There will be parts which take some time to develop.
While the 2018–2019 NBA season hasn’t started yet, and preseason is still 3 long months away. Summer League is underway in Sacramento. Wagner played his first game against the 2nd pick Marvin Bagley III. Moe had a poor shooting night, he still scored 23 points and grab 7 boards while being 90% from the line in his 27 minutes. He was able to hold his own against the 2nd pick out of Duke.
The first thing you notice about Wagner is his footwork on both ends of the floor. Below you can see how he does a good job at staying in front of his man and moving his feet. For a 7'0 footer, he should be capable of keeping up with slow guards and should be able to fit in most lineups. While he won’t be a serious lock down defender, he definitely has good fundamentals. By adding some strength he won’t be able get bullied down low. Muscle will take a few years to develop. The 10.2 pound difference in the draft combine shows the potential to gain more mass.
Strength would also help him gain a quicker first step to beat his man when driving towards the basket. For a stretch-four, he has some fantastic ball handling skills. While he did have two turnovers in this game, that was still below the team average at 2.5. His quickness may allow him to take advantage of slower players at the four. Although, with the league transitioning the positionless basketball this will become more difficult.
One positive that Wagner did display in his NBA summer league debut, is his ability to get to the line. He demonstrated the ability to drive to the hoop and draw fouls. Wagner went to the line 5 times and shot 9/10. This will help the Lakers, who in 2018 averaged 71% from the line. Moe will be a good fit as a backup stretch-four. He will also provide great spacing coming off the bench.
Wagner doesn’t only drive to the hoop. He can also shoot the three ball. While this particular night wasn’t his best night behind the arc. He has demonstrated throughout his college career that he can shoot from deep. It may take him some time adjust to the NBA line along with the speed of the game.
Once adjusts to the speed of the game, he will be a scoring threat from anywhere at any time on the floor. Depending on his minutes, Moe may be able to give you 10–15 points a night once he develops over the few years. I am sure he is also someone that will get hot from deep and have some big scoring outbursts.
Wagner needs to develop strength and continue to work on his quickness. He has displayed that he has the potential to become a strong role-player on an NBA team.
Check out Lakers Film Room for a great in-depth analysis of how Wagner fits in with this years Lakers.
He’s a Glue Guy
Moe is a team guy who will keep a team fired and engaged. His past teammates from college and internationally have spoken in high regards of him. He’s known to be a player who plays with a lot of emotion and energy.
The Ringer has a fantastic story written about him here: Moritz Wagner The Michigan Unicorn in the Making. His coaches and teammates say they enjoy having his attitude and passion on and off the court.
From the first summer league game we see this already. Lakers Reporter Mike Trudell tweeted this during the game on Monday.
He’s already the perfect fit according to his teammates. LakersNation quotes Rob Pelinka in the introductory press conference saying, “Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart were actually at Moe Wagner’s workout, and both of them were elbowing Earvin and I, saying, ‘Man, this guy would be fun to play with. He plays with energy, he’s light on his feet,”.
It’s not only on the court though where he will fit in. He’s already been active on Twitter, playing back and forth with Hart and Kuzma. Josh noticed that Kuzma and he had been the only two on the Lakers that haven’t thrown out a pitch at a Dodgers game.
Moe ended up playing three years of college basketball. This is similar to Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart who are both older rookies. This appears to be a common trend in the Lakers scouting department.
Wagner’s wrote a story in The Players Tribune title “Thanks Michigan”. This is him covering some of his time and memorable moments at Michigan. One, in particular, is the fact that Michigan fans are everywhere. He states that no matter where the team went, Michigan would always have fans. Fortunately for Moe, the Lakers are arguably the most popular basketball team in the world. According to a project by the New York Times, the Lakers are the most popular team in North America. If you click on the link under the image and scroll of Michigan. You will be able to see that the Lakers are one of the most popular teams in Michigan. Moe should be able to enjoy the rabid and energetic fans that Los Angeles has to provide.
Especially with one of his quotes in regards to his improvement at the combine “My main thing is that I love basketball, you know?”. Los Angeles fans will fall in love with him.
Moe is a player who will get the team riled up, he’s a high energy, high motor individual. His entertaining and glowing character is a plus for team chemistry. As well as locker room atmosphere. He will give you good minutes off the bench with some dependable scoring given ample minutes. Wagner shows he has the potential to develop into a supporting cast role on a championship team.
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