Magic Forward Franz Wagner: One of League's Best SFs?
The Orlando Magic selected Franz Wagner at No. 8 overall last summer for a reason.
And with a franchise that has had a handful of draft busts over the years, he made sure to prove to the front office that they made the right decision by drafting him. He finished his rookie season with averages of 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while shooting 46.8 percent from the field, 35.4 percent from deep, and 86.3 percent from the foul line.
Even while starting and appearing in the the most games (79) of any Magic player and playing the second-most minutes per game on the team (30.7), Wagner averaged the fifth-fewest turnovers (1.5) per contest despite handling the ball often.
When looking at Wagner's rookie year, it's tough to find any true weaknesses. It's no secret that every rookie enters the league with plenty to improve on, but he showed a unique to ability to be effective in some fashion in almost every spot on the floor.
A near 7-footer who can put the ball on the floor, displays excellent footwork in transition, makes good decisions on both ends, and was close to flirting with 50-40-90 shooting percentages as a rookie, it's hard to ignore Wagner's gigantic ceiling as he continues to develop.
Wagner's career got off to a hot start last season, as he reached double figures in scoring in each of the first eight games before ending the streak with a 28-point performance.
He only had 15 games without reaching the double-digit scoring mark and had a terrific month of December, where he never scored less than 10 points and averaged 19.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.1 steals.
This list truly does go on and on for Wagner, who will be scary sight for the rest of the league if his rookie year was any indication of what's to come.
