Franz Wagner’s shooting and usage are the last piece of his puzzle

Franz Wagner came to the Orlando Magic this season riding a train full of hype.

He was a first-team all-rookie forward after a stellar and consistent season in the midst of a great and historic draft class. He then went over to EuroBasket and looked like a superstar player.

The Magic were making big plans for their do-everything forward themselves after being fairly hands-off with him his rookie year. They wanted him to be comfortable and have things easy as he explored and expanded his game.

This year, they were going to give him much more responsibility and the keys to the car a whole lot more. The training wheels were off, even if he was still in driver’s ed and would need to play through his mistakes.

That part was exciting and growing pains were expected. But the Magic thrust Wagner way into the deep end with a lot of things he was clearly uncomfortable with.

Franz Wagner has had a slower-than-expected start to the season as the Orlando Magic greatly increased his role and responsibilities and he has struggled to adjust.

Instead of an early sophomore surge building off his star turn with the German national team, Wagner has been extremely slow out of the gates. He is still scoring and doing plenty of good things, but his shooting percentages have dipped.

The reality is that Wagner is showing all the improvements and advances he made in EuroBasket. Wagner is statistically doing everything at a better level.

Orlando has just jumped his usage into overdrive and Wagner is clearly adjusting to where his shots will come from and working him more as a playmaker. He is learning how to read defenses in a new way and the mistakes are abundant, especially with how much the team has struggled to start the season overall.

There are just a few key areas where Wagner still needs to improve. And that is directly tied into what the Magic have had to rely on Wagner to do to start this season.

Wagner is averaging 15.1 points per game, just 0.1 points fewer than last year’s 15.2 points per game. But he is shooting 43.4 percent from the floor and just 19.4 percent from beyond the arc — he was at 46.8 percent and 35.4 percent last year.

As StatMuse noted, if Wagner were shooting at least year’s 3-point percentage, he would be looking like the future star the Magic believe he can be:

So then why does it feel like Wagner is such a drain? It cannot just be his poor 3-point shooting. But that is a big piece of the puzzle. Wagner is just not nearly as efficient from deep as he was, forcing him to work extra hard to reach these statistical levels.

Wagner’s 3-point shot diet is just very different.

Wagner has taken just six of his 31 3-point attempts so far this season from the corners (19.4 percent), whereas last year he took 24.4-percent of his 3-pointers from the corners. He is shooting 25.0 percent on 2.3 catch-and-shoot field goal attempts per game this year compared to 36.6 percent on 2.2 catch-and-shoot field goal attempts per game.

A good chunk of Wagner’s issues is simply about getting the ball in better and more efficient shots and making the shots he gets.

This is clearly not for a lack of skill. This is as much about the way he is getting his shots and the work he has had to do elsewhere.

The Magic were likely going to increase and change his role some entering his sophomore year anyhow. The team was always going to put the ball in his hands and make him more of a primary playmaker. But they could not imagine having to do it this much.

The injuries have forced Wagner into this main playmaking role much faster than the team likely wanted. And that is where his shot diet and where he touches the ball have changed so much.

Wagner averages 60.1 touches per game this year, third on the team behind Paolo Banchero and Cole Anthony and up from 46.5 per game last year. He is averaging 11.9 drives per game this year according to Second Spectrum, scoring 7.7 points per game off those drives. He averaged 9.1 drives per game last year scoring 6.4 points per game off those drives.

This is a massive increase in usage — his usage rate jumped from 21.2 percent last year to 23.9 percent. The team is putting the ball in his hands significantly more and asking him to be a creator.

What is seemingly impressive is that Wagner is able to score so effectively still. He has so many of the pieces of the puzzle together.

The Dirk Nowitzki-step back is now in his arsenal and he is smarter and more effective in pick and rolls. He is averaging 5.7 pick-and-roll possessions per game this year with the team scoring 0.95 points per possession compared to 3.9 possessions per game at 0.85 points per possession last year.

These are all areas where Wagner has not only seen an increase in his usage but also an increase in his production and efficiency.

The only area he has not improved is his turnovers — jumping from 1.5 turnovers per game to 3.0 turnovers per game this year.

What this all seems to point to is that Wagner’s increase as a ball-handler and creator for this team has led to the biggest issues he has faced. There is so much focus on Wagner as a ball-handler and creator and some of his struggles in that role that it is overshadowing the good things that he is doing.

Still, the things Wagner is struggling with are critical.

Orlando needs him to be an effective playmaker, driver and shooter. The team needs him to be everything for them as a support system for their budding rookie in Banchero, who has added to the team’s big ball handlers and is starting to take more of the playmaking role.

Everyone is eager to see Wagner scaled back to the level the team planned for him in the first place. Jalen Suggs is seemingly set to return from his injury relatively soon — he was upgraded to QUESTIONABLE recovering from his right ankle sprain ahead of Tuesday’s game at Oklahoma City. Markelle Fultz may not be too far behind him and certainly will be back within the next month or so.

That could very well put Wagner in a more comfortable place. It could very well put Wagner in a position to get more of the spot-up 3-point opportunities that have seemingly dried up some. The Magic can only hope that easing his playmaking and point guard burden will give him better 3-point opportunities and lead to increased efficiency.

If that happens, Wagner’s scoring should increase. Because this is the inefficient version of Wagner we are seeing today.

Wagner is not playing as poorly as the eye test would seem to suggest. Really the Magic need to reset his role some when players get back healthy to get the most out of him and continue to expand his game.