5 things we learned from the Orlando Magic’s FIBA World Cup run

The FIBA World Cup is over.

Germany has taken home the gold medal and Franz Wagner, Moe Wagner and assistant coach Bret Brielmaier — along with the other Magic staffers who tagged along for Germany’s World Cup run (there are quite a few actually) — will return to the AdventHealth Training Facility with championship glows upon them.

The U.S. is coming home without a medal after a fourth-place finish following an overtime loss to Canada in the third-place game.

They all accomplished the goal of qualifying for next year’s Olympics, although the defeat seems to promise some bigger-name stars will sign up for Paris and push Paolo Banchero out of the Olympic pool for this tournament.

Banchero probably put his outlook best earlier on Monday:

Training camp is indeed now three weeks away — training camp opens Oct. 3 with the team’s first practice with media day the day before (and a good 35th-anniversary season tip-off event scheduled for Friday). The season is right around the corner.

It is one last breath after the World Cup is over before the season gets going.

The FIBA World Cup is over and we are looking ahead to the start of training camp. What will the Orlando Magic’s players bring back with them for the 2024 season?

The best part of the World Cup is that we did get a chance to see some of the Magic’s key players right before training camp began. It did serve as something of a progress check for the players who participated.

Now that the tournament is completely over, we can try to make some conclusions about what we saw and what it means for the season ahead.

Without a doubt, the contexts are different. Banchero was playing a supporting role off the bench. Getting back to “regularly scheduled programming” will undoubtedly mean taking more shots. Wagner could get featured even more with the Magic than he was with Germany.

At the very least, the World Cup gave a lot of these players confidence heading into the season. And that is all the team ever wanted from it — aside from experience for their young players in pressure games.

The World Cup was largely a success for all five of the Magic players who participated for both themselves and for their teams.

Now that we are looking ahead to training camp, here are the takeaways from the World Cup.

5 things we learned from Orlando Magic’s FIBA World Cup

The Next Franz Wagner Leap

The place to start is at the top. And for the second straight year, we are leaving the summer of FIBA basketball believing Franz Wagner is on the cusp of stardom.

There are just so many things Wagner does that just seem to fit perfectly into whatever a team needs him to do. He makes an impact in so many roles. It honestly feels like the only thing missing from Wagner is an understanding of how to do even more.

Wagner missed a good chunk of time in this tournament because he sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter of the first game. But he did return for the quarterfinal matchup against Latvia and then shined in Germany’s big win over the United States.

He averaged 16.8 points per game in his four appearances, shooting 21 of 49 (42.9 percent). It was not his finest or most efficient shooting performance. Certainly not what Magic fans have come to expect from him.

But Wagner was plenty willing to attack and try to score around the basket. And he still got his production in.

Wagner showed growth in a lot of areas we have called for him to improve on.

Wagner averaged 5.5 free throw attempts per game, making 19 of 22 in his four games. That is a full free throw per game more than he averaged last year.

Along with his uncharacteristically poor 6-for-24 performance from beyond the arc, Wagner was not overly efficient. But he still posted a 57.1 percent true shooting percentage (he was at 58.9 percent true shooting percentage last year). Wagner proved he could still be effective and make things happen when he was not even shooting particularly well.

And that only adds to the other areas he contributed.

Wagner averaged 6.5 rebounds per game during the tournament after averaging 4.1 per game last year. He also had 3.0 assists per game (compared to 3.5 per game during the regular season last year).

This goes on top of Wagner’s overall defense and his ability to fill in and move the ball and make good decisions with the ball. It was good to see him try to force some action and look for his own shot on more occasions during this tournament. That is something he can easily scale back once he returns with the Magic.

This is all to say, there are clearly paths for Wagner to continue getting better. He stood out once again for Germany in international competition. And his ascendance and potential are becoming increasingly undeniable.

Wagner is going to be better in his third year. It might not look exactly how we imagine. But he is just too good at this point to ignore.

5 things we learned from Orlando Magic’s FIBA World Cup

Paolo Banchero Fills in his Scoring

Orlando Magic fans did not really know what to expect when Paolo Banchero decided to join Team USA.

He was going to an unnatural role, at least for what Magic fans were familiar with after his rookie year. Banchero was not going to be Team USA’s primary scorer. He was not even going to be on the ball that often. His role was going to be about some of the things he struggled with the most — working as a spot-up shooter, screening and defending.

And that is even before we get to Steve Kerr opting to use him at center, a position that felt totally unnatural to him.

Grades for Banchero are a bit all over the map. But Sam Quinn of CBS Sports probably put it best when handing Banchero a C+ grade. Banchero’s struggles for Team USA were not his fault. He was a square peg shoved into a round hole to try to solve problems inherent with the roster the U.S. brought.

To say the least, U.S. is heading home from the Philippines without a medal because they had to play Banchero at center and not because of Banchero’s play at center.

The reality is Banchero looked surprisingly strong in his run at center.

He averaged 3.4 rebounds per game and 7.9 rebounds per 40 minutes (6.9 rebounds per game in the regular season with the Orlando Magic and 7.4 rebounds per 36 minutes). His rebounding was down (as it was for everyone on Team USA, but not by much.

The surprising part of his play was his rim protection — 0.9 blocks per game at the World Cup and 0.5 blocks per game with the Magic in his rookie year. Many of Banchero’s best highlights were blocks. That was not something he did for the Magic last year.

His overall defense looked a lot better than it did throughout his rookie year. Banchero took to the role and really expanded his game.

The scoring will be there — he still averaged 9.3 points per game in seven games and shot 17 for 25 from the foul line (3.6 free throw attempts per game in 17.3 minutes per game). Nobody is worried about Banchero being able to put the ball in the hoop or force his way to the line.

Now it seems like Banchero has a lot more to add to the court. And the Magic are expecting him and have seen him be a more well-rounded player.

5 things we learned from Orlando Magic’s FIBA World Cup

Moe Wagner and Goga Bitadze will bring it for backup center

There are not seemingly a lot of battles to look forward to when it comes to training camp. Four of the Orlando Magic’s five starting spots are almost assuredly filled.

The shooting guard “battle” is more about a progress check on Jalen Suggs. Otherwise, Gary Harris is more than capable of filling that role and doing his job.

Off the bench, there are a lot of players who also seem pretty locked into their roles.

The biggest mystery perhaps for camp to resolve is who will lock down the backup center minutes behind Wendell Carter. The Magic seemingly have two decent options. And neither Moe Wagner nor Goga Bitadze did much to dispel that notion for their national teams.

Wagner averaged 11.9 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game for Germany in their run to the gold medal. Bitadze averaged 13.6 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game in helping Georgia reach the second round in their first World Cup appearance.

Both of them largely came off the bench, although Bitadze played starter’s minutes for Georgia.

That suggests a lot of these numbers could potentially translate well over to their role with the Magic. Both looked impressive throughout their runs.

Wagner was a big boost off the bench in the second and fourth quarters, helping Germany build leads with his energy around the basket. He is an excellent screener and did well to keep players off the offensive boards.

The key for him — as it was for Bitadze and Georgia — was his mobility and ability to stretch the floor. Wagner plays hard and with the potential to shoot threes, which probably makes him more valuable in the much more malleable and flexible NBA.

That does not mean Bitadze is some pushover. Bitadze showed last year that he can be a solid rim protector and paint protector for the Magic. He brought that too for Georgia. And his ability to operate from the high post really helped open up much of Georgia’s offense.

Bitadze was more willing to shoot throughout the tournament than he showed in Orlando. That was always a developing part of his game. But he moves well.

The Magic should feel very confident with whoever ultimately wins that battle. Both played well and should be feeling good heading into training camp.

5 things we learned from Orlando Magic’s FIBA World Cup

Joe Ingles in Support

The Orlando Magic made only a few changes to their roster this year. The only newcomers on the main roster are the two rookies — Anthony Black and Jett Howard — and free agent signee Joe Ingles.

Most people looked at the price tag more than anything in bringing Ingles in (his second year is a team option so that sticker shock should wear off pretty quickly). But Ingles has the potential to give the Magic the floor spacing and shooting they need from a player who can shoot at some volume but is also an excellent ball mover and distributor.

His role with the team is as much about being the veteran on the team imparting wisdom as much as he is going to be out there to add to the team. Although his skills certainly fit the Magic’s needs.

Ingles’ role is likely going to be similar for the Magic as it was with Australia. And there is plenty of potential and ways that he can help the team’s lineups run smoother.

But Ingles struggled in the World Cup. There is no getting around it.

Ingles averaged 6.6 points per game and shot just 7 for 22 from beyond the arc. That is perhaps Ingles’ biggest value to the Magic offensively. His shooting potential is why the Magic are going to bring him in this year.

Ingles though is both due for a bounceback season and also due for an age regression soon.

He does not rely on his athleticism so being 35 and two years removed from a torn ACL. There is every reason why he should return to shooting to the upper-30s.  But he is also 35 and coming off a torn ACL. The drop-off that comes with age is coming.

He looked a bit older in this run with Australia. Ingles did not make a big impact on the game for Australia as they shockingly bowed out in the second round.

The Magic likely need Ingles for his veteran know-how and presence — a role Ingles has seemed eager to accept and take on as he did for Australia — but what he provides beyond that feels a bit more uncertain.

5 things we learned from Orlando Magic’s FIBA World Cup

Taste of Winning

The most important thing that came out of the FIBA World Cup is that the Orlando Magic’s two most important players played with and had to perform under winning pressure. That is something they have not had to do with the Magic yet, but they will have to do very soon.

Orlando has an experience gap. The team has only a few players who have played in the playoffs. They need to get used to playing under pressure as much as they possibly can.

However the team can get it, the team has to get them in these kinds of situations.

And that is precisely what happened at the World Cup. Both Paolo Banchero with the United States and Franz Wagner and Germany both expected to medal and win in this tournament.

Wagner’s Germany team obviously won and had to do so in a tight championship game where Wagner both succeeded and struggled.

Banchero’s U.S. team obviously fell short. And even in failure, Banchero learned what it will take to get that last little bit to win and the amount of sacrifice it will take to be a winning team.

The tournament structure is obviously different than an NBA regular season or even the NBA Playoffs. These teams have to come together quickly and play with the smallest margins of error. But the amount of sacrifice and understanding it takes to win are still present. And both Wagner and Banchero got to experience this and explore them.

How much will this translate for the Magic’s key players? That is the big question of course. The World Cup only is beneficial for these players if they take what they have learned and the experience they have gained and use it with the Magic’s roster.

Winning experience is something this team needs to understand. That is a big part of what this season is about.

In that way, the trip to the Philippines (and Japan and Indonesia) for the World Cup are going to be valuable for giving the players that kind of experience.

We will see in three weeks how that begins to manifest itself.