Although others also brought it to his attention, Orlando Magic second-year Franz Wagner didn’t need to be told an aspect of his game he needed to improve.
“One thing I got to get better at is rebounding,” Wagner told the Orlando Sentinel during a conversation after the team’s Thursday practice at Georgetown University. “That was one of my focuses these last couple of weeks.”
Wagner’s concerted effort on rebounding has been evident in the box score recently.
He averaged 5.8 rebounds in 33.2 minutes in the Magic’s previous nine games entering Friday’s road game against the Washington Wizards (34-42).
Wagner’s averaging 4.1 rebounds in 33 minutes on the season and was collecting 3.8 boards per game in his previous 66 games before the recent stretch.
He grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds in the Magic’s March 16 road loss to the Phoenix Suns and Sunday home win over the Brooklyn Nets. His four-highest rebounding games have come in the last three weeks.
But his focus on rebounding extends beyond what shows up in a stat sheet — which doesn’t always tell the full story.
What kind of rebounds are you grabbing? Are they contested, when opposing players are also chasing after the ball? Or are the easy ones when you’re mostly surrounded by your own teammates?
Are you boxing out and preventing offensive rebounds? These plays don’t always lead to individual boards but can result in a teammate finishing the possession with a defensive rebound.
These are the areas Wagner focuses on.
“Rebounding stats can say a lot but also they don’t say a lot,” Wagner said. “You can have 6 bad rebounds and miss 2 important rebounds or 2 important block outs and hurt the team that way. You can have 2 really good rebounds and it looks worse on the stat sheet, but those rebounds are actually more important. It’s just a more concerted effort on my part to go for some of those 50/50 ones.”
Although the bump in Wagner’s defensive rebounding is mostly because he’s getting more uncontested boards, he’s also grabbing more contested ones.
But more important than the rebounds he grabs individually, he’s joining the fray more often, which is important for a Magic team that struggles with contested rebounding — rebounds where an opponent is within 3 1/2 feet of the rebounder.
Wagner’s 6.4 defensive rebounding chances over the last nine games are the team’s fourth-best mark. He was in the middle of the pack among the Magic’s rotation players before this recent stretch.
“There’s [a] skill to rebounding, but at my size, I don’t think you need great skill to be a solid rebounder,” the 6-foot-10 German forward said. “I’ve rebounded below average for my ability. I don’t think it’s one of those stats you look at a number and say ‘he’s a good rebounder’ or ‘he’s not.’
“You can have 6 really bad rebounds where you’re just standing under the hoop and somebody missed and nobody else is anywhere close to the ball. What does that really say about your ability to rebound? What every player should do is always box out, make sure that their guy or somebody who’s close to them doesn’t get the ball. Those are rebounds I want to get.”
While Wagner’s focused on improving his and the team’s rebounding in traffic, uncontested rebounds matter, too — especially for a Magic team that relies on transition play to ignite their offense.
Wagner has improved at grabbing defensive rebounds and pushing the ball in transition.
Earlier in the season, smaller guards could bother Wagner and slow him down in the open floor after applying on-ball pressure.
Getting early-season reps against these types of defense helped Wagner grow. He’s more confident as a ball handler, creating more plays on fastbreaks.
Said Magic coach Jamahl Mosley: “Being able to get the rebound, go and push the break and guys know where they’re supposed to be on the floor helps out a ton.”
Wizards guard Bradley Beal (left knee soreness) and forward Kyle Kuzma (sprained right ankle) will sit Friday. Washington center Daniel Gafford (left foot soreness) is listed as questionable to play.
Jonathan Isaac (season-ending surgery on his left adductor — inner thigh muscle) and two-way guard Kevon Harris (bone bruise in left elbow) are the lone players listed as out for the Magic (32-44).
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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