Wagner Recalls Rehearsing Soon to be Real NBA Draft Cap-and-Handshake Moment
6/19/2018 11:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
There is a memory from his early teenage years that Moritz Wagner found himself recalling more and more as the NBA Draft drew closer. It involves him and his younger brother, Franz, a Charlotte Bobcats official draft hat and a whole lot of imagination.
"You have to understand that me and my brother used to put on the hat back home and shake the commissioner's hand," Wagner said. "We practiced that in front of a mirror when we were little. I pulled my brother into this, and it meant that much to us.
"So, this is the point in my life that I have imagined a lot and thought about a lot. That tells you how much this means to me and how long I've had it in the back of my head. It's kind of surreal, to be honest with you. So, I'm just enjoying this as much as I can because I'll never have this again in my life. It's a pretty cool feeling."
The Bobcats became the Hornets in 2014, the year before Wagner joined the University of Michigan basketball team and grew his game by leaps and bounds in three magnificent seasons. He averaged 14.6 points and 7.1 rebounds as a junior, led the Wolverines to the NCAA championship game and decided to forego one more college season for the NBA.
Moe, as Wagner is known, is projected to be either a late first-round or early second-round pick in Thursday's (June 21) NBA Draft.
His parents, Beate and Axel, Franz and several friends will be there with him at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, when his name is called for real, he makes long strides to the stage, shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and pulls on the hat of his now for-real team.
"I can't wait for that, man," said Wagner. "I can't stop thinking about it."
I asked Moe if mock drafts that have him going between No. 24 (Portland Trail Blazers) to No. 36 (New York Knicks) overall are accurate based on feedback he's received.
"I honestly don't know and don't really care," said Wagner. "I never care about what other people say about me. There's a lot of hype with social media, and it's hard to stay away from that. But I don't pay much attention to mock drafts.
"I know what I can and can't do, and that's not going to change whether I'm the 30th or 31st pick (noting the division between the first and second rounds). I'm going to work just as hard and give everything I have, and that's all I can control."
Wagner left Ann Arbor after winter semester finished in late April, and moved into an apartment in Calabasas, California, to work out "with two incredible trainers" in Los Angeles for two weeks, three times daily (twice on basketball skills and once on weight lifting) and use it as a home base while traveling around the country, over and back, to work out and meet with a dozen potential NBA suitors. Calabasas, just west of Los Angeles down the Ventura Freeway, is a small, quiet community also located a short drive through the canyons to Malibu and the beaches.
"It's a very focused life," Wagner said in a phone interview two weeks prior to the draft. "But all of a sudden, you are alone and not in a town you know any more and there are a lot more people watching. My weeks now basically involve flying around. I started off this week with the Utah Jazz, flew back to L.A., had a workout with the Lakers. I always take off a day in between so I don't have workouts on back-to-back days. Then I went to Atlanta and Dallas. Tomorrow, I go to San Antonio. This is what I'll do right up until the draft."
He anticipated returning to San Antonio and recalling all the fun and excitement of the Final Four games and times with his teammates and family.
"Very good memories there," said Wagner. "I'll explore that city like all the cities I've visited. But I usually ordered room service meals, and the only money I spent was on food and drink and water. You've got to take care of your body. That's the one thing I focused on the most."
But it was -- like all the trips to NBA cities -- what amounted to a job interview.
"The workouts aren't that long but are very intense," said Wagner. "We play two-on-two, three-on-three, one-on-one and a lot of full-court stuff. They try to get you tired to see how you react to adversity and competitiveness. I felt very well prepared because the drills are similar to what we did at Michigan.
"They not only want to see how you react to their drills, but want to sit down and talk and get to know what kind of guy you are. It's different to see a person live and on TV. So, it was almost like a (college recruiting) visit. They take you through their facilities and you get a sense of how organized they are, what they do, what they stand for."
Wagner was asked to assess the strengths and weaknesses in his game after being put to the test, so to speak.
"I'm still the same player I was at Michigan," said Wagner. "I haven't changed that much. I bring a lot of energy to any locker room and basketball court. That's what I tried to express in interviews -- that I really love basketball. I'm not doing this for anyone or to please anyone. I just try to get as good as I can because I love it so much. I can shoot a little, dribble a little and have some skills. But all of these are things they already know about me. You only have an hour to showcase yourself with them, and the one thing I wanted them to know was consistent was my energy and love for the game.
"What a lot of teams challenged me to do (better) was switch ball screens and just defense in general, just showing those things on a very consistent basis. And I'm very confident in that challenge. There are so many things you can add to your game."
He showed marked improvement each year at Michigan -- the product of a dedicated work ethic and great coaching -- and plans to continue that in the NBA.
Before breaking things down with specific teams, Wagner attended the NBA scouting combine, May 16-20, in Chicago.
"It was my second time through and so I kind of knew what to expect," said Wagner, who attended in 2017 but did not hire an agent and withdrew his name from the draft. "I benefitted from the workouts I had before that. I got up at 5:30 (a.m.) to drive to get my lifting in and the interviews started at 8:30 (a.m.). They were long days, and I went to bed at 10 (p.m.), knocked out. It was a hell of a day. But it was good."
Wagner followed former Michigan teammate Caris LeVert's lead in choosing Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports, and also is represented by agent Joe Branch.
"The main focus was to have a good relationship with my agent," said Wagner. "I knew him a little bit already through Caris, and did my research, heard good things. I'm very happy with where I'm at right now."
Despite everything going well since leaving Michigan, I asked Wagner if there were any second thoughts once he decided to depart.
"No, no, no," he said. "I'm not a guy who looks back on that. I feel pretty good about where I'm at. But I do look back. There are so many nights when I look at YouTube videos of our (tournament) run, and watch the interviews just to remind myself of how awesome it was.
"But let's put it this way: I wasn't certain, but once I make the decision, I feel good about it. That's why I took time in making that decision and listened to my gut. I don't look back. And both times (2017 to stay and 2018 to go), I felt I made the right decision for myself. Not for anyone else, but myself."
"But at the end of the day, I made the right decision for me. Regardless of where I end up, it's more about where I'm at in my life."
Moe felt ready for the next challenge, ready to pull onto his head an NBA hat on the big stage and shake the commissioner's hand.
MOE WEIGHS IN
While Wagner opted to leave for the NBA, he was happy with the decisions Michigan head coach John Beilein (who had overtures from the Detroit Pistons) and former teammate Charles Matthews (withdrew name from draft pool) made to stay with the Maize and Blue.
On Matthews: "Charles and I are very close and I'm very happy for him to make this decision," said Wagner. "I told him, when we talked about it a couple times, that he went through what I went through last year. I told him, 'The most important thing is not what others say and where you're going to get picked. It's where you stand with your mind and your heart, and what you want to do. But if you come back in September, you have to have two feet in and be the best version of Charles Matthews for the team and Michigan basketball. You have to believe you can become a better player.'"
Wagner paused and added, "And he will be better."
There was a flip side to his advice, though: "If you can't do that, then you should leave. Others might say different, but that's what you should do."
In the end, Wagner said, "Charles didn't need a lot of help. He's a smart kid."
On Beilein: "I talked to him a little bit," said Wagner. "We have such a good relationship. I called to congratulate him on making the right decision -- I mean, he's got to go with his gut feeling -- and I felt like he made a good decision for the program. For me, I'm happy because it's a lot easier to come back and nothing has changed.
"He would've been a great coach in the NBA and taken Detroit a long way, and established a culture there. So, there is no wrong decision. It's the right decision for his family, and he's obviously a Michigan Man. It's all good the way it worked out."
"People who are not in the building every day like we are don't realize the impact he made, and what he's actually done for the program. I didn't realize until I was gone because it's something you can't take for granted."
Wagner visited about a dozen NBA teams for workouts and interviews.
"You go to all these professional organizations," said Wagner, "and I'm spoiled with the cultural environment I was put in at Michigan. So, that's nothing to take for granted and great for Michigan, obviously."
