Halfway through the European Championship, the black-jerseyd German team became a "Germanic dark horse".
In the Slovenian match, Doncic felt cold, and there was no shot in eight shots outside the three-point line, and he lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also shows how strong the German team, which has won all three games, is in this European Championship.
The schedule of the tournament is different from most leagues, the schedule is extremely dense, and the continuous back-to-back matches appear, which puts forward higher requirements for the fatigue endurance of the players. And there is no weak brigade in Europe, and every game cannot be slackened, resulting in a single core team, it is easy to have a core player too tired to play abnormally.
Germany's firepower is relatively scattered, there are many role players who can play and shoot in the team, and the offensive center of gravity is divided into two parts by Schroeder and Wagner Jr.
Wagner Jr. was only drafted by the NBA in 2021, and the NBA has never been on the same team as Schroeder, but both are very familiar with the NBA's offensive rhythm, Schroeder is responsible for breaking through to break through the defense, Wagner Jr. is used to provide high-quality assisted defense, and the outside line is a high and accurate three-point shooting shooter.
The way American players play under the European system
At this European Championship, the most surprising player is undoubtedly Wagner Jr.
With the 8th pick in the first round of 2021, the Orlando Magic selected Wagner Jr., who is 2.08 meters tall, to play as a striker. Although he is a German player, he comes from the basketball training system in the United States, played at the University of Michigan before entering the NBA, and is the main member of the University of Michigan to win the Top 10 championship.
European interior line, height, arm span are enough, the draft template is Bjelica.
But this season it was discovered that this player was much better than Bjelica.
Growing up under the NCAA system, and the NCAA's tactical play and thinking have been influenced by the NBA (after all, most of the outstanding players are aimed at the NBA), Wagner's offensive skills have been very perfect before entering the NBA. With athleticism and a soft long-range shooting level, it is not too difficult to get started in the NBA.
In his first season, Wagner Jr. was "full of fire" with the Orlando Magic, averaging 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, unlike a professional player who had just entered the professional basketball team, shooting 35.4% from three-point range.
Playing too well, and the Magic are in the beginning of their rebuilding phase, hoarding more outstanding high-ranking rookies. In order to achieve a longer-term goal, it was even necessary to control Wagner Jr.'s playing time and maintain the playing time at 30 minutes to avoid Wagner's continuous output and full bombardment.
The NCAA system has achieved remarkable results in training European players
Comparing the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2022 European Championships, the power change in the European basketball landscape can be clearly seen that Europe is sending seedlings to the United States University Sports (NCAA system) and the NBA, and cultivating them in the United States.
This is very different from the previous European teams, the European professional basketball league system began early, many players are native to the European league system, characterized by a very adaptable to the crowded space of FIBA, can find passing opportunities in the second, advocate team play, and cooperate with relative tacit understanding.
At the same time, because there is no defense for three seconds under the FIBA system, the giants who play under the basket have a better advantage. Therefore, after many years of development, the big players in Europe who are more than 2 meters and 10 are still very popular, holding the ball to the inside line to chisel opportunities, such as Valanciunas in Lithuania, the next stop to the basket is a mountain, facing the defense of the German men's basketball team, it is necessary to chisel down 34 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists, close to the 35 + 15 + 5 super center data.
But from the perspective of the Basketball pattern in Europe, this traditional way of playing has many problems.
The rhythm of the NBA has become blurred, and the proportion of three-point offense is increasing. This point in international basketball, including European basketball, has also changed, increasing the proportion of three-point shooters and long-range offense.
But in terms of the division of labor between the outside and inside lines, many of them have been trained according to the NCAA's thinking, and they are much more versatile than old European basketball.
For example, the 2-meter 08 small Wagner, if you follow the traditional interior playing style, basket singles, hooks, turn jump shots, it is difficult to release offensive firepower so thoroughly.
But according to the NBA's offensive strategy, Wagner Jr. is completely a larger small forward, and the outside play is very stable.
In the German team's offensive system, many of them originated from Wagner Jr. blocking the defender, Schroeder used speed to raid the defense, after the opponent formed a local containment, the ball was transmitted to the external demolition of Wagner, in the face of the defender's pursuit, up is a shot height very extreme three-point shot, according to the conventional outside defense distribution, basically no interference possibility.
With the ability to take it off the three-point line, Wagner also has more opportunities to cut directly to the basket under Schroeder's defense and get the opportunity to score with an easy layup.
In contrast, Lithuania's old-fashioned European basketball, even under the FIBA system, seems a bit outdated. Lithuania, once the first echelon of European basketball, will find it difficult to win against teams facing NBA stars and rising NBA stars at the 2022 European Championships.
Speaking of Wagner Jr., the attention of the Magic team is not high enough, and when it comes to the European Championships, this young man can be regarded as a real appearance.
The Magic team is full of talent, big and small Wagner are in the lineup, next season, they have a new branch Paul Bancello to join, will inevitably take away most of the ball, and the rebuilding team with more young people, the most feared is not enough opportunities, tactical position is not enough, resulting in growth progress is slowed down.
Why not, the Magic try the little black Schroeder who has not yet signed a contract in the NBA?