EuroBasket is amazing playoff prep
EuroBasket's knockout rounds begin this weekend. It is the exact playoff prep Franz Wagner needs before a huge season.
Playoff experience is valuable.
It is exceedingly rare that a team comes together and wins in the Playoffs without the experience of going through a series or feeling the pressure and tight margins of a playoff game.
After the 2024 Playoff series with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Paolo Banchero commented that he was not sure he would have held up physically another two weeks in a playoff series had the Orlando Magic won Game 7. Getting to a Game 7 and getting that crash course in playoff basketball was a minor miracle.
It did create a sense of purpose and urgency for the Magic throughout the 2025 season. It would be easy to say Orlando does not have the success it found through all the injuries last year without this playoff experience. And certainly, the team does not feel the urgency to push the team forward quicker without understanding what this team is capable of.
Similarly, the Magic may not have made the leap they made in 2024 without the summer of 2023 and the FIBA World Cup.
There, both Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero experience tournament success and failure for the first time. They both made deep tournament runs and experienced what a team needs to win a major tournament.
