“My First Pick n Roll Was In The NBA”: Isiah Thomas ‘Combats’ Magic’s Franz Wagner’s Take On Learning Cuts And Movements Over Sets

Despite playing the same game, basketball is played quite differently when compared to the US and Europe. Recently, Orlando Magic’s Franz Wagner highlighted how the type of gameplay was very different when he was playing while growing up overseas than how it is in the NBA. But Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas went on to point out that there wasn’t much difference in the US and overseas, given how he played the same way growing up.

Franz Wagner made an appearance on the Old Man and the Three podcast with JJ Redick. While on the podcast, Wagner touched upon how the ‘Pick-and-Roll’ wasn’t the go-to move for players as they learned the ins and outs of the game overseas.

“I didn’t play pick-and-roll until I was like, 15 maybe. I think that just shows you we play completely different in practice. We just grew up playing different. It was all give-and-go, cut, pass, and move. We had structure and principles and stuff like that. But no, like, system or like, two high, or like, whatever. We didn’t have none of that growing up. Just concepts. Reading the game, reading space, cutting, passing.”

While Wagner may have been right about how he grew up playing the game, Thomas felt it was important to point out that he grew up playing basketball the very same way as Wagner did, trying to eradicate the narrative there was too much of a difference between the NBA and the rest of the world.

“I never played Pick n roll in grade school, high school or college. My first pick and roll was in the @nba pro level @OldManAndThree.”

 

Over the years, there has been a take among fans around the world regarding how the game is played in the US and overseas. The notion is that the game of basketball is played more fluidly in Europe and the other basketball leagues there.

However, Isiah Thomas‘ tweet goes on to pose that the game played by the youth in the US isn’t very different from that of youth basketball overseas. However, at least when it comes to the game today, Thomas may be mistaken. 

Is Isiah Thomas in the right with his take?

This isn’t the first time a player from outside the United States has pointed out the major differences in how the game is played. Many notable players have often discussed in detail how they were used to playing the game a certain way and what the difference is when it is in the NBA.

While appearing on the Old Man and the Three podcast, Slovenian star Luka Doncic once revealed why it was easy to drop 30 points on a regular basis in the NBA as opposed to in the Euroleague. 

“I would only say scoring is easy in the NBA because of the amount of different rules, the less space, the time [overseas]. So, that’s why I said it.”

Even the Serbian basketball sensation, Nikola Jokic went on to shed light on the difference in gameplay in the NBA as compared to overseas, which lined up quite a bit with what Doncic said.

“Yes, it’s different. Of course, there’s a little bit in the rules, a little bit like the space of the floor, the three-point line. The floor is smaller, the big man can be in the paint.”

The majority of European players have had the same take on how the style of gameplay is different in the NBA as compared to overseas. And given how much youth in the US has drawn from the league at an early age, it may be fair to say that Thomas’s statement is a bit inaccurate, relative to the game today. That said, things could very well have been different during his heyday.