Moe Wagner shares brotherly support for Franz's recovery and details the team's playoff push strategy.
On Franz Wagner's ongoing recovery and what he means to the team as his brother:
"Yeah, of course. First of all, it sucks because he's my brother and you have a pretty high level relationship and he's obviously not happy with it and he's struggling emotionally and all that stuff. So everything that comes with it. Hate to see that for a family member. Obviously for us as players big too because he brings such a has such a big impact on the game, but primarily I care more about the person and I feel very bad for him."
On how the team attacks the post-All-Star break West Coast trip and starts strong:
"We got 29 games left day by day. Don't look ahead too far. Stay kind of in our little bubble and just try to grind out some wins to make the playoffs. I think we have a good group. We have a good group of guys that wants to be together and hang out together and do that. So I'm looking forward to it."
On what the team focused on in practice heading into the road trip:
"Getting some clarity on our offensive structure, especially after that primary transition is set. Defensively, continue to raise our standard of energy and level of physicality. And then kind of find our joy on the offensive end, play together and have a good time on the court."
On what the team did well in past strong second-half pushes to the postseason:
"It's a good question. Generally I think it doesn't really have to do anything with X's and O's or like I don't do anything different. I think it's just like a temperature change that we try to create, make it easier for the first lineup to kind of have a five, six point lead or a tie game to finish out the game, make it easier for them. Change the temperature a little bit, hold the other team accountable that their bench needs to be good and do your job and then hopefully make it easy enough for the starting five to close out the games."
On his advice to Franz as a big brother who has been through injuries, given Franz's personality:
"My biggest advice is and what I've learned is that it only heals if you're emotionally free and peaceful and relaxed. You can't fight it every day. So having a time frame in which you're doing your rehab rather than a day-by-day structure is much more peaceful for the mind and much more easy to more efficient for the body to heal. I think he's been embracing that for the last couple days. We'll see in 3 weeks. But kind of having that time to relax mind and let the body do its work and then be ready when you're ready."