Beilein on @Hugeshow: Aubrey Dawkins had made the most improvements this offseason. "The game is slowing down."
— Brendan F. Quinn (@BFQuinn) September 30, 2015
I wonder how that happened. I thought we all deduced from his instagram posts that he was working on dunking and dunking only.
Huge for UM. Kid has pro potential. Loved him from his first scouting video I saw.
Dylan - do you think Dawkins will stay at the 4 spot to get starting minutes?
I definitely think you could see a 3-4 combination of Irvin and Dawkins at times. What combo would you rather choose at this point?
Irvin is actually the one more comfortable guarding fours IMO, but I would be shocked if that combination doesn’t play quite a bit.
Also on that broadcast Beilein mentioned that Wagner gained 18lbs this summer. Vitally important if he is to see any minutes at the 5. A luxury if he plays more on the wing as a 4.
228 is still pretty skinny for the five… but it is hard to find any minutes at the 1-4.
I’m working on a full update from Beilein’s radio interview.
Few more notes on the front page http://www.umhoops.com/2015/09/30/notebook-john-beilein-praises-aubrey-dawkins-levert-walton-100-healthy/
I definitely think you could see a 3-4 combination of Irvin and Dawkins at times. What combo would you rather choose at this point?Irvin is actually the one more comfortable guarding fours IMO, but I would be shocked if that combination doesn’t play quite a bit.
I’m not sure, I mean, back in the day OKC used Harden as the “6th” man…
Just wondering how depth/rotation shakes out with so many 4/5 players
That’s a fair point… Definitely merit to having a weapon coming off the bench like that.
Question I guess is who that guy is… Duncan? Kam? Aubrey?
Ok maybe i have lost it, but wasnt Robinson D3? Im just slightly confused by all the hype surrounding him, someone please fill me in. Im not trying to be mean or anything it just baffles me that so many people believe he is going to be a weapon.
He transferred from a D3 school, yes. But he’s also had a year in the system and John Beilein has basically referred to him as a rotation player every step of the way since he arrived on campus. Said several times last year that he thought he could have made a difference.
Allright, this makes sense. Some are claiming he is the next stauskas, and also saying he will be in front chatman in the rotation. I get chatman had a bad year, but, you have to expect he makes a significant jump and is better than Robinson…
Ok maybe i have lost it, but wasnt Robinson D3? Im just slightly confused by all the hype surrounding him, someone please fill me in. Im not trying to be mean or anything it just baffles me that so many people believe he is going to be a weapon.
I’m a DRIII believer, so I’ll reply.
I think at a legit 6’7" his 3 point shot will travel well. Pretty much every player on the team names DRIII as the best shooter on a team of very good shooters.
Then you have his performance in the DIII Final Four as a true freshman. Very impressive; he hit big shots in pressure situations.
Now he’s on a team where he can play within himself. He doesn’t need to force anything. He puts a good deal of pressure on the D just by stepping on the court.
You also have Beilein lauding his passing ability. This has me most intrigued
DRIII won’t be the first option, or the second option, or maybe even the third option, but I firmly believe he will be a weapon every time he’s on the court. Somebody you absolutely cannot cheat on.
Your points are all valid, I forgot the passing ability praise by Beilein, Im still not a believer, but I hope he does do well because i want this team to be great and have great bench options that were not present last year. I just dont think Robinson will be able to defend at a Big Ten level and will be very limited athletically.
That’s a good take @JJ3. I really think there will be something of a war for minutes at the 3 and 4 spots. The good part about that situation is Michigan will have alternate options if someone struggles.
People really need to stop calling Duncan Robinson a D3 player. He is a D1 player and has been on our team for over a year.
He won’t be asked to be “the guy”. With his shooting ability, he will be a great asset for the team.
Irvin plays the two the best and LeVert plays the 3 well. Last year at the end when Irvin played the 2 he finished strong. LeVert is used to being the three from when he played next to Nik Stauskas. I think that is the best option offensively and then Dawkins at the 4. On defense they can match up however it works best.
@mgobluehoops23: Interesting take with Irvin at the two rather than the three. I know he really kind of found a groove there late in the year, but I also wonder if those new skills could translate to the three.
I’ve always sort of just assumed that Irvin would slide back to the three, but you make a good point that Caris was better as a sophomore (when he played the three) and Zak played his best ball at the two.
I've always sort of just assumed that Irvin would slide back to the three...Yeah; me too. This throws a whole new wrinkle into my thought process. Maybe I'll just stop thinking about it and wait and see. But getting back to Dawkins, generally you want your 5 best players (or in this case, maybe your 4 best guards/wings + best center) to start the game and it's hard to imagine that Dawkins - with what we saw and Beilein's comments yesterday - isn't one of them. It's looking like '15-'16 LeVert-Irvin-Dawkins >>>>> '12-'13 Hardaway-Stauskas-Robinson. Which is good because we don't have POY at point or a dominant big man like McGary.