Depth and future rotations

I liked what I saw with Brooks on offense, but think he needs to improve on defense to earn minutes. He wasn’t the only one with this problem, but GVSU got by him pretty easily on drives to the basket.

As far as tonight’s game goes I feel I might be in the minority and even though it’s obvious Zavier has a better grasp of the offense I still feel like we’ll end up with Simmons as our starting point guard later in the season. To me it looked like this team, as new as it is, reverted a lot to last year’s version as we deferred to the point guard at the end of the shot clock when we got into trouble on offense. I don’t think Zavier is the type of player to defer to in that situation. I love Simpson’s game, but I think he’ll have a problem creating his own shot due to his size and think he’ll need a bit more time to work on that.

2 Likes

Zavier’s issue is going to be creating and making a jump shot off the bounce. His three ball is more of a spot up. He will be able to break his man down and go to the rim but finishing consistently is an unknown. A lot of teams are going to play off of him until he proves his shot is consistent.

Or z starts, and Jaaron finishes.

What do people think: is it a good thing, at least in the early-going, that all three guards are showing promise? Or would Beilein really prefer to have the starting point guard figured out and be giving him the bulk of minutes? As great as Z’s D may be, my hunch is that he’d like Simmons to have the offense down and then have the luxury of two strong backups.

Who knows what Beilein thinks. He would probably like to have the strengths of each all rolled into one player. I think most coaches would like to have one guy separate himself from the pack, but until that happens, it is good to know that you have 3 viable options.

1 Like

I think all coaches would want someone to take control and have talented depth to lean on when needed. I figure by the end of December we will know who is leading the team at the point. Regardless of who that is it can only be a good thing to have options.

1 Like

i have no worry about PG position at all, it will play out through the season. Matthews is a real deal, but i don’t see him playing 4, except for every short stretch. Watson and Poole will fight a few minutes between them. Livers seems comfortable out there, will play major minutes this year. Teske is pretty mobile for his size but has a lot of work to do.

2 Likes

Teske is going to have to learn to just turn and power through people with his height and size. He needs to be a quicker version of the Purdue center.

A quicker version of Isaac Haas would be one of the best players in college basketball

5 Likes

Austin Davis looked good in his cameo appearance against North Florida. He has a nose for the ball, but the biggest thing to stick out, both literally and figuratively were his hands, they’re enormous. His left hand engulfed the b-ball as he stood on free throw line.
Doesn’t appear he will get much playing time going forward, but I think he will acquit himself just fine when opportunity knocks. By next season he’ll be ready for a spot in rotation, assuming Wagner does not return

2 Likes

2 posts were split to a new topic: Michigan’s NBA prospects in 2017-18

7 games in to the season and the rotation seems about as clear as it did in June. We have more data and a better understanding strengths/weaknesses of players — but not much more of a feel for who will round out the rotation.

Wagner looks like what we expected. His shot is rounding in to form after a slow start; rebounding is a little improved; defense still needs a bunch of work.

Teske seems to be what the coaches though he could be last year, while Davis seems to be adjusting to the speed/intensity of real games vs practice. But the production & depth in the post in encouraging.

Matthews and Robinson seem to have grabbed the bulk of the minutes at the wing. Reserve minutes on the wing are still TBA… Watson, Livers, Poole each has shown some good signs and plenty of frustrating signs. IMO, it would be best for the team’s upside if things “clicked” for Livers and he emerges from the pack out of meritocracy; his size and match up would best complement Robinson/Matthews as starters. But if this was a stock ticker, Poole seems to be the “fast riser” — and his shooting ability could be a good elixir for the sometime stagnant 1/2 court offense.

MAAR looks like an average B1G caliber Senior returning starter. PG is still a coin flip. I think there’s enough promise there that the position won’t be a disaster, but not enough immediate upside to make the position more than “the fifth guy on the court” for UM. Brooks has surprised me with how well he’s run the offense, but he looks like a Freshman on defense. Simpson looks stronger and more confident on defense, looks competent getting the team in to offensive sets, but just doesn’t look aggressive enough with his own shot. Simmons looks lost and lacking confidence; kind of like Senior year Vogrich before he was stapled to the bench — only I hope Simmons is still learning the intricacies of the Beilein offense and can still have that “eureka” moment at some point in December?

A lot more know, but not a lot more known?

2 Likes

Teske looks like a guy who might be one of our top 4 or 5 players on any night. I am not sure how he will do against better bigs but I have a feeling he is going to good. JB would be wise, I think, to figure out a way to get Teske to average 20-24 minutes per game without cutting into Wagner’s minutes…Anybody agree? Any ideas how to make it work?

I think we can confidently say this isn’t going to be John Beilein’s deepest rotation ever at Michigan :slight_smile:

UM badly needs Livers and one of Poole/Watson to develop into reliable rotation players.

Teske emerging as a legit option as a backup 5 is encouraging though.

3 Likes

Eh, quality-wise maybe not but a lot of people were adamant that JB would only go 7-8 deep again. With his recent quotes on Simmons, we’re gonna continue to see 3 point guards play, plus Teske, Livers and the other 4 starters. That’s already a 9 man rotation and that would exclude one of Poole/Ibi who I fully expect to be a bench contributor all season long.

A 9-10 man rotation might not be his deepest, but it’s certainly larger than normal as some speculated. Now if you think Livers, Poole and Ibi all are going to drop out of the rotation soon, then I agree it becomes one of our weakest benches ever

4 Likes

I would look at some of the second half box scores in close games and argue that the rotation is not 9 or 10 deep.

VCU example… 8 and 9 played 2 and 1 minutes respectively.

2 Likes

totally, it make a lot of sense to at least experimenting playing Teske and Wagner together.

1 Like

I know you guys want to see it, but Beilein has been pretty adamant that he’s not comfortable with Wagner defending the four right now.

3 Likes

some zone defense?

1 Like