More of a pure SG to go along with Wagner. One who can go and get a bucket like a certain Jalen Wilson could have.
You think Jalen Wilson is “a pure SG?” We’ll agree to disagree there–he looks like a combo 3/4 to me, albeit a very good one.
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Wait until Self gets done ruining him!
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Nah but he filled the “scorer” role that Michigan badly needs. Someone who can go and get a bucket themselves. That’s why JAR was such a big want for me for 2020 because unless someone really surprises this year that is returning next year, Michigan will still likely need a scorer. They got the shooter role filled with Franz which was big. But who can go get a bucket for themselves from 3, at the rim or mid range late in the shot clock right now that is competent at all 3 levels?
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Does no one think that Isaiah can fill that role? I’m starting to think of the guy as “Chopped” Livers, cuz he gets absolutely no respect. Count me among the believers.
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Who doesn’t respect him? Isaiah isn’t that type of player. He’s a high level 3 and D player. It’s a safe bet he will be one of the top 2 scorers on this team this season. He has a strong shot at being an all conference player. But he’s a guy who has not given any indication from the past or from what I seen at Moneyball that tells me he will be able to consistently get buckets at all 3 levels in iso situations by himself.
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Everyone was so pumped about last years recruiting class as well. Deep class. One of JB’s best. And now those guys are all the sudden never going to contribute? I think 1-2 of them are going to surprise a lot of people.
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I believe that Isaiah can get to the hole, and on the regular, that there are still more dimensions to his game–as evidenced by some of the videos he was putting out early in the off-season.
Let’s see what happens. I guess that he’s often been at the four, and it depends on how Juwan rolls everyone out–and I am also learning the game still. But it sounds like we are thinking of several other guys at the four, no?
Who said they weren’t going to contribute? Who even insinuated that? They can be highly productive without being scorers. Closest one to that in high school was Dejulius but I don’t see him getting a ton of minutes this year because Simpson is still there. Maybe he can provide that scorer punch. But idk how people are taking what I said as me writing off the 2018 class. There aren’t many clear cut “scorers”. That’s why they are so valuable. Rocket Watts, Jalen Wilson, Iggy, JAR, those are scorers.
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IMO, you don’t just develop that handle and scoring instinct. Livers can be a super quality 3 and D guy, but it’s kind of absurd to think he’s gonna be a bucket getter on his own.
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100%. Scorers just have a mentality about them that is almost impossible to just instill into guys. They also have the instinctual know-how. Only one on the team who has shown any of that in the past is Dejulius but as the potential future PG and the fact that he is playing behind Simpson, it’s going to be tough for him to do it this year and it’s usually tough for the best teams to reach the highest levels if the PG is the go to scorer as well because they need the PG to run the teams. Michigan would need to bring in some very good secondary ball handlers and playmakers to complement DD if he became the de facto scoring option from 2020 onwards. Or a Scottie Barnes-type Wing who is an elite passer. Could invert the offense some if Michigan had a guy like Barnes and DD could become more of a scorer.
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Well, let me back up, and defer to other people’s greater wisdom as well as what we’ve seen thus far. But that couple of videos that Isaiah put out early in the off-season suggested ball-handling skills I had never seen him show on-court. And isn’t he likely, now, to play more at the three than the four? To have to be that guy a little more?
Yeah workout videos can be misleading. From what he showed at Moneyball, I struggle to see his handles being good enough to consistently attack the hoop in the halfcourt. Just seemed too loose with the ball. He created enough space to get to his pull up, but the level of guys defending him could be attributed to that as well. He couldn’t really get to the rim at all and the BIG 10 defense will be much better than the Moneyball.
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I would bet that Colin Castleton could do a lot of the ball handling drills we saw from Livers in those videos. They’re just drills, and it’s a far step from being able to control your handle in a dynamic and useful way during real game minutes. As Braeden said, he saw Livers live a couple weeks ago.
IMO, there’s some skills that you can’t really take a huge jump in once you get to this age. Ball-handling is one of them.
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I will take the Castleton bet.
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I would, too, but I still take the point. I think Isaiah probably has to be that guy a little more, though.
Mattski, we agree again. For Michigan to have a good year, Livers has to be the the guy making the biggest gain in contribution. From his defense, to his shooting and of course what you and I see from the training videos the ability to get to the rim when called upon.
If he does not make those gains it could be a tough season for Michigan.
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This is skirting on the edge of the topic of this thread, but to @BP3’s point, we don’t really have a guy on the '19-'20 roster who you would call a 3-level creator/scorer, which is why we needed to recruit one. I’m not convinced though that Jalen Wilson would have provided what Iggy or Poole did last year. We’ll just have to make do with what we’ve got, which is still pretty good.
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I would say that Michigan’s roster last year needed more in this regard. Poole was kind of that guy, Iggy Brazdeikis was super productive, but wasn’t really that guy. He usually caught the ball and attacked in advantageous situations rather than creating his own offense.
Livers, for me, is a guy who will play off the catch similar to Brazdeikis (and Wagner). That doesn’t mean he can’t be productive.
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Bajema has those characteristics. He’s far from just a shooter, at least when playing against the competition he’s been filmed playing against. Nifty dribble-drive game. We’ll see if he’s strong enough and forceful enough to implement it in year one against B1G competition. Wilson seemed ready for it.