Five takeaways from John Beilein's offseason update

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Burning question 1
No Simpson does not develop a consistent jumper (if you’re referring to %) I just want to see a jump shot like he had in HS. Where he can actually elevate and shoot. It will be progress if he can scrap the push, set shot.

Burning question 2
I think all 5 freshman will be ready to contribute but not all will be in the rotation. Numbers won’t allow it. I would expect DeJulius, Johns, and Brazdeikis to be in the rotation and Castleton and Nunez to play sparingly.

Burning question 3

I will be hugely surprised if Livers and Poole don’t make huge jumps o er last season. Mildly surprised if Brooks is not much improved

I’ll quibble with this statement:

Michigan hasn’t had a freshman average more than 25 minutes per game since Derrick Walton stepped on campus in 2013-14. That will need to change this year

I don’t see any need for Teske, Livers, Matthews, Poole, or Simpson to play less than 15 minutes a game. Nor do I see much chance that one freshman will back up multiple positions.

Now I agree that we need the freshman class to contribute some quality minutes, but we don’t need any of them to step in and start. We probably need two or three to be in the rotation, though.

Brazdeikis can definitely play both wing spots I think. That’s not to say he will.

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I think Teske is going to be most effective around 20 minutes per game and could see us running a lot of small ball 5 depending upon the matchup. I still don’t know if that is going to be enough to get any freshman above 25/game because so much can be dependent upon matchups, hot hands, etc.

I know the term “positional flexibility” has been thrown around a lot here, but it really does apply to this group coming in.

This makes sense but I think this year more than ever before with the positional flexibility the team has, JB will get the best players on the floor as much as possible. I’ll be shocked if Iggy isn’t one of the 4-5 best players on the team. I’d bet over 25 per game for him without hesitation

At what position/s is he going to get that many minutes.

I think Poole will play close to 30 and Matthews will play close to 30 per game, so there’s 60 minutes available at the 2-4 spots. My opinion is that Iggy will separate himself as another level player from day 1 over Livers and Johns, I could be wrong but we’ll see. But if that’s the case, either he will get starter minutes at the 4 spot or he could become the primary backup for Poole and Matthews, getting close to 20 there and then 5 more at the 4, allowing Livers/Johns to split the other 35.

This doesn’t seem too far-fetched:

PG- Simpson (30) Dejulius/Brooks (10)
SG- Poole (30) Iggy (10)
Wing - Matthews (30) Iggy (10)
Wing - Iggy (10) Livers (20) Johns (10)
C - Teske (20) Johns (10) Castleton/Davis (10)

I don’t see Iggy beating out Livers at the 4. Remember you are what you can defend.

Very possible he doesn’t beat out Livers but I still view next year’s team’s biggest issue as shot creation and by all accounts Iggy is one of the most prolific incoming freshman scorers in the nation.

Also I firmly believe a defense with Simpson, Matthews and Teske is going to be a great defense pretty much regardless of who plays next to them. Duncan was playing over Livers down the stretch all last season…can Iggy defend at a Duncan-like level? Maybe he can.

But even if Livers keeps the starting job…that rotation I listed above would work with Iggy backing up all wing spots

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No. Love Iggy, but we have no evidence he can defend at the level of understanding Duncan had at the end of his career.

Does he need to defend at a Duncan-like level?

If Simpson, Matthews, Livers and Teske are each 25-30 minute a game guys where is our scoring going to come from?

The boys in action:

I like your breakout but still excited to see how and where JP matches up and improves defensively. I think charles can guard the best wing but he can’t guard the opposing 2 for 30 minutes, he’s the best rebounder on the team. One thing for sure, practices are going to be battles everyday and I can’t count out NUNEZ because he’s played against great talent in NYC. I hope they stay gritty and play with that edge from last March…super excited Charles came back to lead. He might be the toughest player we’ve had in recent years…the kid never backs down and our Freshman get to play against him everyday. Love his projection is in the early second round…great motivation for him. Go blue!

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More of this thanks…if that was John’s on the pull up jumper from 15’ our mid range game just got much better.

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@chazer The mid-range jumper was a thing of beauty. I watched it several times and finally concluded that it was Johns.

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I don’t see Beilein playing a freshman at 3 positions, especially not before late in the season. I could see Matthews sliding down to the 2 at times so Iggy can get most of his minutes at the 3.

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From the guys you listed plus Poole plus the rotation players.

100% it’s John’s on pull-up.

Interesting two of the plays are Livers driving to the basket. It’s what he’s going to have to add to his game this year if he wants to hang onto starting role. I believe he will.

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Teske won’t step into Wagner’s role unless something very strange happens. Teske will step into his own role as a shot blocking, short range-mid (hopefully)-range shooter, and rebounder. How this works out, especially offensively, will go far in determining UM’s season. I’m all for trying a smaller lineup as appropriate. I think that fits the type of game being played today better, but Teske has a starter position that someone has to take away from him.