We will have some real games to look at very soon, but it is fun to speculate. Here’s how I think it will go.
Starting:
Simpson
Poole
Matthews
Brazdeikis (if not right at the beginning, very soon)
Teske
Brooks subbing in at either 1 or 2, but mostly 1. Livers subbing in for Poole, Matthews, or Iggy and shift as necessary. I’m struggling with the 5. Davis seems safest so maybe him at the beginning of the year, but eventually Johns because of his upside. But then there’s Castleton. So much upside there, too.
I think what to do with Johns and the 5 spot in general are toughest for me to figure out. I think the coaches especially want Johns to prove worthy of PT. Probably not there yet.
I agree for the most part, although I think livers will start. I also think Eli plays more like 10-15. 6-8 behind simpsons and then another 6 or 7 going small behind poole at times.
If he was only going to learn one you’d want him to learn the five over the four? Interesting. I get there is better options at the four, but I think I feel good about Teske/Davis over a small ball Johns at this point.
I don’t disagree that I’d feel fine about Teske/Davis, but I think Johns spreads the court more which allows us to utilize the strengths of our other guys. Especially for Iggy and X, we need to space the floor to give them driving lanes.
Yes, I think there is no chance Teske/Davis take all the minutes at the 5. Beilein is going to want to open the floor at times. He’s not going to go through the season without having that a ready option.
This hasn’t been mentioned much, but could Livers play the 5, especially if Iggy begins to play more at the 4? Livers weighs 10 more pounds and is only an inch shorter than Johns. Not as athletic probably, but can space the floor on offense in a similar manner and probably knows the offense better. A lineup of X-Poole-Charles-Iggy-Livers sounds pretty dangerous.
Offensively I’d love it, but as JB always says…“you are who you can guard”. I’m not saying Livers can’t guard opposing 5s, but i haven’t seen any evidence that they’re even teaching him those principles are they?
Fair enough, I do think he saw the court in some capacity at the 5 last year, though not much to my recollection.
I guess that group this year, with Teske/Davis/Castleton/Johns, seems like it is pretty concentrated. I’m no guru, but I do know how important that position is regarding the ball screen defense. I’d just think we’d have heard more of Livers working with that group if it was something we’d see.
Totally just a slightly educated guess, its not like I have insight beyond the info I get from this group
I think the simple answer is that Johns is a slightly better fit for the five and he hasn’t learned the four yet.
Livers needs to be focusing on being a great four because he’s either going to be starting there or at least playing 20+ minutes.
Johns might be the No. 3 option there, but he could potentially find more value in a role at the five IMO. He’s a bit longer and I think he has a bit more of a natural pick and pop style to his game which I like at the spot, we’ll see.
If Johns never clicks, then Livers is the obvious next possibility as a stretch five IMO. I just like the idea to try Johns there (and have been screaming it all summer) even though many others may prefer Livers there.
I’m doing the same as you. To be clear, I’m not expecting to see Livers at the 5. But that’s because Johns at Castleton are being prepped for that role. It’s too early to know whether either of them will be ready. If not, Livers should be a viable backup option.
Is it asking too much of the players to have Johns play the 5 on offense, and Livers guard opposing 5s on defense? Best case scenario is definitely Johns playing the 5 on both ends, but it seems like, right now, Livers is better suited to guard 5s.
No, and Michigan will presumably switch everything when it goes small which will make that even more confusing.
Generally speaking, the positions we talk about are referring to on offense. Players can guard different players than the position they are playing on offense. For example, Michigan would get very creative with who Duncan Robinson defended last year and that would be very matchup dependent.
I think it would be very exciting if Johns could play 5 this year. I like the idea! However, we have had 3 future NBA guys who have struggled in their first year of attempting to play Beilein 5: McGary, Wilson and Wagner. McGary did figure it out at the end. Why should we believe that Johns could figure out the 5 or be able to accomplish the even harder task of figuring out the 5 and 4 this year?
The path for Johns to play makes a lot more sense as a five. If the four is essentially covered by Livers/Ignas, the easiest route for Johns to get PT is to prove he can be that backup five.
Can Johns play this year? That is the big question. He hasn’t looked ready in practice or in Spain, but he’s also still just an incoming freshman and it is just a matter of when everything clicks.
I also would disagree that the five is somehow harder to learn than the four? I would say Mitch, DJ and Moe’s early development had a lot more to do with them as individuals than anything else.
