Michigan Players in the NBA

Yeah, to embed stuff you just have to link it but the Instagram/Meta API is not working properly right now with the forum.

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sabotage from laid-off Meta employees. :thinking:?

Moussa 28 pts on 10-14 from the field with 8 rebounds in the g league last night :muscle:

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Can someone explain to me how he scored 28 points on 10-14 from the field and 4-4 from the line? :thinking:

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New G-League rule where they shoot only 1 FT but itā€™s worth 2 pts.

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Some free throws are worth 2. Makes box score totaling for g-league games very difficult.

Is it just to speed up games or ā€¦

I canā€™t figure out a reason why they would do that.

Apparently this has been in place since the 2019-20 season!

The NBA G League today announced an experimental rule change for the 2019-20 season regarding the number of free throws a player will attempt when he goes to the free-throw line.

Under the new experimental NBA G League rule, one free throw worth one, two or three points will be awarded in the event of any foul that would typically result in one, two or three free throws being shot under standard NBA rules. The experimental free throw rule will not apply during the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or the entirety of any overtime period.

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OK, so Moussa Diabate drops off our list, going down to the G League.

  • Caleb Houstan spent the past two weeks bouncing in and out of the Magicā€™s rotation (2 DNP CDā€™s in there), but thatā€™s definitely trending towards ā€œinā€ at the moment, having played 20 MPG in their past 3. The ball has gone in a bit better over this stretch (41% from the floor, 41% from 3 (12 attempts)), but he doesnā€™t really add much in the boxscore outside of his shooting attempts. Heā€™s played 55% of his minutes this year as the teamā€™s ā€œshooting guardā€ as the Magic have rarely had more than 2 guards healthy at a time (hold this thought when we get to Franz) and have thus leaned into lineups that always have 2 7-footers on the floor (Houstan has played with 2 7-footers and Franz in his most frequent 2 lineups). Iā€™m curious to see what happens to his playing time when Anthony returns and the team has 2-3 playable guards, but so far, itā€™s going ok.

  • Isaiah Livers, offensively, shoots 3ā€™s and thatā€™s about it (52 3PA to 12 2PA), but has rebounded and defended respectably, and has, suprisingly, kept up blocking shots at a respectable rate since his college days. His three point shot has been good, not great (36.5% on the year). Livers rarely gets to play with starters, his top 3 lineups so far this year have 1 starter in 2 of the 3, and anyone who reads the Pistons thread knows how much of an unmitigated disaster their bench has been, collectively. Iā€™m curious to see what heā€™d look like playing on a real team, but so far, so good.

  • Franz Wagner has turned it up!. Heā€™s scoring 22 a game in the past 2 weeks (7 games), heā€™s at nearly 5 assists to a bit under 2.5 turnovers per game (pretty solid A/TO ratio!). His 22 points have come on only 16 shots per game despite the fact heā€™s STILL not making threes (32% in this run of games, better than before, still not particularly good). His efficiency (56%+ true shooting) is borne out partly at the line, where he shoots 87%, but mostly by an otherworldly 72% at the rim (33% of his attempts) and a solid 45% from 4-16 feet (floater, mid range jumper range). I got a chance to see Franz play twice in this span, and a few things stick out. First - the rim finishing. I think most of here can recall what I like to thing of ā€œgo go gadgetā€ finished, where he would just extend his super-long arms and drop it in the hoopā€¦it turns out that he can still pull this off in the NBA, and his footwork is so good heā€™s able to work himself into those situations. The next thing is the interesting factor that given their lack of guards, Franz has actually played over half his minutes as a guard this season (again - note the growing assist counts), and the team has actually been putting Suggs on the bench in the past few games down the stretch to hand the reigns over to Franz.

  • Jordan Poole has, along with his team, had a bit of a struggle (42% from two, 34% from three in the last two weeks), but has committed more turnovers than assists in the span. The odd thing here is that heā€™s getting whistled - a LOT (up to 3 in one game) for travelling on his dribble, which the refs keep calling a carry. He also was down to a bit over 16 ppgā€¦Iā€™m sure the shooting will improve a bit, but heā€™s generally struggled, but the Warriors bench lineups have struggled generally, and heā€™s mostly drowning a bit trying to keep them afloat (good to remember heā€™s spending much less time with the first unit vs. last year). Iā€™m sure it will iron out here, but the trend to call his carry is a bit of concern.

  • Caris Levert in many ways is playing the best basketball of his career. His numbers arenā€™t through the roof, but heā€™s playing a large role in a winning environment, and largely doing what is asked from him. That said, his game is breaking down into distinct ā€œgoodā€ and ā€œbadā€ things. ā€œGoodā€ things: a near career high assist rate couple with a new career low turnoever rate (at least, simultaneously being about as good as he ever has at those two things is good), and 42% so far from three on 4.5 attempts (this would be an extreme career high). The bad - heā€™s shooting 37% from 2, which is partially a function of shot distribution (40% of his shots are mid range), andā€¦just not shooting that well on them. Levert has always had a pretty dicey shot mix as a pro (the biggest reason heā€™s always struggled with efficiency) - but I wouldnā€™t expect ither the 37% on 2s or the 42% from 3 to hold for the year.

Onto the ā€œShooters (?)ā€ part of the recap:

  • Tim Hardaway Jr. is having a hard time hitting shots. Since our last update, he is shooting 33% from the floor and 32% from 3. Both numbers are pretty consistent with his numbers from the first two weeks, and the 45% true shooting from a guy whose main role is to shoot the basketball isnā€™t going to light anyoneā€™s heart aflutter. Simplyā€¦he needs to shoot better if he wants to retain his spot in the rotation (which hasnā€™t been reduced yet) because heā€™s on the floor to make threes.

  • I could largely cut and paste the above about Duncan Robinson, but his prospects are looking a bit dimmer. Duncan is at 35% from the floor and 31% from three for the year. Heā€™s seen a growth towards two-pointers in his shot diet this year, but thatā€™s been coupled with a pretty precipitous drop in accuracy. Heā€™s firmly (for now) slotted in that 20 minutes off the bench role he found last year after being supplanted by Max Strus, and defenses seem to stll be very worried about leaving him open, but if he doesnā€™t start making shots, itā€™s hard to imagine that continues.

But both these guys already got paid!

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Another update

  • Caleb Houstan continues to get minutes as a shooting guard in Orlando, as they rarely have more than 2 healthy, and one of those has essentially always been the somewhat awful RJ Hampton. Houstan is on a bit of an uptic - since our last update, he played in 6 of their 7 games, getting a bit over 20 minutes per game. During this stretch, heā€™s only scoring about 5 points per game with little additional statistical contributions. In this time, heā€™s shoot 38.5% from the floor but 40% from 3 (he only has 2 makes from 2 in this stretch). At this stage, heā€™s a shooter who is somewhat mediocre at shooting and provides very little else. While the 40% from three is an improvement, heā€™ll need to show that over the long haul (heā€™s 35% for the season).

  • Injuries have moved Isaiah Livers into the starting lineup in Detroit over the past 5 games, but this has coincided with a little cold spell. He still only at about 21 minutes per game over the past 2 weeks, and his shooting has suffered, at 45% from the floor but 27% from 3. Whatā€™s interesting is that his time in the starting lineup (which mostly coincides with Cadeā€™s absence) has actually seen a decrease in workload - heā€™s getting about one less shot per game up despite seeing his minutes grow by 5-6 per game. Iā€™m not sure if this is because the starting lineup provides more options than the bench one he played with, or the lack of Cade has hurt overall distribution and thus his chances.

  • The breakout continues for Franz Wagner, who, last we checked, had just finished a 2 week run averaging 22 points and 5 assists per game, with assists doubling turnovers, with his foul shooting and rim effeciency driving his production. Well, heā€™s at 21.3 ppgā€¦his assists have dropped to three with Suggs being healthy for most of this run. Heā€™s shot 52% from the floor in this stretchā€¦and after struggling mostly from 3 earlier in the year, nailed nearly 45% of his shots in the past 2 weeks, getting up over 4 per game. This was coupled with a drop in rim efficiency (his season mark dropped from 72% to 69%, but that was bound to happen - his ts% still climbed from 56% (about leage average) to 59%. I know the Poole people will come at me, but Wagner is the best Wolverine in the pros, and is assembling an all-star worthy season already. His only impediment is playing for an awful team.

  • Speaking of Jordan Poole, itā€™s a bit rough right now! Last time we looked, he had shot 42%/34% in the prior two weeks, and followed that up shooting 38%/23% in the last two. The Warriors are struggling, and Poole clearly is as well, but the team is net -7 pp100 possessions when he plays. His most frequent lineup is the theoretical ā€œDeathā€ lineup (Steph, Poole, Klay, Wiggins, Draymond) that has never (and still doesnā€™t) played particularly well (net negative for the year). That lineup with a center (Looney) on for Poole is +30, a shift of 31 points per 100 possessions. Last year, team performance when Poole played was very dependent on whether Curry was on the floorā€¦that really hasnā€™t changed. The Poole-helmed lineups are still getting demolished (-34 pp100 last year, -31 this year). I strongly doubt Poole will continue to shoot this poorly, but I think questions regarding his spot in a good teamā€™s hierarchy and his ability to play two way basketball persist. At worst, heā€™s a very good microwave sixth manā€¦Iā€™m just not positive heā€™s more than that.

  • Moritz Wagner is back! He hasnā€™t shot well (at all) in his 3 games, but heā€™s made it to the line for 10 attempts in about 52 minutes, which is pretty good (heā€™s made 9), keeping his efficiency somewhat intact. He has a VERY healthy 16 boards in those 52 minutes and a VERY healthy 10 personal fouls. Never change! When Mo is on the floor, there will be MANY fouls in both directions.

  • Last week we noted Caris Levertā€™s bizarre shooting - ie well above his career standard from 3 (42%) and well below from 2 (37%) thanks to a pretty unfavoarble shot distribution. Well, he missed 4 games due to an ankle issue, but did play 4 games since our last update. He missed 11 of his 12 three point attempts, bringing that absurd three point accuracy back to earth andā€¦went 4/26 from 2, further deepening that hole. His playmaking stats are still pretty good, but heā€™s not a plus defender, so he canā€™t continue to shoot like this if he wants to hold onto this role. I think the most likely end here is that Dean Wade takes the starting gig when he returns from injury.

  • To further the ā€œnobody here can shootā€ theme, Tim Hardaway is averaging 7.9 ppg in the past 2 weeks, including a 28 point game after our last update. That means in the next 5, heā€™s averaging 5 ppg, and as you can imagine, the shooting isnā€™t good. Heā€™s shot 26.4% from the floor and 23% from 3. That two point shooting is pretty ugly to, obviously. Whatā€™s interesting on the season is that Hardawy shoots about 12 points better when he shares the floor with Luka - and thatā€™s not a new phenomemon. What IS new is that heā€™s playing slightly more than half his minutes with Lukaā€¦prior to his season ending injury last year, he played most of his minutes with Luka. The shift to a slightly more diminished role means heā€™s no longer next to the ā€œsunā€ in the NBAā€™s most heliocentric offense, and heā€™s struggling to thrive in that role. Again, heā€™s not a 26% shooter (I donā€™t think) but I think weā€™ve seen the best of Hardawayā€™s career.

  • Duncan Robinson missed 5 of the last 7 games with in ankle injury (he was 1/4 from 3 in the games he played). Maybe this explains the 30% from 3 this year? I hope so!

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Love the updates.

Pretty sure the only rational explanation at this point is that weā€™ve made some dark deal with the devil regarding shooting for any current/former Michigan player in exchange for Michigan football stomping that Ohio team.

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And Iā€™ll take that dealā€¦

So strange that all of these former Beilein guys known for being good shooters (mostly) canā€™t hit the ocean from a boat right now.

Good for Houstan for actually getting meaningful minutes as I expected him to spend most of the year in the G-League. I realize it is a bit of that Poole-on-the-injured-GSW situation in that he plays for a really bad team that has no guards and few options, but still gives him a change to show he belongs.

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FRANZ I :heart: U

(^the most complete sentence ever)

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Livers has blocked 3 shots in two of his last four games. Take that, Dikembe!

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At least Moussa is going off right now :woman_shrugging:t3:

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Moussa is 11/8 in 16 minutes tonight

I have not done the deep dive to see who got hurt to get him is PT

Edit: just Kawhi, George, Paul, and Luke Kennard

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Moussa got end of game run for them in a close game last night too. He played well. Heā€™s making the most of his opportunity

Mo had an 8 point, 6 board, 9 assist game (and 4 fouls)

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9 assists?!

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