Isaiah Livers left tonight’s Pistons game with another foot injury. I didn’t catch it, so I don’t know how serious it was. However, this seems to be an ongoing theme with him.
It’s a shame, because I don’t feel like he ever gets a chance to get in some sort of flow.
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It’s reported as a left ankle sprain. So he should return this year, and thankfully unassociated with his foot.
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So was on vacation in Florida this past week - decided to take the kids to the Orlando - Detroit game last Thursday. Kids had a blast and I got to enjoy watching all the former Michigan players (although Caleb had been sent to the G League). Wore my Michigan TShirt, so naturally every Detroit fan thought I was on their side - but I balanced that out by buying my older son a Franz jersey. Anyway, Franz balled out, Mo was very good (and the team looked better with him on the floor than say, Bol Bol), and Zay did what he does (3-5 from 3). Game came down to the last play tip in, so overall it was 10/10 experience!
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It looks like Josh Bartlestein is the Suns new CEO.
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Isaiah Livers returned for the Pistons tonight. They played it close for the first 19 minutes, and then got smoked. Livers did make a 28-footer to get the Pistons to a robust 90 points before the buzzer. He finished with 7 points, 4 boards, 2 assists and a steal, in 25 minutes.
They said Livers tied his career-high tonight with 17 points. He missed some desperation 3’s late in the game but still shot 3-8 from deep and 7-12 overall.
Also, Duncan Robinson is having his best game in forever. 14 points, and 3-4 from deep. He’s playing important minutes too.
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@ JettHoward be like 
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The idea of the 3 worst defenders in the league all coming from Michigan is actually legitimately hilarious
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Moe Wagner beat the charges
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OK so maybe it’s the 6 worst defenders, or 9. Is Trey on a 10-day?
(This is truly LOL)
I would argue that Mo has improved to “unremarkably poor”. I also think Poole is significantly worse than Duncan fwiw.
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2 weeks after the All-Star Break:
Moussa Diabate has played 1 minutes and posted no stats.
Caleb Houstan has been active for 4 of the Magic’s 8 games. He is, still, the first guy to join the rotation when a regular can’t play. He made three 3’s in this span, no twos, and shot 3/9 from three (he missed his 1 two).
Isaiah Livers missed one of the Pistons’ 8 games due to a tweaked ankle, but played in the rest, and has been seeing increased minutes with the trade of Saddiq Bey (27 MPG, over 30 in his last 3). He’s scoring 9.5 ppg, and shot 39% from 3 and 43% overall. His defense continues to be well-regarded around the league, but he probably needs to get his offensive usage rate up a bit to be a legitimate rotation piece for solid teams.
Franz Wagner had seen a dip in offensive opportunites going to the break, with Markelle Fultz starting to seize some usage. Franz didn’t quite match his prior 20 ppg average, but did get up to 18.6 ppg in the span, shooting an efficient 50% from the floor, 41% from 3, 90% from the line - phenomenal numbers…so yeah, his usage is still down a bit, but his quality of play is still equally as high as it was prior to Fultz’s usage boom. Franz tweaked his ankle and left a game in this run, but he didn’t miss a game - he’s only missed 4 in his NBA career so far, and just 1 this year…impressive durability. The Dunc’d On Pod and Zach Lowe named Franz their “sophomore of the year”.
Jordan Poole is in a bit of a slump - in the 9 games since the break, he scored 18.9 points per game, but shot 38% from the floor and 26% from three to get there. To the positive - he got a whopping 57 points at the line in these 9 games, shooting 91.9% at the stripe, which is maintaining his TS% to a large degree. He’s also been a bit more efficient in his playmaking since his mid-season turnover explosion, handing out close to 5 assists a game with only 2.5 turnovers, getting up to that desirable 2:1 ratio. The Warriors have started Jonathan Kuminga occasionally in his stead, but he’s still generally over 30 mpg. As discussed above - the less said about his defense the better.
There are two things - one positive, one negative - that have genuine surprised me about our alums in the league this year. The positive surprise, without a doubt, is Mo Wagner’s emergence as a real, productive NBA player on a real team trying to play real basketball (the Magic have been respectable since an awful start where they had between 0 and 1 guards available). Mo has scored 11.2 ppg (roughly his season average) since the break in about 20 mpg. He is still not a good three point shooter, but keeps taking 3 game…but he is an EXCELLENT scorer inside the arc (64%) particularly at the rim (74%, 38% of his shots). He’s always going be defensively limited due to lack of rim protection that he tries to draw charges to counteract…hence his foul happy ways (under control lately!)…but on a team that often has Bol Bol or Jonathan Isaac on the floor with him…shot blocking is around. He’s also now, with Wendell Carter down with an injury, the starting center.
The Cavs seem to be leaning towards Isaac Okoro as the starter at the three now, and Caris Levert find himself with a reduced role…his shooting also hasn’t been so hot, shooting 42%/33% from the floor. I think with Dean Wade rounding into health, Levert will see his role further reduced - with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell (and Ricky Rubio) around, with the two starts often getting staggered, the team doesn’t need his on-ball skills, and I think the end point here is a 12/13 minute role off the bench.
The Kyrie deal hasn’t really worked out great for the Mavs yet, but it seems to be working out quite well for Tim Hardaway. He’s gone over 20 points in 3 of their 7 games since the break, and is shooting 53% from the floor/59% from three. As usual, there isn’t much else here, but the heater has him up to 38% from three on high volume, commensurate with his best seasons. His season has mostly been marked by a really poor season from two, but I tend to think that’s a result of him doing some things from 2 with the loss of Jalen Brunson that aren’t “in his bag” that now, with Irving around, he is freed from attempting.
Duncan Robinson came back from his hand injury and appeared in 4 of the Heat’s 8 games. He’s 5/12 from three in these games (41.6%). There’s hope here that his shooting struggles were a result of attempting to play through that hand injury, but Duncan’s season is definitely my negative surprise of the year. If I had to guess how he’d fall out of an NBA rotation, it would be that his shooting was no longer SO good that it balanced out his relatively poor defense…I didn’t think he would just be a bad shooter in an absolute sense (33% from 3 this year). Hopefully it’s an injury driven fluke?
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i feel like i’m going to look at some nba stat thing in 2038 and think “wow, hardaway’s still scoring six points a game.” i lose track of him for years at a time and every time i find out he’s still around, he seems like exactly the same guy, maybe -10%
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Since he started playing with Luka he’s been a pretty darn good ancillary offensive player. That’s obviously partly his skill and partly the benefit you get from playing with so dominant an offensive force.
If he keeps shooting 39% ish on high volumes from 3, he’ll have a job.
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You never know how it will turn out. Like, it makes no sense fit wise but…if we just forget how big of a racist dingbat Kyrie is, you’re reminded that Luka + Kyrie are possibly the two most entertaining backcourt players to ever exist. If it’s actually meant to work, I would absolutely love to see it.
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Oh totally, should have added “so far”
Livers will get even more minutes down the stretch if the pistons shut down Boban for the year with his Achilles injury.
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I have so much respect for THJ. 3 star recruit that basically nobody wanted, shows up in Ann Arbor with major scoring ability but can’t dribble to save his life and ends up being a primary ballhandler against a “terrifying” VCU havoc team and carves them up. He worked his backside off in AA. Then off to the NBA and just keeps doing it at a high level. Just a pro in every sense of the word.
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