I’d say borderline top-10. He’s never been much on defense. Better than his early years but still a bit of a sieve.
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Year end FINAL update, will probably write one when our guys in the playoffs (Poole and Caris, off the top of my head?) are both done.
Moussa Diabate played 195 minutes across 22 games. He did play 586 minutes in 18 games in the G League, scrapping together a similar minutes load to what he played with Michigan last year. Obviously, it’s a tough sample, and he was clearly more effective in the G League, but some strengths and weaknesses are starting to emerge - he had an 18% offensive rebound rate in the NBA, and 17% in the G League in a much larger sample - he is very effective crashing the glass. His steal rate in the NBA was great, but it’s hard to say much about 7 steals…but he did deliver a really strong steal rate in the G League. His NBA offense was always inextricably tied to how many offensive rebounds he got - he’s essentially a put-back guy now, and not much more (he did try some shots between 3 and 10 feet, it didn’t go well (34%)). His rim protection, as we saw with Michigan, wasn’t quite what you’d hope for from a player of this caliber. Some late G-League time salvaged what was seeming like a season on the bench for him, which is good. Clearly, he’s on the periphery of the NBA, and will remain so going into next year.
Caleb Houstan played more than I would have thought - getting over 820 minutes across 51 games. 75% of his shots were threes, and he made under 34%, which is not a terrible auspicious start. Roughly 60% of his minutes came prior to January, as the Magic often had 1 healthy guard on the entire roster, and Houstan was picking up some time as a shooting guard (he played over 54% of his minutes at the 2). As they got more players back, Houstan started to play the three, and play less. Other than the minutes load (which certainly isn’t nothing) there isn’t much of an indication he’s in a significantly more secure spot that Diabate in terms of a long term future - he’s just a shooter, and to date not a particularly effective one.
The biggest problem with Isaiah Livers’ season is one we’re all familiar with…he still has some difficulty staying on the floor in terms of his health. This season he picked up a myriad of minor dings - shoulders, ankles, hips, wrist, etc. Livers by all accounts was an effective defensive player and shot a respectable % from three, at 36.5% (70% of his attempts were 3’s). Given how desperate the Pistons are for shooting, I think you’d like to see him get more 3’s up, but his attempt rate is pretty much identical to many guys of his archtype - your Dorian Finney-Smith types (primarily defensive guys who shoot threes well enough you can’t ignore them). I personally think he has some more shooting potential than that (though maybe less defensive potential, not to insult his current product, but DFS is very good). Regardless, Livers will be a rotational piece, one can assume, for the Pistons next year, and if not there, probably somewhere.
When the dust cleared, Franz Wagner had a remarkably similar year to his rookie year, with small but real improvement in every facet coupled with more usage. Franz shot 33 points better from 2, on slightly more volume, 7 points better from 3 on an additional attempt per game, took 1.2 more free throws per game and bumped his assist (and turnover) rate slightly. Flattening out playing time, he really just took 1 additional 3 per 36 mins a game (everything else staying flat), and pushed his true shooting up 30 points from “league average” to “above average”. It’s not quite the star-making performance we thought, but it’s a really good one off of an already high floor. It’s fair to ask what his upside is, but he’s a very good (not star-level) player NOW. Oddly, given his college performance, his defensive is the portion of his game lacking now - he has phenomenal positional size, but you don’t really see that reflected in the box score, and the anecdotal (and all in one garbage stats) evidence on his defense is mediocre. Franz has only missed 3 games in his NBA career to date.
Jordan Poole had something of a regression this year. Positively, he really juiced his foul drawing (1.5 more shots per game) where he’s automatic, and that helped him rescue some scoring efficiency he bled in other facets. Poole’s 2 point shooting fell 15 points year over year on 1.5 additional attempts, and his three point shooter fell thirty on identical attempt rates. His assist rate stayed relatively flat while he saw a rise in turnovers - largely attributable to a weird few weeks where he’d get called for multiple carries a game, as he tends to roll his hand from the bottom to top of the ball on his dribble. His defense remained abhorrent. A large part of this is role - I don’t believe him to be a 29% usage player (last year was 26%) and lots of his loss of efficiency is pretty clearly a result of him being tasked to do more. The real test for Jordan will come in the post-season. Will he be able to stay on the floor defensively in a competitive playoff game, or will his minutes drop to the teens like last year after the first round? There’s a potential that he’s a Lou Williams/Jordan Crawford type (bench offense - see also Anfernee Simmons and Tyler Herro) and not a potential all-star in waiting.
Mo Wagner missed the first 18 games of the season following a Eurobasket injury, but then played 57 of the final 64 games for the Magic, and showed a dramatic improvement. The counting stats pop - a 10.5/4.5 in 19 minutes per game, on 63% true shooting. Mo has taken 612 NBA threes, and I think on that sample we can conclude he is NOT an effective shooter (31% on his career). Where Mo excels (and where he’s always excelled) is finishing at the rim, where he’s over 71% for his career and 73% this year. This also produced a remarkably high free-throw rate (46%!), which combined with strong offensive rebounding (7%) makes him a major offensive weapon. His defensive is still limited by lateral quickness and sub-ideal length, which he tries to compensate for by drawing charges (over 24 each of the past two years), but still fouls a bunch. HOWEVER - he did post a career low foul rate of 4.4 per 36 minutes (he was over 5.5 two years ago and over 6 prior to that). Mo is a very good reserve big, and does it uniquely - most bench bigs are there to defend.
Caris Levert had a weird year! he coupled the worst 2-point shooting of his career with the best 3-point shooting of his career and ended up with a slight improvement over his career scoring efficiency, but still below average for the leage (by about 10 points of true shooting). Levert continued to pass the ball realtively well, and limit turnovers, but this was a very different role for him - prior in his career, Levert was tasked mostly with being the guy for bench lineups, he spent most of this year being off ball as he essentially always played with either Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland (or both!). Levert alternated between being the teams 5th starter and primary reserve (ultimately landing at primary reserve), and figures to have an appreciable role in the playoffs for a top 4 seed…for the first time in his career. Caris hasn’t had many playoff reps (the few he had were quite good for the Nets), so it will be exciting to see him play.
Tim Hardaway Jr. had something of a comeback from last year’s strugglefest, and after starting slowly, ended up shooting about as well as he had in prior years. Largely - he’s the same guy, a quality catch and shoot three point shooter who plays somthing approximating acceptable defense. Dallas’s year was a massive disappointment, but that really has nothing to do with Hardaway as a player - he’s pretty much the same guy he’s been, but this team probably needed more juice from it’s 2 and 3 spots than it got all year - which is more a fault of the role/salary spot the team has Tim in more than anything Tim did (or didn’t) accomplish.
After losing his starting role last year, Duncan Robinson lost his rotation spot this year, shooting 33% from three, and DNP’s roughly half the teams games, with his minutes load falling by about 10 minutes from the year prior. Obviously, Duncan needs to shoot well to play, and he failed to do that. More concerning is the visibile hesitancy that has crept into his game. Obviously, it’s hard to be confident when you don’t play well, but the incidence of Brandon Johns-esque record-scratches and pump-fakes on catches he used to soullessly bomb seems notable. I’d be lying if I told you I knew where this goes. It’s nearly impossible that a guy who shot as well as he did to shoot as poorly as he is, and I’m not sure if it’s a blip, an injury, or what. Generally, I think a change of scenery would do him well, but his salary is prohibitive and won’t be seen as anything other than an anchor to the receiving team. At this stage, he seems like a near ideal buy-out candidate.
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I do kind of remember Duncan having the same hesitancy at times at Michigan (and he did eventually pull himself out of it).
I don’t usually read these (not an NBA guy) but seven when I’m just scrolling passed, I’m impressed by the depth of content. Appreciate it
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I can’t imagine taking a buy out if I’m Duncan. Sadly. On the other hand … he’s 26 and has a sweet place (I assume) in S Beach. Not awful.
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Idk where to post this but it feels like a ‘Michigan player in the NBA’ 
. Looks like it’s kinda old news but somehow I’m just seeing it for the first time.
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Turns out when your dad is the third largest agent in the league you can move up really fast (in non-basketball roles)!
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It also means he had a good education on how to be an agent and how the front office works in professional sports. It is analogous to why you see so many children follow in the professional footsteps of one of their parents (engineers, lawyers, teachers, etc.)
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Have heard a lot of really good things about Josh and the job he’s done, FWIW. Not just a product of his dad’s job.
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I don’t want to speak for @mgl here but my experience in all fields isn’t that nepotism or key relationships gets you the job, but it absolutely gets you a foot in the door for an interview. Referrals, relationships, friends, family, etc. are usually critical to get you a few key jobs throughout your career and then it is up to you to maximize those opportunities.
I work for a large public company and we have a very robust hiring/vetting process for candidates that tries to cast a wide net and give the best candidates opportunities and you still wouldn’t believe how many referrals are thrown at me for someone’s kid or best friend or something.
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Yeah
I’ll just say that as the son of a very wealthy man who had the best education, etc., growing up, I’m sure Josh is bright.
But he’s not at that career point at age 32 without his last name. It’s not just a favor either - the team regularly negotiates with his father’s clients. Not many people’s first job is Chief of Staff to Tom Gores.
I am sorry, but one of my pet peaves in life is marveling at the accomplishments of the children of the galactically wealthy/connected.
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Agreed. I’m sure he’s actually good at the tasks set before him. I doubt he gets hired if he was mediocre or bad at his job. But he is also most likely not rising up that fast in the ranks without his familial connections. Saying that doesn’t mean we are saying he’s bad at what he does. Few people get to where they are in life without a couple fortunate breaks their way. He got a big one. It’s ok to acknowledge that.
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Yes. I’m sure the Suns have no desire to tank their profits by hiring a moron.
But Josh is a CEO of an NBA team at age 32 because his dad is Mark Bartelstein. That’s not to say Josh is bad person, or is bad at his jobs.
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Was not really trying to turn this into a debate about nepotism. Just have heard from multiple people who have worked with him that he’s very smart and does a good job.
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Dylan wouldnt even here if his father, Mr Umhoops.com Sr., didnt start the site and leave it to him
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Well just imagine where we’d all be if there weren’t a gleam in Bigger Boutros’ eye that fateful night long ago…
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I hope he does not drop his laptop for repair at an apple store (running quickly to avoid arrows and rocks thrown at me).
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Training under Arn Tellum doesn’t hurt either.
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So how much weight does fellow message board poster carry as far as getting hired at a large public company?
If you’re experienced at engineering project management and R&D…get me a resume! 
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