James Edwards loving Isaiah Livers? now that’s a new one
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Discussed repeatedly as the only option at the 4 with some 3 and some D (Stewart’s 3 being more hypothetical)
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Well
Camp starts tomorrow
So should know something definitive soon
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He’s a perfect switchable perimeter defender in the modern NBA. It’s a crime that he was left out of the B1G All-Defensive team. Best defender on the team that was the best defensive team in the conference. Orlando better lock him up long-term and they will.
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I feel like the last I heard of GR3 he was headed to Harvard Business School. Wonder what the story is here, anyone know?
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missing the space after livers’ name is killing me
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Feels like that 11 will be pretty “stable” this year too. I doubt there’s a fringe guy that will spend any time on a roster (GR3, X, DJ, Burke) and a few other fringe guys have moved overseas (Iggy, Walton). Likewise, all of those names seem to have their roster spots secure - though I could see some G-League time for a couple.
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Fair comment
Did Nikki Buckets officially retire after the 2022 NBA Finals?
Yeah he’s retired
just another way this program is struggling with spacing recently
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I guess Houstan is young enough that he’s unlikely to get jettisoned but that guy is on a countdown to be out of the league. Gotta give him credit, he’s gotten an incredible amount of mileage out of his reputation…
Yeah I think Caleb will be in the G League by years end. He’s mostly a guard in the NBA and you have to think he’s behind Suggs, Fultz, Harris, Anthony, and Black even Ingles is sort of a guard
At the 3 you have Franz, Ingles, Jett, Okeke
I thought I’d take a minute here, in my self-appointed role of Michigan Guy in the NBA Updater, to give a quick run through of where our guys stand:
-Kobe Bufkin, after a struggle-filled summer league, had a spotty pre-season. He played around 20 minutes most games, but that’s not terribly determinative…in the final game, he played 12 as the starters minutes ramped. He shot 32% from the floor, 18% from three, an dhad 9 assists to 6 turnovers. He definitely shot a bunch - 47 times in 94 minutes. So, that’s not particularly indicative of a concrete rotation spot to start the year, and probably won’t. Obviously they’re starting Young and Murray, Bogdan Bogdonovic is the first guard off the bench, and I assume Wes Matthews isn’t there to sit. That puts him in something of a pitched battle with friend of the blog Seth Lundy for the 5th guard spot, but likely firmly out of the rotation to start.
-As mentioned above, Caleb Houston likely starts the year outside of the rotation as well. He got 22 minutes in a pre-season game against “Flamengo” - a game in which basically any solidified rotation piece sat, and 12 in their final pre-season game with real paritcipation. He’s at best the 6th guard or 5th small forward, so I don’t see him in the rotation to start. This is, however, a team short on shooting, and that is something he (still theoretically) provides.
Anyone familiar with the Jett Howard experience (us!) can say what he did with some accuracy. He shot quite well in 3 of 4 games, had basically no rebounds or assists (and as many turnovers as assists) and was generally scoffed at for his defense. He sits over Houstan due to pedigree and pay, and I think will get a nod over Houstan if it comes to that, but I have a hard time seeing him in the rotation for a team that sees itself as a playoff contender - he needs to become a serious player and not just a one-trick pony to get on the floor.
Isaiah Livers is in a strange spot. If healthy, I think it’s quite likely he’d have been in the Pistons rotation, and may very well be when he comes back given Bojan’s injury and Joe Harris’ Joe Harrisness. That being said, Livers shares Harris’ fatal flaw (he can’t stay healthy) so who knows. In a fully functional Pistons roster, he is one of three forwards (we’re calling Isaiah Stewart a forward now) who can sort of shoot and sort of play defense. That means, likely, he’s in the rotation. This team has a ton of playable guards though (Cade, Ivey, Thompson, Burks, Morris) when healthy and it wouldn’t shock me to see them gobble some 3 minutes too. Regardless - a real mystery box here.
-Franz Wagner is seen by most as the team’s best player (maybe not it’s best prospect, that’s probably Banchero), but the way he gets used by this team is still very bizarre. There are still way too many plays where he just spaces to the corner while, like, Jalen Suggs misses another runner. Everyone on the Magic keeps talking about the need to get him the ball more, to let him shoot more, and seem to be lost on ideas to make it happen. The hope here is that he’s not just an “All Star Level Player” but rather “is an All Star”. If the Magic are as good as they seem to think, it seems likely.
Jordan Poole is perhaps getting his dream - all the shots he can possibly consider taking, and then some. He’s going to score like 25 a game. Will he shoot efficiently? Probably not? Will the other things that were keeping him off the floor (like his “defense”) improve? I mean, this is a team aggressively trying to win 0 games, so I’m skeptical! He’ll definitely have fun though.
Moritz Wagner returns as likely the Magic’s first big off the bench after an extremely effective offensive year last year. He still isn’t a terribly good shooter, but, like his brother, is devastating finishing at the rim, and his profligate fouling and defense have actually moderately improved. He’s a quality bench guy at this point, a big step from barely hanging onto the league a few years ago.
Duncan Robinson* was one of the few role players who had a LARGER post-season role than regular season. After what was basically a lost year of little to no value, Duncan had a renaissance during the Heat’s playoff run - scoring 9 points a game on 44% three point shooting, and playing 2 more minues a game than in the regular season, where he ate his share of DNP-CD’s. Duncan turned in a 20 point game in each of the first three rounds, and three double digit games against the Nuggets. Some of his competition (Max Strus, Gabe Vincent) are gone, but development prospects like Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith, and Jamal Cain could eat into his time, and new additions Josh Richardson and Jaime Jacquez may as well. That said, he was the first guy off the bench in their last pre-season game - he’ll start the year playing, but he’ll need to make shots.
Caris Levert is probably no longer the 5th starter in Cleveland (presumably, that’s Max Strus), but will be counted on to play major minutes off the bench. It’s a role that suits him better - he’s always been better on-ball, and being a catch-and-shoot three point shooter never really seemed to dovetail with what he’s done best as a pro. There won’t be any minutes where he just gets to cook, as this is a team devoted to staggering their two star guards, but coming off the bench should at least open the window for him a bit.
We all know what Tim Hardaway Jr.'s role is. The question is, on this roster, how often will he get to do it? With the improvement of Josh Green and Jaden Hardy, the answer here is probably “less”, even with Reggie Bullock gone. I think 20 mins of reasonable floor spacing a game is in the cards here.
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If you would’ve told me two years ago that year two Caleb and first year Jett would be on the same team I would’ve thought that’d mean Michigan was gonna be really good
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