Think you right to look at MattD’s summary. I tend to think his is closer to what realty is.
This team has chance to be special. Gonna stake that out this preseason
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I am late on reading this one, but it would be great if both T-Will and Zeb can step up. My biggest concern of the season is the offense when Hunter is not in the game, I hope that Jones can be the answer.
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Just to stake things out (do we need a shot caller thread?) I think that Zeb exceeds expectations and is a consistent role player and positive contributor. This is based on absolutely nothing.
if he falls out of the rotation then it will have gotten late early for him.
There’s a weird dichotomy that formed between Johns’ Sophomore and Junior year. His Sophomore year, he launched 55 threes (mid 30%) in 587 minutes - to a rate of 1 three per 10.6 minutes. His Junior year, he launched 19 threes (mid 30%) in 362 minutes - to a rate of 1 three per 19 minutes on the floor. What does this mean? Probably not a whole lot, except I will argue that Johns has shown he is a capable shooter - what he hasn’t shown is the mental fortitude and confidence to shoot when he needs to within the offense (aka a little Ben Simmons-itis).
My question therefore - if Brandon plays like Sophomore year in regards to shooting, along with his general improvement defensively and in keeping pace with the game, is that enough? Averaging two 3 attempts per game enough (obviously all hypothetical at this point)?
Conversely, William’s rate was 1 three every 12 minutes. He obviously shot poorly, but I’m willing to throw his % and basically everything out the door because he had a weird role as a true Frosh.
This will be interesting to see how this is handled. Does Zeb get time early or how much time does he get or is the focus getting Bufkin’s feet wet and getting him up to speed? If you consider Devantae and Eli are 30+ minute players, doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for Frankie/Kobe/Zeb.
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Don’t worry, this is the basis for all preseason takes!
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Part of me worries that Johns’ success defensively was at least somewhat due to getting to guard mostly traditional 4’s in the tournament. When he’s struggled defensively it seems mostly to have been in space.
Regarding the shooting - if I recall he basically didn’t shoot any in the tournament, so most of his paltry 19 came when he was a reserve…maybe the staff was just trying to simplify stuff for him since he was getting a big step up in terms of responsibility.
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So I have been suffering from “sleep maintenance insomnia” - I wake up at 3 am and can’t fall asleep. I’ve found that one thing that serves as effective “white noise” to crowd out the anxiety causing thoughts that keep me awake is going through, embarrassingly, Michigan basketball potential rotations.
What occurred to me at 3:30 this morning was how versatile this roster is, even limiting just to feasible rotation pieces - with not only easy ways to go big and small but several ways to do it.
Just putting Williams at the 3 gets you a pretty intimidating front line, regardless of whether the front 2 is Hunter/Johns, Hunter/Moussa, Moussa/Johns
You can go small with three guards (I think Bufkin and Zeb both at least have the height to survive as a third) and Houstan at the 4 with a high motor guy like Diabate at center.
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I would say Terrance has the potential to unlock small lineups too. A 3/4 of Terrance/Houstan could fix some issues that you get playing two bigs.
A lot hinges on TWill’s ability to make threes. If he’s not effective from three, then putting him next to a non-shooter at the four isn’t something I’m really excited about.
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Yeah I had another post running through my head that was relating to this - that if the late season incarnation of Johns returns - the one who played solid interior defense, rebounded, and finished around the rim, and never shot threes - what the premium of him over, say, a semi-refined Diabate is, and that a version of Williams who makes a respectable number of threes becomes maybe the best option.
That said, as you note, it’s harder to start Williams than the others just because he makes sense at both forward spots and the lineup flexibility in lots of ways hinges on him reaching some degree of his potential. Here’s hoping he can pull a Rahk in this respect.
Yes! Absolutely, I agree with this. I do think TWill’s shooting will show improvement this year. I hope it’s enough to make him a solid contributing rotational player at the three/four. I love the flexibility on this team, and it will be fun watching Juwan and staff put the pieces of the puzzle together and then take it apart and move the pieces around and give teams another look!
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I see a potential for Williams to be something like Rahk - not in terms of playing style obviously but in terms of impact.
As a sophomore and Junior, Rahk had pretty mundane stat lines - 9 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, around there, but down the stretch he’d have a big dime or a big take to the rim, or grab a loose ball…he made lots of BIG plays at important times, and he always knew what was needed.
I see Williams as having a similar potential.
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I am too lazy to figure it out…but I wonder who decided to skip this event.
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Looks like Blazers, Lakers, Clippers, Magic
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Los Angeles Teams for starters.
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Rob Pelinka smh
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Magic are like “we’ll just ask one of the 4 UM players we have on our current roster who’s worth drafting”
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(1) I’m sure that you have already considered this but if not, alcohol cessation might help
(2) yes. Michigan is really well hedged. even if the most obvious lineup doesn’t work out like we expect, some lineup will prove to be very good.
