If you polled the general Michigan fanbase on who Michigan’s best player is Livers would get a majority of votes. If you polled UMHoops users it’d be about split.
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Another example of this… Simpson was dominant at the Battle 4 Atlantis and I voted for him for MVP… yet he wasn’t even on the All Tourney team.
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I agree 10000% and I believe I echoed the same sentiment about a week ago.
I would guess that the general UM fanbase would be about 75% Livers. UMHoops would be about split, perhaps siding with Simpson. Coaches would nearly be 100% Simpson I think. For me, being at virtually all of the home games as a student provides an interesting perspective; any given game, there’s more likely than not someone around me who can be heard expressing dissatisfaction with Simpson and his turnovers/shooting/why he should be playing less/why DeJulius is a better option etc…
It’s a weird dynamic and I’m not sure what it says about certain fans, but it probably means that they don’t appreciate Simpson as much as they should @dirk
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OK, that support for DeJulius taking some of X’s minutes is fascinating to me. I literally can’t imagine people thinking that. That’s clear cut evidence he is still under appreciated. As is the tournament voting Dylan mentioned. I actually think some of the other evidence people have provided, coaches praise, media darling, first on scouting report, etc supports my point that his value is widely appreciated.
I was mainly going for a laugh but clearly it was seen as snarky. If you ask me how good he is, I would say it is pretty obvious he is most important player to Michigan’s offense, he’s very good at that job, and there’s a clear reason why he gets the ball late in the shot clock (only creator on the team). I’m not a hater. He’s not an All American and not particularly close, I don’t think, although I would say even that evaluation is a little unkind to him, because the main reasons he is not close to AA are because he personally doesn’t score enough (but obviously he is creating a ton for his teammates) and he is not an NBA prospect. I don’t watch any team except Michigan, but I am sure he is one of the 6-8 best PGs in the NCAA right now.
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Is it fair to say that Livers is our best NBA prospect, and that X is our most valuable player?
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Yes. I think how I put it in another thread is that guys like Franz and Livers have more untapped potential and could end up better players, but as far as the player they are right now Zavier is “best” in my opinion.
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Most impressive for me is how X carries the “responsibility” for running the offense. That carries a lot of good and bad, where others just get remembered for the good.
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Even if you polled other Michigan media members, I think the majority would say Livers… which may say something about those people’s ability to understand everything actually going on on the court.
Simpson’s biggest weakness is obvious to the eye (although it hasn’t even been a “weakness” this season), and people tend to highly overrate scoring in assessing overall ability.
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I think that X’s biggest weakness is his tendency to be way too handsy defensively. I don’t even worry about his shooting anymore.
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and the one handed passes!!!
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If you want him to stop passing one handed then you will take away a lot of his assists. Nothing wrong with a one handed pass if you practice it
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I didn’t think you were being snarky at all! Was just providing a contrasting viewpoint that I thought was worth mentioning.
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This stretch has shown me that Michigan is going for the natty. I’ve already booked my hotel for Atlanta and broke out the cigars. See you there fanners.
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I really hope they close strong. 17-9 still feels like it does the rosters capabilities an injustice. If they can keep rolling some of those January mishaps won’t burn as much and maybe they can shoot up the seeding a bit.
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Nerdy post coming, but one of the prime examples I like to use in describing Simpson’s value is the New Jersey Nets trading Stephon Marbury for Jason Kidd after the 2001 NBA season.
People criticized the move for the Nets at the time – both players were coming off All-Star seasons, but Marbury was averaging 24-7-3, while Kidd averaged 17-10-6.4. Kidd was better at defense, but was really inefficient at the time, shooting 40% from the field and just under 30% from three. Kidd averaged nearly 4 TO’s, as well. Basically, Marbury’s box score stats were better.
What happened was Kidd still shot poorly from the field the next season (under 40%!), yet the Nets made the NBA Finals, their offensive rating improved by over 4 pts/100 possessions, and Kidd was second in MVP voting.
Even though Kidd turned the ball over more than Marbury and wasn’t an efficient scorer himself, his team was significantly better offensively (and defensively) with him on the court. He was an elite passer, especially in transition, and when surrounded with better players, he was lethal.
People get stuck on a player’s turnovers and shooting stats sometimes, but that often doesn’t tell the whole story – especially when that player is creating so much offense for others.
Zavier Simpson may not be the best jump shooter historically, as well as from the FT line, but Michigan’s offense is way more efficient because of him and because of his ability to create great shots for others. Sometimes he turns it over, a frequent criticism – but it is almost always because he is trying to create good shots. All of the best passers turn it over because they have the ball so much and without taking some chances, those great looks don’t come.
This example also helps to explain why shot creation is the most valuable offensive skill.
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Which is why it’s good that Jeff Jackson is the best three point shooter in the Big Ten!
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Zavier Simpson is shooting 37% from three this season. He’s been asked to do so darn much at times, and I think sometimes he’s tried to do too much in some late-game situations. But his whole body of work says that he is Michigan legend.
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Who the hell was criticizing that trade? I don’t remember it like that at all. As a Suns fan I remember wanted to puke all over myself and I knew it was going to be a net loss.
Was this a NY/ NJ media thing? Constantly overrating their own value and product?
It is pretty crazy that some fans seem to take for granted a PG averaging eight (!) assists a game. And this on a team that doesn’t shoot all that well.
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