But as was pointed out in that same podcast, that is all fine and dandy until you get an injury or foul trouble and then you have to throw someone in there who hasn’t been getting any playing time experience.
Yeah, and that’s why Johns will continue to see some time. He got a first half shift against George Washington and the upcoming guarantee games will be important. But until he can show something (probably in practice, but especially in a game) it is hard to really expect his role to change.
Isaiah Livers’ growth as a small ball five and Ignas Brazdeikis’ growth in general are probably more important.
Johns playing 5 doesn’t make him a traditional 5 on offense. Coach Beilein can stretch floor by having a PG and four wings offensively with Johns on floor. Isn’t that what made M so effective with Wagner? Johns like Wagner has the capability of hitting 3’s and taking guys off the dribble. I find this exciting.
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Yeah, the idea behind Johns at the five is the same as Livers at the five.
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So he would do 4 type things offensively from the 5 spot. Is it sort of like making 3,4, and 5 interchangeable on offense? Positionless basketball!!! What a concept
I’m not sure if it is position-less because most of Beilein’s offensive sets still have positions… Michigan can do things to leverage some of his advantages against a bigger/slower big man though at the five spot. Just like they did with Moe and are doing with Isaiah. Then on defense, you are far more positionless and flexible because you can just switch all screens.
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Yeah, being so flexible personnel wise alleviates the need for an 8th or 9th man. Fatigue doesn’t seem like a huge factor because you can still get guys rest as almost any combo of the top 7 guys can be on the floor together. Partly it’s because of blowouts, but even Matthews and Simpson are averaging only ~30 mins a game right now.
The only problem you have is if (a) Teske and Livers or (b) Simpson and Brooks are both in foul trouble. In the former case you’ll have Austin Davis, though Johns down the road would be nice. For the latter, it would be nice to see DeJulius get some minutes in the guarantee games to gain experience.
But overall, with such flexibility and competence in that group, going primarily 7 deep doesn’t seem like a problem to me.
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80 available minutes at wing= 30 Matthews, 30 Iggy, 10 Livers, 10 Johns.
40 available minutes at center= 20 Teske, 20 Livers.
In any of the game clips I watched it always seemed like John’s was playing a wing in high school.
So you want to play Matthews, Livers or Brazdeikis for fewer minutes in order to get Johns on the floor? That’s essentially the predicament and I’m not sure what he does better than those three to get on the floor.
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30 each sounds right.
I honestly haven’t seen enough from Johns to warrant working him in for 10 minutes a game at the expense of any additional minutes for killers like Iggy and Matthews, or even Livers with how awesome he has been. I agree with your premise that 30 sounds right for each. But I think on good nights, Teske is going to push 25 minutes and the other 5 you had going to Johns should go to the hot hand.
I would feel completely different if Iggy, CM and Livers weren’t all looking so good right now. Love Johns’ potential long-term. I don’t think he’s the key to some unlockable ceiling for this team later in the season that some have mentioned. I just have a hard time seeing him contribute in any meaningful way this year better than Livers and Iggy are right now
Can totally see what you are saying in anything like a close game where there is no foul trouble. The 10 minutes a game for John’s would be more like a average. Or something to shoot for…The thinking is It would be necessary for establishing depth in case of injury to one of our wings.
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I think Dejulius is the one most likely to see minutes during the stretch of games in December coming up against weaker competition. The weakest spots on the team so far have been starting 2 guard and backup point guard. Dejulius getting more comfortable at PG could help provide another option there and also allow Brooks to play more at 2 guard. If anything, Livers needs more minutes than he’s been getting. There’s just no minutes for Johns but there could be for Dejulius.
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To my eyes there is a huge gap between Z/ Poole/Brooks and DD right now.
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All the more reason to play him (and others) some more minutes against the weaker teams on the schedule. Hopefully more game reps help the freshmen close that gap.
Exactly. Even if it doesn’t yield huge benefits this year, consider it an investment in the future.
Keep in mind that the freshmen outside of Iggy are probably running the scout team. You can tell they’re just winging it when they do get out there. They need to work they’re way into the system in practice first somehow. Easier said than done. Matthews spent a whole year on scout team after transferring and didn’t really know the system in 17.
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Johns and DeJulius will get their reps in guarantee games, just like they’ve been getting. Until they show something significant, I just don’t see how you can justify taking minutes away from others already in the rotation in higher leverage spots.I also think there’s still a lot to gain by Iggy, Livers, Matthews, etc. gaining chemistry together – especially in different lineup combos.
If Livers, Iggy and Charles get two fouls… Brandon is probably heading into the game. Figure it out then 
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If that scenario happens against UNC and Johns looks lost and we lose, I guarantee you that there will be discussion here about “Why didn’t we get Johns more reps to get him ready?”
The only real weakness for this team is 3 point shooting. So far, we only have one three point shooter: Livers. JP and CM have mostly been awful. Eli has shown some promise, but he still seems to lack confidence. Iggy could be a fine 3 point shooter down the road.
So I have to assume that JB will try to add someone who can make threes. Between DDJ and Johns, I think DDJ has more promise, at least for this season. So I expect to see more of him.
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