Video: Juwan Howard at Michigan Media Day

There’s been a lot of emphasis from Juwan this year that he wants Livers to be a perimeter player and that he has slimmed down. If that’s the case, who on the roster do we view as a “4” besides Johns? Is Livers still gonna guard the 4 man? Is Wagner gonna be tasked with that responsibility?

I don’t recall if it was at B1G Media Day or where, but I recall Juwan mentioning that Castleton could find minutes at the 4, depending upon matchup. Otherwise I think the hope is that Johns is capable of logging big minutes there, and then Livers can slide down in spot minute duties when needed.

If Livers never plays the 4, which I don’t think will happen, then Johns, Castleton, Franz are the other options. If Franz and Livers are on the court with Brooks, X, and Teske, I would think that means Livers is the 4. It’s just kinda hard to tell when we know nothing about what they’ll be running.

As I think about it more, I wonder if the “drop weight” comments have more to do with not wanting him to be a small ball center at all?

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Intrigued by what he’s saying about pushing Jon to play quarterback on D and be more vocal. A more assertive Teske should pay dividends up and down the court.

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It’s unclear at this point what Juwan wants to do with the 4, definitely. It doesn’t seem like the 4 is going to be a wing in the way that Beilein envisioned the position, but Juwan still says he wants to play positionless and doesn’t seem to be minded to go back to a two-bigs system. This is the main point of interest for me personally in terms of the offense.

Of course positionless basketball can mean so many things that saying you’re going to be positionless is not exactly taking a position on what it’s gonna be.