Obviously I don’t post often. DDJ was listed as a point guard during his recruitment but after watching him during his time at UM, he certainly seems much more suited to be a shooting guard. Same with Eli.
Has anyone seen enough of Zeb and/or Christopher to think they can play big minutes at the PG spot? Seems like a potential sore spot next year.
I am curious what others think too.
Hes not a pg, I’ll pretty shocked if he plays it over brooks. Brooks is also not a pg but is still a a way better passer and moves the ball way better than DeJulius.
My concern with Brooks is ball pressure. He doesn’t handle the ball all that well, particularly in tight spots. I trust Brooks as a facilitator more than DDJ, but I trust DDJ more as a ball handler. Not an ideal spot to be in without someone who is capable of both. If Christopher shocks the world and comes to Michigan, I’d think they run the offense through him and Todd and it’s really only semantics who brings the ball up the court.
I think DDJ/Brooks/Zeb has a high floor as a group for next season. They won’t combine to be a positional hole that would cause serious problem’s to the team’s tournament chances or anything. But I am surprised Juwan has not prioritized PG the way he has the forward spot in the 2020 class. Landing a ball dominant guard like Christopher would make me feel a lot better about the PG spot because DDJ and Brooks are both extremely good options as an off ball shot maker.
Agreed, maybe the combo we have one real one? Little Eli, little ddj, with zeb sprinkled in?
I have no doubts that I’ll get negged for this, but I think the roadmap to DDJ becoming a successful PG is to look back at Burke. Both, IMO, have similar games in that they are score-first PGs. In no way am I saying that I believe DDJ can replicate the success that Burke ultimately had, but I do think their games are similar. If I had to guess today, DDJ would be starting at PG come next season.
I don’t think there’s any way that Brooks ends up being your primary PG. His handles aren’t great, and he seems to be better in the role of off-guard where he can come off screens or camp outside the 3 for open kick-out looks.
There’s nothing smooth or finesse in DDJ’s game. He is right-hand dominant without the quick first step most pgs need to be successful. I fear he will always be an under-sized 2.
I always figured that the model for DDJ was senior season DWalt. Bring the ball up the court, initiate the offense (ie. get the ball to your ball screen creators), and be ready to bomb away or attack closeouts when the ball gets kicked out. I do not think he’ll play a ball-dominant style like X.
You mean freshman season DWalt? 2H of the season senior DWalt was not just bringing the ball up and attacking closeouts
Upon re-watching the game I realized our guards actually played horrible games. X and DDJ were way too committed to driving the ball. They need to have more patience dipping into and out of the paint. MSU had guys out of position defensively a lot but our guards had blinders on as they ran into a crowd in the paint.
Our perimeter players were aweful (!) again at sliding into better angles for kickout 3’s. There is a correlation between those two failures.
I actually disagree with this. DDJ can create shots for himself, but hasn’t shown any ability to do it for others consistently. Brooks’ successes this year have been almost entirely from spot up looks Simpson provides (and those one dribble pull ups off of that), plus his efficiency beyond tanks in better games. Zeb is a freshman so who knows. I think there’s a ‘bigger than one would hope’ chance that PG play is a total mess if the recruiting class ends up being finished as it is. I’m putting a lot of eggs in the “DDJ learns to create for others” basket just because of Brooks’ limitations inside of 15 feet and his ball handling. I’m not sure the pick and roll looks great when they don’t have to respect the ball handler at all at the rim.
DDJ has not shown much vision IMO. My guess is he will not be ready to takeover as a starting PG.
I am super high on Zeb but it is hard to just step in… Eli or Zeb would be my guess.
It is tough to say right now because I think who starts at PG probably depends on how the rest of the roster is designed. I’d be pretty surprised if there aren’t more roster changes over the next couple of months.
How Michigan plays (and what Michigan needs out of a PG) depends on what the roster looks like.
not sure ive given up on DDJ as a PG… he needs to get a mid range game and pass better, but similar to JP last year when teske and Z are on the floor, you dont have a ton of options to pass out to
his handle not as good as X, but if you have him, christopher/brooks, wagner, livers and todd as your starting five, im sure DDJ would quickly become a better distributor then we’ve seen
i do like him and brooks to be neck and neck for point guard with DDJ winning out
I’ve basically forgotten what a Michigan team without a glaring reliance on X to handle/distribute/run the team looks like. If I step back and look around the B1G, there are a ton of teams who dont have floor generals the same way Michigan and MSU have had for the last 3 years.
The last time that was the case for Michigan was probably 13-14, where Stauskas was the primary initiator. Although, assists/game were actually very evenly split: Nik 3.3, Caris 2.9, Walton 2.9 (Spike even averaged 2.0!!). So that’s probably the recipe next year, rather than hoping DDJ/Brooks/Freshman becomes the next X - just try to piece together enough vision and ball movement as a team.
I like the Walton comment. And I absolutely love the idea of DDJ passing off to Christopher and going to spot up. Christopher would be just a massive, massive get.
Agree with the concerns about Brooks’ handle, and just in general his ability to play against top competition. Seems easily flustered.
I think Dave can improve enough over this year and the off season to man the point next year just fine. He won’t be Z or Cash but he’ll do just fine.
X had a masterful first half. If people had hit the shots he set up for them he’d have had an abundance of assists. That guy was working HARD. X’s play was not the problem in the first half. The problem was that Isaiah wasn’t there, Wagner is still struggling, and Brooks could not deliver.
Watching the second half tonight. 
Hopefully Howard’s time at Miami, where they constructed offenses without ball dominant guards through DHOs and other things (there’s good Zach Lowe columns if you want better explanations) will come in handy.
I guess if Christopher comes he’ll be the main perimeter ballhandler with DDJ or Brooks alongside him and the other as a 6th man, with Wagner and Livers/Todd also able to handle it a bit.