Basketball

NIL being taken seriously. I've heard this was supposed to happen a year ago, but better late than never:

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- NFL Players Association (NFLPA) executive Terése Whitehead, an expert in brand building and athlete marketing, has been appointed as University of Michigan Athletics' first in-house NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) Executive GM in collaboration with Altius Sports Partners (ASP) on Wednesday (May 8). Returning to her alma mater, Whitehead brings extensive experience as Vice President of Consumer Products & Strategy at NFL Players Inc., the for-profit business arm of the NFLPA. Whitehead will spearhead Michigan's NIL program in her new role, leading the department's strategy to provide athletes with comprehensive support and resources to capitalize on their NIL opportunities.

I wonder how much the sudden movement on this after a couple of years of dithering has to do with Sherrone Moore and Dusty May replacing Jim Harbaugh and Juwan Howard. No offense to the prior coaches meant; it's just that Harbaugh and Howard were both very famous athletes who could reasonably believe their star power made NIL relatively unimportant. Moore and May are not, and neither has the kind of bulletproof track record Harbaugh had. Both will seek every advantage they can get.

[After the JUMP: Brian Kelly said what]

After a somewhat prolonged process, Michigan formally announced the addition of Vlad Goldin last week. 

In our internal slack chats I wasn't so subtle in stating that Goldin would be a bigger get in relation to Johnell Davis regardless of what any transfer ranking would have you believe. Seven-footers with true two-way impact aren't typically available for programs such as Michigan, particularly those in the portal. The necessary resources typically exceed what Michigan can reasonably offer.

It would be an understatement to say that I'm excited about Goldin.  This is a massive pick-up for the Wolverines, both literally and figuratively.

SCOUTING (Offense)

First and foremost, Vlad is an outstanding finisher at the rim. He converted 72% of his 200 attempts at the rim last season. Goldin routinely finishes over length and through contact.

I have zero doubts as to whether this facet of his game will translate, as the clips above have Vlad finishing over Charleston behemoths James Scott/Ante Brzovic and Coleman Hawkins with relative ease. The volume lends credence to this as well, as a whopping 200 out of 303 total FGAs from Goldin last season were at the rim per Torvik. He's going to own the restricted area. 

The thing that really popped on film review is Vlad's impeccable touch. He consistently converts "other twos". Functionally those come in the form of jumphooks, and he's superb using both hands.An ambidextrous 7-footer with elite touch is quite the weapon at the college level. For context, Goldin shot 58.3% on 103 "other two" attempts per Torvik. That is ridiculous efficiency on high volume for a shot type that is generally considered sub-par. Having a 7-foot Tony Parker is hard to visualize, but here we are. 

Vlad is also adept as a back-to-the-basket scorer. He has above-average pivoting/footwork, understands where his spots are and is patient in getting to them. He doesn't settle much. 

Goldin does really well for himself absorbing initial contact and maintaining balance. He usually gets the better of his defender after that initial contact and leverages his superior size and impeccable touch to convert. 

[After THE JUMP: the exact archetype Michigan needs]

Things Discussed:

• Draft Takeaways: Nice that Saban kept being like "I love this dude!" Brian: Michigan and Iowa are the best two teams at developing talent; Michigan also recruits in an area where you win a national title if you outperform like that.
• Seth: Harbaugh recruited at the same level as previous Michigan coaches but where they were getting 20% to 33% of their players to the NFL, Harbaugh is putting *60 Percent* of his players in the League:
• JJ McCarthy: Threw as many passes in the first three Qs as the other guys. Would I trade Goff for JJ, Neil? Can't break up a team on a Super Bowl run, but JJ is more valuable than Goff by far; he's gonna be under team control for a long time.
• Junior Colson: Sam shares that Minter told him to go pro after the championship because he and Harbaugh were going to the league and they're gonna come get him.
• Amorion Walker: If he'd stayed at receiver he'd be the breakout player of the year, but he burned his redshirts both years and then was at cornerback and Ole Miss—that is a hard position to play, and it's probably gonna need to be next year before he's a breakout player.
• CJ Charleston: He's here to be a veteran presence. Sinagosa brought him over from YSU. Tough sell getting receivers.
• DT? Looks like PT wasn't there for their top prospect CJ West so they're moving on to the GVSU guy (Suggs).
• Jaden Mangham? Seth: YES TAKE ALL THE FALCONS! Brian: I don't want anybody who thought it was a good idea to play for Mel Tucker. He's also against taking anyone from Belleville.
• Break: Basketball recruits.
• Post-break: NCAA has an opportunity with House negotiations to sit across the table from *somebody* and create a sustainable future. Brian: Pendulum swung too far, single transfer rule was correct. Seth: Best thing would be to create an incentive formula that gets small schools out of a huge tax bill and makes players want to stay put.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]