Even before a broken wrist delayed Franz Wagner's debut, Michigan's season hinged on the improvement of this year's sophomore class, a group that—minus current New York Knick Iggy Brazdeikis—did not see significant minutes last season.

Adrien Nunez, Brandon Johns, and Colin Castleton have all been put into bigger roles, and they're each in the process of settling in. The furthest along in that regard, though, has been guard David DeJulius, who's provided strong minutes on both ends of the floor despite playing much of his time as a 6'0" small forward. After a scoreless opener against Appalachian State, DDJ has poured in 19 points over the last two games, and he's doing a lot more than just scoring.

But first, the scoring. Michigan is searching for secondary options; DDJ looks quite viable. His best asset so far, in my opinion, has been his ability to attack closeouts. He's displayed enough confidence and ability in his three-point shot that opposing defenders have to respect it. That opens up lanes that DDJ has attacked willingly and ably:

This is especially important for generating late-clock offense, as DDJ does above; when M's initial actions peter out without a scoring threat, DDJ is able to make something happen and finish with a nice floater.

DeJulius has been an effective spot-up player in large part because of these types of plays. Per Synergy, he's scored 11 points on nine spot-up possessions, going 2/4 on spot-up threes, 1/2 on driving pull-up jumpers (when he bailed out a botched double stagger), and 1/1 on runners (the above). He's decisive and confident; that may result in the occasional forced shot, but it's also going to open up some easy ones.

[Hit THE JUMP for more scoring, some should-be assists, and impressive defense.]

While DeJulius only has three assists on the season, he could easily have more. His aggressiveness attacking closeouts has also opened up some great looks for teammates. This is a great drive and dish that gets Jon Teske to the line:

DDJ has also had some bad luck with good shooters missing the looks he creates. He's at a center-like 7.6 assist rate right now; that's going to go up, I'd anticipate into the low-to-mid teens.

He's also flashed promise as a pick-and-roll ballhandler. Here he takes a double drag screen that doesn't free up much, uses a crossover to get his man off balance, and sets him up with a couple hard dribbles before turning for a very open fadeaway:

He's only going to handle so many of these possessions on a team with Zavier Simpson, whose defender initially sinks way off and could jump up for a double on DDJ but instead decides to get back out to Simpson. He looks like he can take the lead when Simpson needs a breather, however, and he's looking much more comfortable in an off-ball role than in the first couple games.

On the other end, DeJulius has been a pleasant surprise as an on-ball defender, especially considering he's spent a lot of his time as a "small forward" in three-guard lineups. He's taken well to the new pick-and-roll scheme. In drop coverage, the defender on the ballhandler is supposed to force his man over the screen and apply backside pressure, and DDJ has done that very well:

He forced similarly difficult shots against Creighton. This play displays that and DDJ's Walton-esque defensive rebounding:

According to Synergy, pick-and-roll ballhandlers are shooting 4/16 this season against DDJ. Taking all possession types into account, opponents have attempted 18 jumpers (of which they've made only five) and just seven shots at the rim going up against DDJ's defense.

Derrick Walton approves. [Campredon]

As mentioned above, DeJulius has been rebounding like his Detroit point guard predecessor, Derrick Walton. DeJulius has ripped down seven defensive boards in each of the last two games; his 21.6 DR% is second on the team to Teske (22.3%).

He's got a little work to do staying engaged in off-ball situations—he's given up a couple open looks on three-pointers by sinking off too far—but he's looking to be ahead of schedule as a defender. Practicing with/against Simpson and Eli Brooks will do that.

DeJulius is playing starter-level minutes right now. That may not change too much even when Wagner is inserted into the lineup. DDJ has shown that he's going to be a valuable scorer and creator off the bench, and his defense looks like it'll be up to the standard required to see major minutes against good teams.