Devante Jones withdraws name from NBA Draft
Time to start planning some trips up to A2 for some games.
Awesome! What does our starting line up look like next year?
1st Team:
1. Jones
2. Brooks
3. Houstan
4. Johns
5. Dickinson
2nd Team:
1. Collins
2. Jackson
3. Bufkin
4. Williams
5. Diabate
Benchmob: Tschetter, Nunez, Howard, Barnes
Pretty good second group eh!
As someone noted in another thread, the level of competition in practices is going to be great.
Steel sharpens steel.
For everybody except Hunter Dickinson.
There is nobody on the team who even comes close to pushing him the way B1G centers will challenge him this year.
Austin Davis was quite possibly the best thing that ever happened to Hunter. He doesn't have an Austin Davis, or a Jon Horford type backup to push him.
Diabate is a 4 who is far more likely to come in and replace Johns than. In fact, I've heard that when Johns and Diabate play together, Johns is the nominal 5.
Hunter has GLARING holes in his game and there is no one on this team that can stop him from going left and forcing him to get better at countering with his right hand.
Everything else is fine, but I think that could be a huge hole for us.
Sure you can come up with drills to make him use his right, but when you're live...5 on 5, and you're just trying to score. Just park him on the block and let him turn over his left shoulder and use his left hand. Unstoppable. That builds an unrealistic confidence and doesn't force him to adjust.
Johns can have Austin Davis impact on Diabate though. Brown would've been perfect for Houstan. He's another one that doesn't really have a counterpart to push him, maybe Williams.
Are you saying you think Davis played better D than Diabate will? I uh...
Diabate playing backup center when Jordan Morgan started for a big ten champ team? I think we will be fine. Our biggest concern is our backup center who is a monster defensively and will probably be a 4 in the NBA? Ill take it.
I think imagination is lacking in your post.
Diabete may lack bulk (for now) but he'll be able to challenge Dickinson in ways wholly unrealistic for Davis (who, btw, was a liability on defense last year).
As for Houstan, are we sure that Barnes and Bufkin won't be able to challenge him defensively?
Diabate has more NBA athleticism than AD. it will help Hunter to play against NBA talent.
I am sure Austin made Hunter work but this will be better.
Hmmm. If we only had a 6'10" seasoned, high-level big guy that could challenge Hunter in practice and teach him a few things. Oh, it would be so nice to have that.
I assume you are implying that Hunter's development would have been lacking without Davis.
On a related note, Diabate may lack the bulk but he is a strong defender and Johns should be plenty solid also. And besides maybe Purdue, what monster big guys are we worried about exactly? Most of them are departing.
Yup, Hunter has glaring holes ? he’s a traditional dominant 7’1” center that can use both hands and can knock down free throws. Sorry he can’t shoot the 3. Are you serious dude?
No doubt looking forward to more of this kind of fun....
Just for fun can we imagine everyone coming back? It would be the reverso losing Iggy, Poole, and Coach B.
A guess to start the season (my minutes projection):
1. Jones (25)
2. Brooks (30)
3. Houstan (28)
4. Johns (22)
5. Dickinson (29)
Diabate (20), Bufkin (14) Williams (12) and Collins (10) are the primary rotation. Jackson and Barnes see about 5 each.
I see a highly experienced starting lineup with good firepower (I believe in big-minutes Johns and see him averaging 10/7 with a more clearly defined role at the 4), and a hungry, energetic bench crew.
Don’t sell Jackson or Barnes short. This team could be a legit 10 deep by the tournament.
I’m trying not to, but there is going to be some fierce competition for the abundant available minutes. When Jones or Brooks aren’t on the floor, someone has to run the offense. So someone out of Bufkin, Collins and Jackson will get a good chunk of minutes.
The other thing is that, so far, Coach Howard has leaned on experience and has been blessed with lineups that have a lot of it. I could see Jackson getting 10” and Collins 5”. That would be reversed from my projections and would be based off their (admittedly minor) experience gap, at least to start the season.
I have something similar...
C: Dickinson (28), Johns (12)
PF: Johns (10), Diabate (18), Williams (12)
F: Houstan (28), Bufkin (8), Williams (4)
G: Brooks (32), Jackson (8)
PG: Jones (28), Collins (12)
Total (in order):
- Brooks (32)
- Dickinson (28)
- Houstan (28)
- Jones (28)
- Johns (22)
- Diabate (18)
- Williams (16)
- Collins (12)
- Jackson (8)
- Bufkin (8)
...truthfully, I don't see Jackson and Bufkin getting 8 each...I see the winner of that battle getting 10-12 mpg while the other one gets 4-6. I think Jackson is going to be much improved going into the fall, with Brooks it may not translate to a ton of minutes, but I think we see someone who's absolutely a rotation player.
TIL that Jones has a Health Ledger Joker avatar, and now I'm not sure if want.
Umm, what?
One of the greatest acting jobs in modern cinema turns you off?
If you mean one of the most heavy handed, scenery chewing, look at me acting jobs, then yes. His time on screen should have been cut in half and then the movie might not have lasted an eternity. If he hadn't killed himself then he probably wouldn't have won the Oscar.
Now I see why everyone hates BluCheese. Its very bitter indeed.
This is such an objectively bad take that just screams "I'm a contrarian cinephile who has controversial and bad movie takes for attention"
I want to see the demure Joker performance he’s searching for, though. Maybe a Michael Cera? Someone has to portray this psychopathic comic book character the way the people want!
1. Jones withdraws ✔️
2. Dickinson withdraws
3. National championship
4. ?
5. Profit
With NIL, profit is now step one.
4. Subs
Doms
Pretty awesome pickup. Agree HD might withdraw as when he talks about "it is in our culture and DNA to play for a national championship" he is talking about Michigan basketball.
Finally some good news.
If you only focus on bball, it’s a pretty steady stream of good news to be honest.
I wonder who sat on his lap .
Martelli, duh.
Bang away!!
excellent news, though not unexpected as he didn't get an invite to the combine. But welcome nonetheless
Having him running point allows Eli to slide to the two guard mostly, with some positional flexibility...also a guy that can come in and teach the kids, with Eli a bit more defensively focused and Devante focused on offense.
Great news to wake up too.
What excites me is the talk of Devante's defense. If these guys were all bricks we would still give teams hell. Who would you go against on this starting line up? Yikes. Maybe a 6'6" SG that shoots like he is the king of the local Y? Never mind he already left.
I was just reading a bit on that as well; so that is a definite bonus... Mike Smith wasn't terrible on defense mind you, just sounds like Jones will be better.
Good times.
What excites me is that even though Devante didn't get invited to the combine he was more than holding his own against the best of the best in college basketball.
I'm mildly concerned he will be focused on his numbers rather than buy-in/team success. Mildly.
Juwan’s too much of a team guy to let this happen
Ya the guy who was a total team player for coastal Carolina, switched roles from distributor to scorer as needed…is going to uptransfer to big ten and act like a huge diva?? Bizzare take lol.
You're concerned because Jones wants to play in the NBA, like almost every other player on the team?
Or you're concerned because the NBA scouts told him what he needs to work on are his scoring numbers? LOL, he's proven he can score and was scoring at the G-League combine. Far more likely that he was told he needs to work on his playmaking out of the PNR, exactly what Michigan needs out of him.
You're getting negged, but I kinda agree. He's made it very clear Michigan was his second option to going pro and I'm slightly nervous he's going to use his time at Michigan to prove himself at a higher level before going pro and not buy in. However, if there's someone who can make him buy in it's Juwan
Have you seen any of Devonte's interviews? This is a bright, fully engaged team-player. This young man will bring whatever he is asked to do.
I hate to break it to you but Michigan is the second option for every pro caliber player If they were given the opportunity to be on a NBA roster….
Has Dickinson announced his decision yet??
Nope.
Dickinson is next.
Has Dickinson officially withdrawn yet?