Did Caris LeVert earn a Starting Role?

But what do I know?

I still think Stauskas is the better option if he's healthy. Someone posted in another thread that he still has the best +/- rate on the team. He surely hits a couple threes last night if he hadn't gotten hurt. His defense has been porous at times, but I think there's been a bit of overreaction as well. A lot of our problems come down to giving up second chances becuase we aren't physical enough when it comes to rebounding, which is a team concept (forget the ball, just find a man and box out).

Based on the rest of our starting rotation and granted he's healed up enough from that nasty cut, I'd would still have Stauskas start.

Stauskas and LeVert are very different players and while LeVert's defense is important, I'd rather give Stauskas the confidence to come out early and get hot.  No matter what LeVert's defense will be there, but we are better off if Stauskas hits a few threes before half.

I like the idea of evening out their minutes though.  LeVert was so key to our win on Sunday.

But I think you're hurting the team if you don't find 30 minutes for him.

At this point in the season, I'd probably go with:

Burke

Hardaway

Stauskas

Morgan

McGary

I know it's not gonna happen. I just like the way that five looks.

Stauskas can still start but Levert has earned himself more PT.

Levert terrifies me when he shoots.

Such a great problem to have. More guys that need to be on the floor than there are positions. 

I think the offense looks less stagnant with him out there. On the other hand, Stauskas has averaged 11 points for Michigan as a freshman, and will in future have games where he scores 25-30. Good problems to have down the road, but right now I give Caris more minutes. And I think that coming off the bench could help Stauskas rather than hurt his psyche. Couple of threes from him yesterday in the late going and that is a comfortable victory. 

with Morgan now healthy, and lots of folks having got PT over the last 10 games or so, we have some lineup flexibility as we hit the postseason.  We can go bigger with McGary and Morgan, more offensive with Stauskas, or amp up the defense with Caris.  I'm in favor of givning minutes to people who are diving on the floor for 50/50 balls, boxing out, etc.

Morgan
GRIII
LeVert
Hardaway Jr.
Burke

Then put McGary in for GRIII and Stauskas in for THJ.

Then come back with GRIII for Morgan and THJ for LeVert.

Why?

Stauskas is a role/specialty player right now. Just like the kid Sheehey at IU. Bring him off for THJ and you still have two offensive minded guards on the floor. Then when you sub Burke out for his quick breather, THJ will have already gotten his blow.

As for Morgan and McGary...we HAVE to play them more than we do. I'm begging Coach B to play them just 5-7 minutes more than we do. We need the rebounding and toughness.

For that matter, I'd play GRIII at SF for a couple minutues with "2 bigs" just so you're not killing his minutes with the "2 Bigs" lineup. 

Guys, it's LeVert!!! Caris L-e-Vert. There is no 'a' in his last name.

PLEASE LEARN IT, SAVE IT, STORE IT.

He's not going to the NBA anytime soon, we're going to have 3-4 years with this kid...let's learn how to spell his name.

Thanks,
MGMT

I really like LeVert's game.  He is a better defender than Stauskas, has a better handle, can score the ball in a variety of ways and can get out and run in transition (I don't remember Stauskas being that quick).  The defensive rotations seemed so much better yesterday and Izzo even commented about how much more aggressive LeVert was as compared to their first game.  

I guess it doesn't matter who starts as JB has shown that he will sub early but I have to wonder for a team that has struggled on defense if LeVert isn't the better option to help set a tone at the start of a game.  I'll say this, I don't know if Michigan would have won, between turnovers and defense yesterday with Stauskas getting major minutes.  Yes, he may have hit a 3P shot or two but then again, State's whole defensive plan was to take the 3P shot away so I'm not sure a even a couple of threes would have made up for the other problems.

This question reminds me of the dog in Up when he gets distracted by the Squirrel. Caris has played well exactly one game.

LeVert still comes off the bench. Stauskas earned the starting position, and it isn't going to be taken away that quickly. I have to believe that the last three games have impacted Stauskas on what he needs to do. Having said that, the starter will possibly depend on if Stauskas is healthy enough to start.

I just watched the post-game interviews with Burke and Levert on umhoops.com and that's really the first time I've heard Levert.  He's a great interview - humble and responsive, not just full of cliches.

I think as he gets more mature he's going to be a real glue guy for us.

We could start LeVert for his defense and bring Stauskas off the bench in a Vinnie Johnson instant offense role but only IF hardaway can improve his consistency on offense. Else, we become too limited to survive without Stauskas starting and playing extended minutes.

Go big or go home! Just let the big guys run a million picks and let Burke weave his way for a layup...they've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time. 

PG - Trey Burke  6-0

PF - Jordan Morgan 6-8

PF - Jon Horford 6-9

PF - Mitch McGary 6-10

PF - Blake McLimans 6-10

Top Sub:

PF - Max Biefeldt 6-8

I was wondering halfway through the game if the better defense performance was due to Stauskas being out. I don't know if Levert should start, but I think he has earned much more playing time. 

One thing I said back in the McGary/Morgan debate, is you don't know how coming off the bench after starting all year would effect a kid (especially one so young). So I'd probably stick with what Michigan has been doing but increase LeVert's minutes.

That being said, if the season started brand new today, I'd probably start LeVert. McGary is your energy guy, so you don't really need LeVert to be that guy off the bench. I don't think LeVert is as good of a defender as many on here are making him out to be, but he is probably the best perimeter defender on the team right now due to his length (I think Burke has better feet, but he can't really disrupt shots as well so players get more "open" looks, open being a relative term). I think this team needs that initial focus to really be on defense. The offense will come with this team, and Stauskas can play about even minutes (or more still, depending on game situation or who's hot), have fresh legs off the bench, and hopefully be responsible for defending some of the other teams bench guys (in his few minutes last night he got beat rather easily at least a couple times).

One thing you worry about bringing a shooter off the bench is them getting a little cold between warm ups and game time, so you must consider that, but from my experience with pure shooters this doesn't matter as much as it does with most other guys.

I think at the end of the day, the difference is pretty slim. For this season, I think you stick with Stauskas because you know both players (Stauskas and LeVert) react well to their current position. You also, obviously, have to take into account what happens in practice, which we aren't privy to.