Isaiah Livers Draft Hype
ESPN has an article with two of their biggest NBA draft guys, Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz. They answer questions about the upcoming draft. Schmtiz was asked:
Which likely second-round prospect are you highest on entering the draft?
"I'll go with a player who doesn't have quite as much buzz: Isaiah Livers out of Michigan. Livers, who underwent foot surgery in early April, could have easily garnered first-round interest if he didn't miss Michigan's final five games and had been able to participate in the 5-on-5 portion of the combine.
Livers is 6-foot-7 and 232 pounds with a 6-foot-9 wingspan. He enjoys a career 41% 3-point clip and has a pure shooting stroke, strong feel and competitiveness defensively. And he was a key cog for one of the best programs in college basketball. Players like that have a market in today's NBA. Watching forwards ranging from Solomon Hill to Georges Niang playing legitimate minutes in playoff rotations bodes well for Livers. While not quite as long or bouncy, Chuma Okeke is a good template for the 22-year-old to follow. Simply put, so long as the injury checks out, it's easy to see Livers carving out a rotation on a competitive NBA team for years to come."
I've thought Livers' game will translate really well to the NBA for a while. He's an ideal 3 and D guy. I think he can defend NBA 4s but may struggle a big on more athletic 3s and switching on to guards. Personally, I think he can drop ~10 pounds and play a little lighter. May help his quickness and potentially some of his injury concerns. I think his NBA upside is Tobias Harris. Tobias is the third best player on the 76ers. He's not quite an All Star but a notch below. Really good shooter and slasher. Doesn't do a ton of shot creation on his own.
Here is to a Robert Horry type career. I forgot how tall Horry was and also he is 50? Wasnt it just yesterday I was yelling at Sheed, coming out of the timeout, not to double off of him. Damn you Sheed.
That game still haunts me.
What game? That never happened…
I agree in that Harris would be the absolute ceiling here, but I don't necessarily think Livers will get close to that. Tobias has a usage rate hovering around 25 with an assist rate that exceeds 15 over the last 2 years. Harris is much more on-ball than what Livers will probably ever be.
My "reasonable outcome" is a Josh Hart type role...........where he's not really a 3&D player in a traditional sense (essentially can't defend perimeter players), but check up a position because of his mass/strength. Hart has carved out quite a role doing just that and I think Isaiah can make a lot of money doing the same.
Came here to say this. Harris has shown playmaking abilities in short spurts that we’ve never seen from Livers. Livers is pure 3&D. Not going to guard the opponent’s best playmaker but he will do the dirty work and put forth the effort mentally and physically to help the team out on defense. Offensively, he’ll hit the three and attack the closeout. Anything more than that would be things we’ve never seen him do consistently in college.
Harris has more quickness and explosiveness. Livers might be a bit more rugged, but i don’t see him having Harris’ numbers. He’s also somewhat injury-prone. Seems like a solid 2nd rounder.
I see his ceiling as Jae Crowder. Big bodied forward who isn't going to create his own offense, but can guard wings and PFs. Very good shooter.
Yes, good point on Harris being more of a longshot comp. Realistically, a solid rotation guy (7th - 9th man) who brings shooting and competitiveness defensively is a reasonable outcome.
Jared Dudley is another player he reminds me of
Another Michigan player who added immensely to our enjoyment of games.
He's also a player we wish had been able to enjoy all that their talent & hard work promised, had they not been hindered by injury, coaching, timing, fit, and other vagaries of sports.
coaching? fit?
Weird.
Isaiah was coached by one of the best of all time for his first two years and by someone who could be on that path for his final two years.
I'm hoping that he finds the right 3'n'D spot that gives him time to develop his stroke, and add that little thing that makes it unstoppable. I'm thinking Duncan Robinson here. I'll never underestimate Liver's heart and willingness to work.
Your last sentence is what some here fail to really take into account. EVERY single Michigan game i have been to, up to 2 hours before tip off there is one .. ONE player on the court shooting pre game. Livers. Thats it. No one will out work him. Not even Allen Iverson.
If Livers had Johns natural athletic ability...
I’m not sure being out there early is a sign that he is the hardest worker ever. Not saying he doesn’t work hard but his effort didn’t come in first place on his own team. That reward goes to Brown. No one worked harder than Brown during the 40 mins of game time.
Livers also seems to have plenty of natural ability. Great shot, plenty athletic, good ball handler.
I don't think he'll be eye-popping or put up numbers game after game (he'll probably go off at some point), but at the end of a season, the stats will probably show his team performing noticeably better with him on the floor.
Would love for the Pistons to be able to get him with their 2nd rd pick at 37. Weaver has turned over the roster so much that I don’t know how much PT Livers would get in Detroit. But I think he could rehab that foot and get valuable experience in the G league without any pressure.
I certainly want all former M players to do well in the NBA, but it's hard for me to come up with someone else who I want to succeed more than Zay.
I came to this topic to say pretty much exactly this. I enjoyed Livers career at M so much. Rooting very hard for him to have a long NBA career.
I appreciate this. But I also--curiously--feel like that guy is so good-spirited, such a pleasure just to watch and have on Michigan's teams these few years, that he's already succeeded as far as I'm concerned. And he'll keep succeeding whether he's in the NBA or out of it.
Sigh. Coulda been a different final couple games.
I hope he's 100% and makes billions.
When you think about it, Livers had one of the most tragic careers. Started great with the Final Four run in 2018, and then the Sweet 16 appearance in 2019. Then, Coach Beilein leaves but is replaced with Juwan, and the team is primed for another couple of tournament runs in 2020 when everything gets cancelled. Livers comes back for one more season, the team is great most of the year and earns a Big Ten championship and 1 seed, only for Livers to get hurt and miss another tournament. Not only does he deserve a solid NBA career, but one on a successful team that makes annual deep playoff runs.
Totally agree. And I like his chances to being a solid #6-9 guy for many years. Probably not ever a starter, but who knows.
Maybe he should stop dunking. The landings seem to be when he gets hurt. Nothing wrong with using the backboard for a little lay-in.
Oh man, I almost forgot he was out with that foot injury. That UCLA game still stings though. But, the end of the season definitely would've been different with Livers out there. Hope he does great in the pros - go get em!!
Going to go with a couple of older players players, First is Rodney McCray, Livers can be that primary ball handler and get the offense moving as well as play off the ball and should be able to handle guarding some of the bigger 2 guards some time all the way down to some of the small ball centers (Draymond for example. The other is Adrian Dantley. Solid skill set, never outstanding at one aspect but top 3 on the team in everything. The thing that would make Dantley stand out was him backing in smaller guards when they would switch on him with the hope of being quicker than him and would simply put them on his hip and end up with a little 5-8 ft bank shot at box.
"... never outstanding at one aspect ..."
As an older person on this blog (relatively speaking, at least), this comment blew my mind a little bit.
Adrian Dantley, who was generously listed at 6'5", was one of the all-time great post-up scorers. If you adjust for him being vertically challenged he might be the best ever.
You don't lead the NBA in scoring by being "never outstanding at one aspect." If you're the leading scorer you're outstanding at ... scoring.
Livers will play professionally based on his outside shooting, strength, and intelligence. Based on his performance this year, "iso" scoring won't be realistic for him.
Look at the others who were at the top of the NBA in scoring when Dantley played, most of them had some outstanding trait or skill. Dantley was as you said undersized, not fast did not jump out of the gym, you name it. He was a ballplayer who was smart, hard-working, and used every single bit of both his mental skill as well as his ample backside to become one of the most dangerously consistent scorers in the NBA at the time. He was one of those guys who you could count on 18-25 points a game a high shooting percentage, and solid consistent defense that allowed the rest of the team to focus on the other players on the floor.
If Dantley posted you up you had better hope for help or he would simply eat you up and score.
He was not fancy but scarry effective none the less
If the Heat had a draft pick, Livers is the type of player Riley really likes to draft: Strong work ethic and a skilled confident leader, but not flashy. Easy to forget that had Livers not been injured, Michigan was probably in the Final Four this past season.