McLimans, Beilein centers?

Submitted by IBleedMaizeNBlue on

McLimans sounds like an excellent pickup.

However, with the importance of offensive rebounding stated in this article:
http://statsheet.com/blog/the-four-factors-to-winning-at-basketball

will a skinny kid with a good perimeter shot cover our need for a physical center who can get into the key and rebound the ball? It sounds like he's more of a really big forward from the article. This kid apparently has a skinny frame, and with a new S&C coach, I'm sure we could bulk him up.

I'm relatively unacquainted with Beilein's system, so I'm not quite sure how he does on the offensive boards. Does he recruit well for big men? Does McLimans fill our need as Beilein sees fit for a center? Can somebody explain to me the role of the center in Beilein's system?

MGoBoard

WolvinLA

October 28th, 2008 at 7:01 PM ^

I may not be able to answer all of your questions completely, but this kid is certainly not a center, he's probably not even a power forward, although the 6'10" height would suggest otherwise.  He's more of a Tayshaun Prince/Kevin Durant type player.  Tall, slender small forward, who can both shoot an outside shot or take it to the hole.  Because of his height alone he will be a help on the boards, but he's not going to be a banger in the paint. 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 875

Brick

October 29th, 2008 at 12:44 AM ^

He isn't a center.  While Jordan Morgan is an inch or two shorter, he will get the minutes at Center along with Cronin.  McLimans will be a PF for Beilein.  McLimans probably will have a year to learn while Sims is a senior and may be starting his sophomore year depending on how he progresses.  Our Center will need to rebound and do some dirty work underneath but the PF position needs to be able to hit outside shots to spread the floor to create the spacing needed to run our offense.  We will be running three guard sets quite a bit and our SF position will probably just be the biggest guard on the floor most of the time.  Manny Harris is a true SG but will play alot of SF.  McLimans may project as a true SF but he will play PF.  Ideally, we will only have one banger on the floor at a time and it won't need to be McLimans.

Joined: 07/05/2008

MGoPoints: 995

MRG

October 29th, 2008 at 9:35 AM ^

...I wouldn't call Manny a true SG.  I think he has more value at SF, which is why it would be nice if Douglass or Novak can reasonably play the 2 guard until LLP is eligible.  When Manny played 2 last year, he struggled a bit.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 182