A team in Juwan's image

As good as the game was today, the best part of it is that none of this was by accident or chance. 

There were a lot of uncertainties about Juwan coming in, but there was a lot of hope as well. So far this team has shown us that every hope we had about the type of team Juwan could build might in fact come to fruition.

FAMILY. Juwan talks about this all the time, every interview. Watching how much this team enjoys playing together is so fun as a fan. That bench was bonkers tonight - and in the year of no fans, bench energy will be a big bonus. The bench wasn't just celebrating either - they were communicating to the players as if they were in the game. It was insane. Never seen it to that degree before.

SELFLESSNESS. There doesn't seem to be anyone on this team that is looking out for themselves first. Livers and Brown barely scratched the box score, but they were out there competing and playing their role tonight. Extra passes so often. Few bad shots. Lots of ball movement. Three players had 4+ assists.

BALANCED. This team is so well balanced it makes them hard to defend and hard to pick on defensively. This was one of the great strengths of Juwan's Miami Heat teams. You have to beat the team of Michigan, not just one player. When a couple players have a down night, there will certainly be multiple players who can and likely will step up.

BIG MEN WILL DESTROY YOU. Juwan is a big man. His footwork was masterful as a player. In Miami, he developed their no name big man Adebayo into an all-star. Juwan knows how to take advantage of big men and how to develop them to have the advantage. And when you have a selfless team that likes to pass, big men will eat!

FUN. This team is having a ton of fun. Brown's smile says it all. Juwan's half-court over the shoulder shots before the game. The bench. This team wants to play, and they want to play with each other.

NBA APPROACH. Juwan runs offense like an NBA squad. Taking advantage of weaknesses. Diverse. Balanced. Everyone knows their roles and exploits them. And their sets are different each game. 

RECRUITING. Yeah, the best in the country.

These are all things that we hoped Juwan would be able to do - based off of his reputation and former teams, we knew these were his experience. We know he cared about these things because this is what he's been talking about in every interview. But to see it on the court, so soon into his time here... boy this is going to be a fun ride!