If you could add one former Michigan basketball player to the current roster...
In these hard times (thank you Al Washington), I am proposing a question about our amazing basketball team. If you could take any one former Michigan basketball player and add them to the current team to make them even better, who would you choose?
Note that in this scenario the player would obviously be in their prime, so feel free to include players from the 20th century.
For me, I would pick Nik Stauskas to better our outside shooting and free throw shooting.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
Chris Webber all day long. And if you want a shooter, I'll take Glen Rice.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:39 PM ^
It's hard to say where the weakness is on a team that's undefeated. If its in the post, Chris Weber. If its outside shooting, Glen Rice, If it's controlling/managing the game, Trey Burke. To be honest if you add Trey Burke to this team they would probably go undefeated rest of the season.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:41 PM ^
But I don't think our PG play is a weakness at all. I agree with the OP that an outside sniper would be a great addition, along with a beast inside like Webber.
January 8th, 2019 at 2:07 PM ^
Obviously Webber is great but if we are going down this rabbit hole we want someone who would fit the current offense, and while he could occasionally step outside and knock down a three that wasn't his game. I'd probably go with Terry Mills as a post.
January 8th, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
Webber was at 33.8% 3PT shooter his sophomore year. It was part of his game.
Terry Mills is a bit of a study in what could have been. My memory of Mills was hoping each year he would have shed the soft weight and come back ready to compete.
January 8th, 2019 at 3:22 PM ^
Trey could hit the three ball, so you would have to respect him from the outside. Simpson can’t shoot so teams let him shoot all day from outside.
January 8th, 2019 at 8:17 PM ^
Very few if any controlled a game better than Jalen Rose. He is the primary reason for two final game runs.
Point guard play is the driver for the ncaa. And Z does a fine job
CWebb maybe for post play and rebounds. We are deeper at the wings but nobody did it better then Glen Rice
January 8th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
^ Truth
These are the only two suggestions that are correct. Nik was a very nice player. If he and Rice were on the same team, Nik would only play in mop up time at best.
And Webber was the most dominant athlete (AC, Woodson, Desmond and Wheatley included) that I've ever seen at Michigan.
January 8th, 2019 at 2:04 PM ^
Burke would also make the short list
Webber/Rice/Burke
January 8th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
Sarah Palin says go for the shooter every time
January 8th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
NOBODY!!
January 8th, 2019 at 2:14 PM ^
Well bless your heart ! :)
The (in)ability to self-assess is certainly one of the greatest human weaknesses!
January 8th, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^
I totally agree, this team is special and I wouldn't change anyone.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
Nik would eat into Poole's and Iggy's minutes. It has to be somebody at the 4 to round out the roster. Juwan or Webber would be my picks. Maybe even Rice.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
Trey Burke. I love Simpson but he is an erratic shooter. If you add Trey Burke to this team, they're unstoppable! Trey's ability to take over a game, hit 3 pointers/make you respect his shooting ability, and distribute would make this team impossible to defend.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:10 PM ^
And he still played tough D
January 8th, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
I'd take either Trey Burke or Derrick Walton. Both can match Z's defense but Burke and Walton were more versatile on offense.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:21 PM ^
You're flat wrong if you think Burke or Walton match Z's defense. Z is on a completely different level than both players and only Gary Grant from Michigan's past is probably in the conversation.
In fairness to Burke and Walton, they weren't coached by this coaching staff and probably would have been more than adequate defenders in this system. Both were hard working, tough, alpha-dog guys that were decent-to-good at defense. But they aren't Z.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
Z is special on defense, Burke was the national player of the year. I think if we subbed out Z for Burke we wouldn't see a big drop off. Walton as well subbed in wouldn't see any drop off in production IMO.
January 8th, 2019 at 3:40 PM ^
Right. But that's not what the comment said. The OP said Burke and Walton could match Z's defense, which... No. the guy you're replying to was arguing against that. Nobody said Z is a flat out better player than Burke.
January 8th, 2019 at 4:09 PM ^
Yeah but... The defensive training that Burke and Walton would have received if they were here with Yaklich would have them right there with Simpson defensively. Or if you put Simpson in the 2013 team, is he as good defensively with out coach Yaklich? I'd suggest not. So, yeah, add Webber or Rice or Walton. They'd pick up the defense techniques and thrive with them
January 8th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^
The answer to this annual question is always either Glen Rice or Chris Webber (maybe Trey Burke if PG is a huge void). For this team, I think Glen Rice would be most valuable given the team's inconsistent shooting.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
LOL. I didn't want to be the person who reminded everyone that this is an annual topic. So, thank you.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:44 PM ^
Don't lie; you absolutely did.
January 8th, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
Yeah and I think there's a better topic for conversation. This team's main weakness is depth. Which former player would you add to help that? We should limit that to players who didn't make the NBA or who came off the bench here. Not fair to bring Rice off the bench where he could probably play everywhere but PG. It would have been nice to see LaVell Blanchard on a good team.
My answer to the OP's question is Jamal Crawford, mostly because he got cheated out of his Michigan career.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^
I can't narrow it down from two: Chris Webber and Cazzie Russell.
January 8th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
Chris ran into a little eligibility problem. Cazzie Russell definitely would be the best.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^
Cazzie Russell.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
I'm all for Cassie, I want to see the guy that put Michigan basketball - or at least the building - on the map.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:10 PM ^
Trey Burke
January 8th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
Jamal Crawford, but NBA style Jamal Crawford. If we had a backup guard who could score in short spurts, it would be a great asset to this roster.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
The tricky part about this is that this team has good scorers but also great defenders. My first thought was Stauskas for the same reason you thought about him--knockout shooting. But the only place you can really put him on the floor is at the 2 or the 3, and that means you're taking minutes from Poole or Iggy or maybe Matthews, guys that you don't want to take off of the floor and (at least in Poole's case) offer something of what we want Nik for.
Glen Rice as a stretch 5 intrigues me. Chris Webber doesn't bring distance shooting but his size and offensive potential would obviously be tremendous. There was some talk about Gary Grant a few days ago, and he could continue to be defensively solid while providing needed offense. But I wonder if Trey Burke could be turned into a plus defender on this roster--he was terrific at everything else, so why not?
I guess my ideal player would be someone who can approach Z's mastery on defense while providing a solid upgrade in offense, which in this era means he has to be able to hit 3s. I don't recall Grant being a deadly distance shooter, so I suppose I'm going to lean toward Trey Burke.
I don't think Glen Rice really fits defensively. Chris Webber might, though, which could make him my second choice.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
Chris Webber was a 30% shooter from 3 in his NBA career. I think that's plenty for a stretch-5, especially when you consider he was a good enough ball handler to create his own shot.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
Are we discussing NBA prime or Michigan prime? That's one of the challenges with these hypotheticals. At Michigan Webber was not a 3-point shooter. NBA-prime Webber, of course, was one of the dominant players in the game, so if that is an option he's a no-brainer.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Webber would step out there and hit the occasional 3. I would love to see what college Webber could do with Beilein working on his shot.
January 8th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
In college, Webber's 3 point shot was a line-drive ugly thing that you did NOT want him shooting.
January 8th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
Agreed.
For pure talent you have to go Webber.
For need you have to go C or PG who can also play off the ball until late when you pull Simpson due to free throws and put this person at PG. In this case, Webber/McGary, or Burke/Rose. I personally like Rose for NEED because I can play him with Simpson, still switch all screens, etc. - that said Rose and Poole would probably fist fight for the ball, so maybe you do go big.
For chemistry...McGary all day...he would give you energy and McGary and Iggy would be the most hated duo of all time. Teske would be the perfect big man compliment to McGary and if you wanted to go GIANT for a few possessions, you could play them together.
January 8th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
Webber was a 33.8% 3PT shooter (27/80) his sophomore year. Guys had to step out on him and he was WAY too quick for any 4 or 5 that did that.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/chris-webber-1.html
January 8th, 2019 at 3:01 PM ^
This is an absolute surprise to me.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:43 PM ^
Gary Grant was a 44%+ shooter from three. He only took 2-3 per game, but he would hit the open shot.
I still say, without hesitation, the answer each and every time is Glen Rice. He shot 51% from three his senior year on almost 200 shots!!! He could also rebound. I believe he averaged about 6.5 per game and that was with Terry Mills, Loy Vaught and Mark Hughes on the team.
Could you imagine Glen Rice playing the four for Beilein similar to how he used Glenn Robinson Jr?
January 8th, 2019 at 1:51 PM ^
If Grant shot that well from distance, he's an easy choice. The defense at the 1 would continue to be very good and the offensive upgrade would be huge.
Rice's shooting, obviously, would work well on any Beilein offense. It would be a huge asset to this offense. But I'm not sure that it would be worth the tradeoff you'd lose in defense for this particular team, compared to some of the other options.
But it's not like this is a real choice or anything. We're just having fun, pretending that football isn't actually a sport.
January 8th, 2019 at 3:25 PM ^
Don't forget that while Rice did not have Allen Iverson feet, he had huge hops. He was an excellent rebounder. And just as good at highlight dunks as shooting 3s. Think how effective Duncan Robinson was on D and rebounding with a fraction of Rice's athleticism. Rice tutored by Beilein and Yaklich is scary.
January 8th, 2019 at 11:34 PM ^
Glen Rice in Beileins offense would be just awesome.
January 8th, 2019 at 2:08 PM ^
Really can't go wrong with Burke or Webber.
I always thought Burke was a solid defender and could really take it up a notch when he needed to (Steal against msu comes to mind). The potential for him to become a plus defender under the current coaching, paired with his ability to take a game over makes him a no brainer.
I like to think McGary would have fit in really well with this years team.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
Chris Webber! No one manages the game better!
January 8th, 2019 at 8:05 PM ^
Too soon.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
Hard to pick anyone other than McGary. So much charisma and unfulfilled potential.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:47 PM ^
I loved McGary at Michigan and thought he was going to be a star. But people always forget to take into consideration the crazy factor
January 8th, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
Freshman McGary would probably be the most fun addition to this team without changing its current makeup too much. He'd just play 10-15 minutes a game and fit right in with how this team is structured.
Any superstar level player is going to change the team into something almost completely different.
January 8th, 2019 at 1:16 PM ^
Roy Tarpley- with our outside shooting and Brazdelkis at center he would be a terror