Basketball: Takeaways from practice video of Spain prep

Submitted by ypsituckyboy on

For those who are UMHoops subscribers, Dylan just posted nearly 30 mins of practice footage. Pretty fun to watch if you're in hoops withdrawal like me.

My takeaways:

-Brazdeikis looks like the real deal. He's strong and can attack close-outs via the drive which is an element this team really needs. He's pretty vocal, too, and I think other fans will hate him (which I love). I think his ability to grasp the defense and his ability to keep the ball moving on offense will be the two main things that could be a drag on his playing time.

-Simpson is still lights out on defense, and his release looks a lot better. We'll see if that translates to game action, but he appears to have rid himself of that shot-put look on his jump shot. My guess is that it's going to take some time for his new form to take hold, so you may see some bumpy shooting numbers from him early in the season. Also, many practice observers noted that he's the leader of this team. Tum Tum Nairn type leadership, combined with actually being good at basketball.

-Nunez is no joke. I could see him playing the second most minutes out of the freshman due to the need for a backup 2 and to have a pure shooter on the floor for spacing. Silky smooth release. If he can learn to find open space without the ball like Duncan could, he's gonna be the "know where he's at at all times" kinda guy. Similar to Brazdeikis, though, caveats on D are going to apply.

-This team is big. Tons of height. And the defense will only get better. We very well may have three guys on the 1st Team All B1G defensive team in Simpson (lock), Matthews (almost a lock), and Teske (we'll see).

-Livers is really going to have to be more assertive if he wants to stave off the freshman. Tons of talent behind him that's going to be pushing him. Will be an interesting storyline to watch throughout the season.

-I think you're gonna see Brandon Johns poach Davis' minutes at the 5 in pretty short order. Just too talented to keep on the bench, and he brings the stretch 5 element that we had in Mo.

Night_King

August 10th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^

Good stuff, thanks for posting.

You really think Johns could play some 5? That would be a tiny, tiny lineup. But maybe against some teams it would be a good look. That would be a scary lineup in transition, he can run like a 3.

ypsituckyboy

August 10th, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^

Definitely. When you watch the video, Johns is obviously bigger than Livers, so that makes me think he's got at least an inch, probably two, on Livers. He's not skinny, either. I think he's a legit 6'8". The real question will be if he's strong enough yet to hold his own against a guy like Nick Ward.

Honestly, I don't think it's that small of a lineup with Johns out there.

AC1997

August 10th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^

I think Johns could play the 5 for a few minutes in the right situations and be valuable, not a liability.  Jordan Morgan is about the same size.  DJ Wilson was touted for his occasional minutes at the 5 and he was skinny.  Even Nick Ward is only like 6'9".  

But that's not the point - against the Haas, Ward, Happ types of centers you're strategic with the match-ups - you either play Davis for post-defense or you play Johns to draw them away from the hoop since he can shoot from outside.

The thing I suspect will surprise most people about Johns is that he's probably a better 3pt shooter coming in than Livers or Iggy.  

Matt EM

August 10th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^

Livers is realistically 6'6ish rather than 6'7 or 6'8. Johns is a legit 6'7 and pushing 6'8, both are fairly well put-together from a muscle mass standpoint. We have yet to see Johns switch on the perimeter or defend the post at the B10 level so the jury is still out in that regard. Livers can certainly switch on the perimeter, though he's a bit undersized to wall-up in the post.

Mr Miggle

August 10th, 2018 at 1:07 PM ^

Disagree about that being a tiny lineup. There's decent size at 2-4 and Simpson isn't getting exploited at the 1 because of his size. Johns isn't that much smaller than Jordan Morgan.

Beilein's had smaller starting lineups, let alone small ball packages. Mostly we saw opponents going small to counter them. How many teams have centers that can defend both Teske and a player like Johns? 

Most teams are going to hurt their own offense by trying to exploit Johns down low. They just aren't built to do it. Those that are, you don't have to play small ball against. You can also go small to try to take advantage of a backup center.

I have to echo the others, Ypsi. Great job on the OP.

ypsituckyboy

August 10th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^

Hard to say when his main issue is his jump shot. I will say this though - if he and Brazeikis can be more consistent with their outside jumpers, look out. I think people are assuming that Iggy is gonna be a knock-down outside shooter from Day 1, but from what I've seen I think his % may be lower than people are expecting. Totally amateur-hour scouting on my part, but to my eyes he doesn't quite have enough loft on his jumper (similar to Matthews). He's gotta get a bit more air under the ball.

Matt EM

August 10th, 2018 at 11:19 AM ^

THIS. I don't think people realize Iggy isn't likely to be a knockdown shooter, although he does take a fair volume of 3s. He excels at penetration of the dribble and creating shots for others utilizing strength and above average ballhandling/vision for a player of his size.

The thing that likely prevents him from being a #1 option on offense is lack of first-step acceleration. Just don't think he has the ability to blow by defenders on a consistent basis just yet. That said, he's the perfect player for UM in that he's very likely to be a day 1 producer that doesn't draw heavy consideration from the NBA due to athletic limitations and so he may be around 3 years.

maizenblue92

August 10th, 2018 at 10:32 AM ^

First: OPs, this is how its done. Informative title, nice summary, and a working link. Symbolic +1 to you sir. 

Second: Good to hear the freshman look good. Someone is going to need to step in and be a scorer because outside of Matthews and Poole (we assume) there isnt much offense returning. 

Mike Damone

August 10th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^

If Iggy starts lighting it up, can we bust out this again?  Loved it during the Stauskas years...

can flag, maize blue.jpg

And kudos to the OP - terrific post, made truly excellent by the contrast against the recent asinine double posts and the endless useless stories of the Buckeye lowlifes Zach/Urban/Shelley...

Kilgore Trout

August 10th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^

Any sighting / thoughts on Brooks? I happened to walk past him a week or two ago on campus and he struck me as bigger than I imagined. Could he play some 2 (old suggestion from Craig Ross)?

stephenrjking

August 10th, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^

I just came across this, and holy cow. That sound you hear is the entire B1G uncomfortably tugging on their collars all at once.

If Teske can do that 2-3 times a game... look out. 

BTW that single gif is more and better intelligence we have on the basketball team than anything we've gotten on the football team so far. FWIW.

docblueburg

August 10th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^

"We very well may have three guys on the 1st Team All B1G defensive team in Simpson (lock), Matthews (almost a lock), and Teske (we'll see)"

Never thought I'd read this about a Beilein team.  

Great post OP.

Bambi

August 10th, 2018 at 11:17 AM ^

So I've only watched the scrimmage so far but my takeaways:

-Agree on Iggy. He looked great in the scrimmage. Assertive, finished well, looking for his shot, and didn't look overwhelmed or like the game was moving too fast. He looks like he can be an impact freshman day one and a go to scored on this team with Poole. Didn't see much of his shot though minus a mid range and that's an area he'll need to improve on based on high school numbers.

-Relatedly Poole looked like we hoped. Nothing else really to say. Very nice.

-Matthews didn't look any better to me. Obviously small sample sizes, this is one scrimmage and really early on, but his shot wasn't going down and he was sloppy with the ball at times. 

-Defense I'm not worried about, we should be elite there. Offense will still but a struggle at times though. The blue team (which had Poole and Matthews) stagnated a lot and just turned into the Poole and/or Matthews show where ball movement and player movement stopped and Matthews/Poole tried to iso. I have a feeling we'll fall into this habit a lot, especially early in the year, and the fans will be frustrated by it. Poole was making plays in iso but it wasn't pretty when Matthews did. Once again, this obviously all small sample sizes and early in the summer. From today to the first game to the end of the season this team will be vastly better, but in this video Matthews looked like a 3rd option at best.

-Agreed on Nunez. He can shoot and we'll probably need it a lot this year. He'll play a good amount in a very limited role.

-Simpson looked like what we know he is. Great D and some great/crazy finishes at the rim. Didn't see anything from the shot except 1 FT which looked better and went in, but still not that good.

-Disagree on the big men take. We generally know what Teske is, although he hit a 3 in the scrimmage which is nice to see (and Davis attempted one). But Johns showed nothing to me in the scrimmage. He looked like how most freshman in these videos look, lost and a step behind (which is a credit to Iggy for looking like he belonged). Once again, this is early and Johns will get better and still be really good. But for now I don't see him playing much. Livers played good D, hit a 3 and had a nice fast break/back door alley-oop. And I really liked Davis here. A really good back door pass to Poole, a nice hook shot over Teske and attempted a 3. He looked good here.

I'll probably post more #hottakes after I watch the practice video.

Bambi

August 10th, 2018 at 12:00 PM ^

I just finished with the other practice video. Takeaways:

-Holy shit I love Z. He all over the place in practice, diving on the floor for balls, celebrating every defensive stop, jawing at everyone. The D is still elite and he's clearly a team leader and tone setter for practice. They showed a lot of him shooting and it looked better than I thought initially, the form is decent and he should be better than last year. But a jump shot from him is still going to be a shot opposing D's would love to see because it's still going to be an inefficient shot.

-Once again, Johns was pretty invisible. I think the most notable thing he did was get yelled at for cutting incorrectly and causing a turnover in a 2 on 2. I don't wanna sound mean. Obviously it's early, he's a freshman, he's insanely talented and there's so much time to grow but he just looks lost right now. If the season were to start tomorrow, I think he'd get the Poole treatment aka play with the walk-ons during the exhibition game.

-I still liked Livers in the videos. He still isn't a guy who's going to create his own shot, he got stripped a few times trying to so, but his shot looked really good and he hit a bunch of 3's. At worst he seems to be a good 3 and D guy who can rebound and backcut well also, which is a good guy to have as a 3rd or 4th option. I can definitely see him being passed up eventually, maybe by Johns if he steps up but more realistically Iggy, but in these videos he looks like the best option at the 4, and he's not a bad one to have.

-I still liked Davis too. He was more refined offensively and in he was automatic with mid-range shots in the open shot. He looks like he can fill Teske's role last year pretty well.

-The freshmen: Castleton didn't play with his broken hand. Iggy looked the best and like a day 1 player. Nunez will play as a shooter. I think DeJulius and Johns will work their ways in but play less early on. I've detailed Johns. DeJulius looked like a basketball player in the videos. The ball handling, the shooting motion, just everything looked natural and crisp. The results didn't seem to be there in the video though. Not sure if it's just a bad day or he's a step slow and needs time to acclimate, but I think by mid-season he's a regular rotation player. He looks good.

-They showed a lot of open shooting. Poole looked automatic. Matthews looked better, the form is good and he was making a bunch in a row at one point. He's not going to be a knock down guy but should be better than last year. Everyone else (minus Nunez who's a shooter and Livers who looked good) seemed pretty average, no one standing out as a breakout shooter.

-A real #hottake: CJ Baird hit another contested 3 in the video. Watchout for CJ Baird the sharpshooter off the bench this year.

Berger04

August 10th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^

 I think we will be surprisingly better on offense than predicted. (Poole will have a break out year) Defensively no worries.  How does Simpson look at the line?

 

I just hope we do well. Don't know how much abuse Beileins poor heart can take.

yossarians tree

August 10th, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^

Sam Webb had Simpson interview this morning and it sounds like he has become THE leader of this team. Sam said he talks trash/motivates guys from the minute he walks into the gym, something he probably gets from his father who was his high school coach. X said he'll go out at the start of practice and just go up and bump someone to get them going, usually Matthews who he said is more laid-back. He also said he is constantly in Teske's ear because the big guy tends to be more reserved. I don't know if he is NBA material because of that shot, but this is a great 4-year program guy and on-court leader who is perfect for Beilein's system and a guy we will miss tremendously when he's gone.

Eastside Maize

August 10th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^

Thanks for the post! That is some good news about Nunez. Hopefully he can be a gunner off the bench like Irvin was his frosh season. I really think Poole is gonna be slashing a lot more this year.

poppinfresh

August 10th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^

Matthews still struggling shooting wise and taking some bad threes in this session 

Part of that though, as expected, is this team is gonna need assertive scorers. From the 11 mins I watched it was Poole, Iggy and Nunez/Matthews in that order looking for their offense. This Europe trip will hopefully work some of the pass around the perimeter disease we see from time to time to start the season. 

Still hard to say how Teske and more specficially Davis fit in this year. Davis may just be a 5-10 minute a game body that fouls and matchs up on bigger teams.  Ultimately I think the small ball line up will be our most effective one, certainly offensively.

garde

August 10th, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^

Not saying he will be a better player, but his stroke is textbook and silky smooth. Its gorgeous to watch and looks effortless. Stauskas was a very good shooter, but his form was a bit unorthodox. Duncan had better form than Nick, but often suffered through dry spells. Also, not saying its a runaway, but from the eye test, Nunez has a beautiful stroke. We will see what happens in game time and shooting in arenas, as opposed to gyms, but the first tape I saw of him after he signed, I was VERY impressed.

EDIT: Nunez's form is very compact. It reminds me a lot of Clay Thompson's.

outsidethebox

August 10th, 2018 at 6:15 PM ^

The sample size here is MUCH too small to critique individuals heavily-will agree that Munoz is a joy to watch shoot the ball and he looked very comfortable on the floor. The overall picture was very impressive. I was particularly pleased with the general physical talent and basketball IQ. It was a much stronger display than I was expecting. I've been very cool on my expectations of this team...I don't want to elevate them too much...but I was very pleased with what I saw.

Owosso_wolverine

August 12th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^

Iggy was measured a legit 6-7 and johns is an easy 2 inches taller . They claimed in aAU he is a legit 6-9 . Iggy has put some pretty damn good 3 pt numbers up so I think he will be a solid 40 % from 3