Who can be sure of much after watching 2 games and an exhibition.The kids may need more time than they have to develop the court awareness needed and to mesh into a complete team..but my observations..
.... Williams is a nice hustle guy but probably doesn't have the game to be playing the big minutes he probably will have to. Once he gets near the Big Ten , the Bigs will be too big for him and the smalls too quick...He played quite a bit early last season also, before what we hoped was youth, held him back. This years team lost so much that we may need him to be better than I expect or we go more double Bigs and Bufkin ??? emerge ...We know Houstan can get it done at the 3.
....Johns appears to be the exact same player he was last year. He was enough on last years team but not on this one. Davis will be missed a lot...Not much difference playing Diabate on the floor with Hunter than with playing Johns , as he hits some 3s but after that ...Johns is another Tweener who needs a better floor game to be a consistent asset on the floor. He can be good enough if the young kids progress fast.
....Nunez.....all about the shot....if he doesn't hit them , Bufkin may... and Bufkin is a better athlete with potential ball on the floor skills. By the Big season this will be sorted and one of the two will have his minutes cut..
.... Bufkin...obviously he played well and it is easy to like what we saw..I would say that unlike Nunez who came here as a shooter and couldn't shoot , you have to see a nice stroke here from a kid who looks to be quick enough to learn how to defend a second guard. Defend a 3 ? We need to see more minutes from this kid , but he has the potential on a team that needs shooters to grab big minutes. If he can handle the ball under pressure this kid has huge upside and probably knocks Collins down to very few minutes. No he is not a point , but if he has enough floor game to play with Eli , that could really elevate this teams shooting regardless of the other 3 players on the floor ( think Houstan at the 3)..Big upside for himself and the team. My guess is Juwan gets him big minutes asap to see what he has in this kid.
....Collins..can't shoot, very small..we haven't seen the positives yet and he may get buried on the bench before we do..
....Jones..interesting spot here because he does some things well and that may be enough . Besides ? Do we have other options ? If this were 1970-something this kid would be a star...It isn't..He, Williams and even Hunter belong last century. Hunter may play in the NBA because he does have skills and is 7 ft. plus...
Jones can't beat his man off the dribble with quickness and doesn't appear to be a 3 ball guy or a pull up guy...this may allow his defender a lot of options. Jones powers his way inside , which is fine , but usually doesn't allow for easy passes as you are engaged physically with your defender. His handle is ok, we will see on that, but this may put extra pressure on Eli and others...darn..at almost every aspect of the game I think we miss Franz...anyway....He needs to be as good as Smith to get us to where we want to go..Eli is mellow so this guy needs to be the glue with steady play protecting the basketball.
....Houstan..So young that he might be twice the player at the end of the year than he is now. At the least.... he provides shooting, height and a good bball IQ along with zero " stage too big" play. We will see if he can handle the ball more and do some of the Franz gray area stuff. Third man on break, nice pass and tough rebounds. His shooting should keep us from a lot of in game scoring slumps we had a few years ago. There is no question he is excellent and will be a huge plus this year. We still need to see if he can get to the hole without a charge, play man defense, and pass when the defenders rush at him. He may add as much to the team as Hunter did last year..
....Diabate...raw , but doesn't appear as foul prone as I thought he could be. I don't see him being the unreal shot blocker some had mentioned, but he does have a better handle and touch inside than thought. We have played him with Hunter a fair bit..If that works, Johns and Williams may see less time as we beef up the shooting at the 3. Too early to know his impact , but much smoother than thought and he may mesh if he can do enough without needing the ball in his hands. I don't see him being as valuable as Davis as a Hunter sub inside, but he can do more things. Not a sure fire 1 year guy IMO..We will see..
....Eli and Hunter are the same money they were last year. Both could score at will on teams that needed it. Too bad Eli never became a point ,as if he had developed, he has NBA physical and shooting skills and just enough ht. He is top 5 favorite Wolverines for me.
.... Williams is a nice hustle guy but probably doesn't have the game to be playing the big minutes he probably will have to. Once he gets near the Big Ten , the Bigs will be too big for him and the smalls too quick...He played quite a bit early last season also, before what we hoped was youth, held him back. This years team lost so much that we may need him to be better than I expect or we go more double Bigs and Bufkin ??? emerge ...We know Houstan can get it done at the 3.
....Johns appears to be the exact same player he was last year. He was enough on last years team but not on this one. Davis will be missed a lot...Not much difference playing Diabate on the floor with Hunter than with playing Johns , as he hits some 3s but after that ...Johns is another Tweener who needs a better floor game to be a consistent asset on the floor. He can be good enough if the young kids progress fast.
....Nunez.....all about the shot....if he doesn't hit them , Bufkin may... and Bufkin is a better athlete with potential ball on the floor skills. By the Big season this will be sorted and one of the two will have his minutes cut..
.... Bufkin...obviously he played well and it is easy to like what we saw..I would say that unlike Nunez who came here as a shooter and couldn't shoot , you have to see a nice stroke here from a kid who looks to be quick enough to learn how to defend a second guard. Defend a 3 ? We need to see more minutes from this kid , but he has the potential on a team that needs shooters to grab big minutes. If he can handle the ball under pressure this kid has huge upside and probably knocks Collins down to very few minutes. No he is not a point , but if he has enough floor game to play with Eli , that could really elevate this teams shooting regardless of the other 3 players on the floor ( think Houstan at the 3)..Big upside for himself and the team. My guess is Juwan gets him big minutes asap to see what he has in this kid.
....Collins..can't shoot, very small..we haven't seen the positives yet and he may get buried on the bench before we do..
....Jones..interesting spot here because he does some things well and that may be enough . Besides ? Do we have other options ? If this were 1970-something this kid would be a star...It isn't..He, Williams and even Hunter belong last century. Hunter may play in the NBA because he does have skills and is 7 ft. plus...
Jones can't beat his man off the dribble with quickness and doesn't appear to be a 3 ball guy or a pull up guy...this may allow his defender a lot of options. Jones powers his way inside , which is fine , but usually doesn't allow for easy passes as you are engaged physically with your defender. His handle is ok, we will see on that, but this may put extra pressure on Eli and others...darn..at almost every aspect of the game I think we miss Franz...anyway....He needs to be as good as Smith to get us to where we want to go..Eli is mellow so this guy needs to be the glue with steady play protecting the basketball.
....Houstan..So young that he might be twice the player at the end of the year than he is now. At the least.... he provides shooting, height and a good bball IQ along with zero " stage too big" play. We will see if he can handle the ball more and do some of the Franz gray area stuff. Third man on break, nice pass and tough rebounds. His shooting should keep us from a lot of in game scoring slumps we had a few years ago. There is no question he is excellent and will be a huge plus this year. We still need to see if he can get to the hole without a charge, play man defense, and pass when the defenders rush at him. He may add as much to the team as Hunter did last year..
....Diabate...raw , but doesn't appear as foul prone as I thought he could be. I don't see him being the unreal shot blocker some had mentioned, but he does have a better handle and touch inside than thought. We have played him with Hunter a fair bit..If that works, Johns and Williams may see less time as we beef up the shooting at the 3. Too early to know his impact , but much smoother than thought and he may mesh if he can do enough without needing the ball in his hands. I don't see him being as valuable as Davis as a Hunter sub inside, but he can do more things. Not a sure fire 1 year guy IMO..We will see..
....Eli and Hunter are the same money they were last year. Both could score at will on teams that needed it. Too bad Eli never became a point ,as if he had developed, he has NBA physical and shooting skills and just enough ht. He is top 5 favorite Wolverines for me.
