The Wolverine

May 2021 Issue

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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28 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2021   MICHIGAN BASKETBALL talked about it with my family and weighed the different options, but I didn't come to a conclusion." Brooks averaged 9.1 points, 3.1 re- bounds and 3.1 assists, and shot 39.6 percent from three-point range. Finally, freshman center Hunter Dickinson and sophomore wing Franz Wagner were expected to at least hear what the NBA scouts had to say, with Wagner a heavy bet to leave and Dickinson extremely likely to return. Both were finishing classes as of April 13 and were focusing on school rather than their next moves. Dickinson, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, averaged 14.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game for the Wol- verines. Wagner, one of the confer- ence's best defensive players and a projected NBA lottery pick, averaged 12.5 points and 6.5 caroms per contest. — Chris Balas ANALYST ASSESSES THE NBA DRAFT STOCK OF FRANZ WAGNER AND ISAIAH LIVERS Michigan senior forward Isaiah Liv- ers and sophomore guard Franz Wag- ner are the Wolverines most likely to have a future in the NBA right away, and they're both showing up on pro- jections ahead of July's draft. Wagner is viewed as a future lottery pick (top 14) in the first round, with Bleacher Report draft analyst Jonathan Wasserman projecting him to come off the board at No. 11 to the Indiana Pacers in his latest mock draft. Mean- while, Livers was projected to land with the Detroit Pistons, being chosen in the second round at No. 49 overall. At 19 years old, Wagner averaged 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 as- sists per game this season, while shoot- ing 47.7 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from beyond the three-point arc. He also ranked third in the country with a defensive box plus/minus rat- ing of 6.1, and averaged 1.3 steals and one block per outing, showing he also shines on the defensive end of the floor. For Wasserman, it was a no-brainer placing Wagner at No. 11. "Scouts I've talked to have come to the consensus that he's a lottery pick," Wasserman revealed in an exclusive interview with The Wolverine. "And I think that he is just one of the easiest prospects to picture fitting because everyone talks about his versatility — that's his signature strength and what his identity will be built around. "He has the classic shoot-dribble- pass skill set for a 6-foot-9 combo for- ward. You can plug him into really any situation at multiple positions, and then everything kind of gets ele- vated by the fact that he's a very good and versatile defender who can make plays around the basket and move his feet away from it." Wasserman's player comparison for Wagner is Los Angeles Clippers wing Nicolas Batum, who was drafted in the first round by the Houston Rock- ets back in 2008 and is now a key con- tributor with his current team, even in his 13th year in the league. "He has the chance to be an elite role player," Wasserman said, noting that Batum has been just that over the course of his career. "His value to his team is going to be very high, and so a 'star role player' would be the label I would give him in terms of ceiling." Livers was a mainstay in the U-M lineup for four seasons, and gradu- ally improved during his time in Ann Arbor. The Kalamazoo, Mich., native was second on the team in scoring this past season — behind only fresh- man center Hunter Dickinson — av- eraging 13.1 points per game, while also adding six rebounds and two assists per contest. He shot 45.7 per- cent overall, a team-high 43.1 percent from three-point range (out of play- ers who attempted more than two shots from deep) and at an 87.0-per- cent clip from the free throw line. The caveat with Livers is his health, with the 6-7, 230-pounder having missed the team's last five games of the season due to a stress injury to his right foot. He underwent successful surgery following the campaign and is facing a six-month recovery period, meaning he won't be able to partici- pate in individual pre-draft workouts or the late-June NBA Draft Combine. "It hurts him because guys like that, they need the workout process, they need the interview process," Wasserman said. "On the other hand, he played a lot of games at Michigan, and teams are familiar with him. And so maybe with him they don't really need to [see him work out]. "I always say this, all it takes is one team — there could be one out of 30 teams who, a year ago, picked Liv- ers as a potential second-round steal. And maybe they're even a little bit happy about this injury — the timing of it — so other teams don't catch on and he's not able to rise up the pre- draft process and they can have him slip under the radar." When asked if he believes that Livers will ultimately be selected by a fran- chise, Wasserman confidently stated his opinion that he will be drafted. "I think, at that point, there's no gamble," Wasserman said of a team choosing Livers. "You're not really risking anything in the second round. Over the years, he's shown enough with his shot — his free throw per- centages are off the charts — and he just kind of has that role player men- tality. He doesn't need shots, he kind of does what he needs to do in his role, and it's easy to envision him do- ing that at any level with that mental- ity and that valued skill of shooting. "He makes clutch plays, and he's been around long enough where I think a team could've figured out by now that Livers is a steal-in-waiting, a nice role player they can get on a good deal over the next couple of years. So, yeah, if I were to make a mock draft right now, he'd certainly be on it." The comparison for Livers is Okla- homa City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams, Wasserman says, who actu- ally went undrafted in 2018 but has been able to stick in the league after making the most of his opportunity as Wagner — who averaged 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this past season — is regarded as a potential lottery pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL

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