Mildly informative update on DeJulius and Castleton
I was wondering how these guys were doing and I haven't seen a post about them. I haven't seen them play this year and know nothing about their teams, but I also figured some people here may know more and could add their thoughts. But anyway, here are their ESPN stat profiles. Would be nice if a staff writer here or someone with access to more advanced stats could add some more info.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4397202/david-dejulius
He's playing 30 minutes per game, so he must be starting and I assume their main PG. But, he's shooting less than 40% from the field and only 17% from 3! He shot 36% from 3 last year. The stats page isn't terribly detailed, so we can't see his usage. Cincy is only 2-5, so perhaps he just has too much on his plate and is struggling trying to be the guy. Rebounding well for a guard. 4.3 assists to 1.7 TOs isn't great. Obviously he can shoot much better than this, but he's struggling now.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4397204/colin-castleton
Castleton is playing 20 minutes per game, so presumably as a bench player but obviously with a significant role. He's hitting 2/3s of his shots. 4.5 rebs per game isn't bad for 20 minutes and he's only turning it over 0.8 times per game. Seems to be doing well.
December 29th, 2020 at 12:54 AM ^
But Iggy Brazdeikis has played one minute in the NBA this season and has two points and a rebound. Projects to 96 points and 48 rebounds over 48 minutes.
December 29th, 2020 at 7:03 AM ^
Don’t be ridiculous and manufacture unrealistic stats. He would sit out at least 8 minutes, taking him down to a reasonable 80 ppg and 40 boards.
December 29th, 2020 at 7:25 AM ^
With the Knicks, no less. There were a lot of reports about him working his ass off and playing great in the G-League, so you'd think he should be getting some more minutes... but then again, A) it's the G-League and B) they're the Knicks.
December 29th, 2020 at 9:49 AM ^
The New York Fightin' Dolans had two guys both wearing 23 on the floor the other night. Their strategies are next level.
December 29th, 2020 at 11:34 AM ^
The NBA is the hardest of all major sports leagues to "make it" in. Not only are roster sizes smaller than in other sports, but the level of talent necessary is incredibly high comparatively. You have to be elite in at least one skill or very, very good in several.
That's not to say a player cannot work their ass of into a rotation spot, but the level of difficulty is immense!
December 29th, 2020 at 1:01 PM ^
Adding to your point is that my instinct (too lazy right now to look up the data) would say that injury-necessitated roster churn is lighter in the NBA than in the NFL or NHL. And therefore that much harder for the borderline player to get a shot.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
Makes what Duncan Robinson is doing all the more impressive!
December 29th, 2020 at 1:51 PM ^
Iggy is on the regular Knicks roster as of now, but is buried deep on the bench. Knicks are not good but have a bunch of forward types ahead of him
He only got in when the Knicks were somehow blowing out the Bucks. Was in for only a minute but immediately got T'd up when he got into it with Giannis' brother... NY fans dig him
December 29th, 2020 at 12:56 AM ^
They were talked about in a thread a few games back. I posted some stats. I like the links to their stats though. We could definitely use them, especially Castleton. The one player that I wish were here though is Jalen Wilson. I wish he had stuck with his commitment with the Beilein departure. Hes really talented.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:14 AM ^
Wilson was more of a wing though right? He may be better than Wagner or Livers but not by much. Especially with Davis out it'd be nice to have Castleton. I was surprised DeJulius left too. But you never really know what their decision-making process was.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:19 AM ^
Yeah he's 6-8 but seems like he plays the 2-3-4 at Kansas. He's interchangeable. I think he would've been the most helpful addition of all. Castleton, as far as players who were actually here, would've been the one we need the most. I'm not sure Davis would've been starting if he was here.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:29 AM ^
I agree, I have watched a few Kansas games this season and he is nasty. Wilson under JB would have been problematic for the whole country. I wish he would have stuck too.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:38 AM ^
He would've been nasty under Howard as well. The kid can ball.
December 29th, 2020 at 10:32 AM ^
Again, ESPN stats aren't THAT informative, so they may not tell the whole story, but Wilson's don't really look better than Livers' or Wagner's. A little better than Wagner because of the 3P%. I kinda doubt he's as good a defender as Livers or Wagner though.
December 29th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
The thing is, he would've been in addition to Wagner not in place of. In the era of position less ball, he would've fit in nicely here.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:40 AM ^
At the time I wanted Castleton to stay, but if Davis doesn’t get hurt where are his minutes coming from? I think he made the right choice.
December 29th, 2020 at 8:34 AM ^
Seems to me we have a damn nice team with the roster we have.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:10 AM ^
Juwan is bringing in some talented kids and it’s already showing. Wish both these guys best of luck and the most success but we’re gonna be fine without them.
December 29th, 2020 at 1:15 AM ^
Sure. I don't think either guy would be starting anyway, assuming Smith still came in. Just posting info for people who may not be aware since I also didn't know how they were doing.
December 29th, 2020 at 5:45 AM ^
Both are quality young men so hoping to see them do well this year too. Thanks for posting
December 29th, 2020 at 2:31 AM ^
Hit the "splits" and you can see the game by game breakdown in great detail.
December 29th, 2020 at 2:33 AM ^
I actually think Castleton would have been the starter over Davis, he's just more talented.
Although, Hunter would have probably started over him eventually but the minutes would gave been divided up pretty evenly I think.
I wish Castleton had stayed too, oh well.
DDJ, not sure how much we're missing him, I think he would have been better here but his FT shooting is iffy and Smith seems like just as good and probably a better shooter, especially at the FT line.
December 29th, 2020 at 7:05 AM ^
Agree about Castleton. To me, he was clearly the better player with a higher ceiling. Castleton almost always was more productive in the minutes he got compared to Davis. Why Davis was playing more than him was a mystery to me. My theory is that there was some issue between him and Howard where they weren't on the same page. He probably thought he'd just be better off elsewhere. Too bad, because we could really use him.
December 29th, 2020 at 9:11 AM ^
Castleton really struggled last season. Davis definitely was more productive in his minutes than Castleton last year. Colin was getting pushed around really bad in the post. He was getting knocked aside for rebounds, post position, and was just having a rough go of it. His minutes eventually shifted to Davis because he was at least sturdy in the paint and has always had great touch around the rim.
December 29th, 2020 at 9:43 AM ^
Castleton did have more upside, but yeah it's not clear he would have reached that. I don't know why people think Davis is just some total scrub. He's quite good on offense, and his defense is limited but he isn't terrible. Davis was a 3-star but 177th overall on 247. That's not bad.
December 29th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
Has there been any update on when Davis will be back?
December 29th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
Small sample size, but watched a Florida game this year . I was highly unimpressed with castleton game! Davis looked better just off that game!
December 29th, 2020 at 8:10 AM ^
Not listed in the write-up but Ibi Watson is the transfer who would bring the most to our current team. He is averaging 18 ppg and 48% from 3. Took some time but Beilein showed once again he was fantastic at spotting talent.
December 29th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
He's apparently averaging 40.4 minutes too. No wonder he's shooting so well. For a few seconds a game, no one is guarding him.
December 29th, 2020 at 8:56 AM ^
Also 4.6 rpg and over 91% from the line. He's the best player on a solid Dayton team.
From Obi to Ibi.
In 5 games he is averaging like 38 mpg in regulation + a 48:22! in a 2OT win.
Dude might be A-10 POY.
December 29th, 2020 at 9:16 AM ^
There are countless examples of players who struggled in their first year or two in college (or even in the pro leagues) and then put it together later in their careers.
This is why I get so frustrated seeing fans complain about or write off a player during or after their freshman year.
Even with limited playing time early in his career, you could see that Ibi had some talent. It obviously just took him a little more time to put it together.
December 29th, 2020 at 9:48 AM ^
Forgot about him. But actually he was doing well last year as well. They were 29-2 last year.
December 29th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
We deserve a separate Ibi Watson thread. Dude is absolutely balling right now.
December 29th, 2020 at 8:34 AM ^
Let’s get one thing straight—WE will be the judge of whether the update is mild, moderate, or severe.
December 29th, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^
Castleton has started all four games. Another big has about 18 minutes per game. Oddly?, I looked up this info last night at about 10:00.
December 29th, 2020 at 8:49 AM ^
Look at Austin Davis pre-injury.
December 29th, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
DDJ is a wash with Smith and Zeb Jackson.
Castleton was ALWAYS a headscratcher. The only thing that I can think is he was going to get recruited over and then those guys never ended up at Michigan.
Castleton is exactly the player we're missing. Rather than forcing Johns to be that guy when he should be alongside guys like Dickinson and Castleton.
December 29th, 2020 at 9:25 AM ^
It would be nice to have Castleton to be sure. But if he were here he's getting maybe 8-10 mpg as a backup instead of starting and getting 20mpg. Not hard to see why he left.
December 29th, 2020 at 6:05 PM ^
Because I think he'd get more than 8-10 mpg.
That said, a healthy Davis is great for 10 mpg, so it doesn't matter except for the fact that he's hurt right now.
December 29th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
Why is it a headscratcher?
He would not be getting ~20 minutes a game if he stayed at Michigan...unless there were injuries, but players (understandably) don't think like that; as they get older, they want to play regardless.
This is especially true with DDJ -- he wants to play >30 min a game and put up shots, like he did in high school; if he stayed at Michigan, he'd be the 4th option (at best) behind Livers, Wagner and Dickinson.
December 29th, 2020 at 9:27 AM ^
David DeJulius is definitely the victim of a very mediocre Cincinnati team. He's second on his team in Bart Torvik's PRPG metric (how many points a game a player creates, relative to a replacement-level player), but at just 1.9/game. That would rank 7th on this Michigan team, behind our full starting five and Chaundee.
Cincinnati wasn't nearly this bad last year, so he probably thought he was heading to a better situation.
December 29th, 2020 at 10:01 AM ^
Eh....I am sure there's some truth to that - but hard to blame him teammates for his bad shooting percentages.
December 29th, 2020 at 12:01 PM ^
Yeah, but your teammates can impact your shot quality.
DeJulius was a fairly good shooter last year on lower usage; he was able to get up higher quality shots. Now that he's on a worse team, his usage is up and his shot percentages are down. I think it's definitely impacting him.
December 29th, 2020 at 10:13 AM ^
Though I wish they'd stayed, I'm glad they seem to be doing well.
December 29th, 2020 at 10:23 AM ^
Would like to have the option of CC.
DDJ is better off at Cincy.
December 29th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
We had the option of CC last year to back up Teske and Howard chose Davis. It would have likely been the same choice this year since Juwan invited Austin back for a 5th year. I was sorry to see Colin go, but it was probably a wise choice (especially for his senior year when he would have both Hunter and Diabate in front of him).
December 29th, 2020 at 11:48 AM ^
BTW. Seems like Harbaugh agreed to extension, from the Twittersphere!
December 29th, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
FWIW - According to the RealGM depth chart for Florida Colin is starting. I don't know how up-to-date RealGM is. They still list Austin Davis as our starter despite his injury status.
December 29th, 2020 at 2:50 PM ^
6 of 22 from the field the last 2 games for DDJ is very telling. We are a very efficient team and if we wanted to Mike Smith could be a volume shooter. Luckily Smith has done what he did last year but is finishing with passes instead of forcing shots. I think we really upgraded. I think of our top 6 players this year versus 2 years ago and those NBA draftees and I'm really happy with where we are.
December 29th, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^
They need to change the name of the G League to the G String League. Then I never would be tempted to watch.