The decision of Isaiah Livers to pull his name out of the NBA Draft provided Juwan Howard with a lot more than his leading scorer. It answered the penultimate question about Michigan's 2020-21 roster, leaving only Chaundee Brown's status uncertain while he awaits a ruling on his transfer waiver request.

Whether or not Brown's waiver is granted, Livers's return gives Michigan much-needed lineup flexibility and the ability to play multiple defensive styles. Add in his deadeye shooting and it's hard to overstate the importance of having him around for a senior season.

Before I dive into the details, let's take a look at the scholarship chart, which has added a few 2021 recruits since the last time I posted one:

The Scholarship Chart

I'm playing it jinx-safe and listing Brown as a sit-one, play-one transfer until a waiver is granted, if that comes to pass. If he's granted an immediate waiver, he'd play as a true senior in 2020-21 and the projected 2021-22 roster would have a third open scholarship.

Scholarship	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
1	A. Davis (R-Sr.)	C. Brown (R-Sr.)	F. Wagner (Sr.)	Z. Jackson (Sr.)
2	M. Smith (R-Sr.)	B. Johns (Sr.)	Z. Jackson (Jr.)	H. Dickinson (Sr.)
3	E. Brooks (Sr.)	A. Nunez (Sr.)	H. Dickinson (Jr.)	T. Williams (Sr.)
4	I. Livers (Sr.)	F. Wagner (Jr.)	T. Williams (Jr.)	J. Howard (Sr.)
5	C. Brown (transfer)	Z. Jackson (So.)	J. Howard (Jr.)	I. Barnes (Jr.)
6	B. Johns (Jr.)	H. Dickinson (So.)	I. Barnes (So.)	K. Bufkin (Jr.)
7	A. Nunez (Jr.)	T. Williams (So.)	K. Bufkin (So.)	W. Tschetter (Jr.)
8	F. Wagner (So.)	J. Howard (So.)	W. Tschetter (So.)
9	Z. Jackson (Fr.)	I. Barnes (Fr.)
10	H. Dickinson (Fr.)	K. Bufkin (Fr.)
11	T. Williams (Fr.)	W. Tschetter (Fr.)
12	J. Howard (Fr.)
13	OPEN

While Michigan has one open scholarship for this season, it'll be hard to fill unless new players hit the transfer market, which has run dry on potential Big Ten-level contributors. Recruiting has moved on to the class of 2021, as you can see by the lack of empty space in the 2021-22 column.

[Hit THE JUMP to see the impact Livers makes on M's rotation and scheme possibilities.]

Lineup Versatility

get used to seeing Johns in the post. [Campredon]

The positional flexibility Livers brings to the table opens up a lot more lineup options for Howard. Michigan can play with a lot more size in the backcourt—and also go smaller in the frontcourt—because of the additional manpower. Here's a look at a possible depth chart that doesn't include Brown, who'd likely play starter-level minutes at SG and SF. Projected starters are in bold, a player listed at a second position is in italics:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
M. Smith	F. Wagner	I. Livers	B. Johns	H. Dickinson
E. Brooks	E. Brooks	F. Wagner	I. Livers	A. Davis
Z. Jackson	Z. Jackson	T. Williams	T. Williams	B. Johns
	A. Nunez	A. Nunez	J. Howard

The order isn't meant to be gospel. There's a lot of players here that are capable of playing multiple positions and there are even more possibilities I could've listed—Franz Wagner can play PF, Mike Smith could be used as an off-ball scorer, and Livers has dabbled as a small-ball center, to name a few examples. We've even seen Austin Davis play some power forward. (We may not want to be in a position to need to see that again.)

The most important lineup option Livers helps unlock is sliding Brandon Johns to center. That was going to be difficult if Livers wasn't available to play power forward. After Colin Castleton's transfer and Isaiah Todd's defection to the G-League, however, it also looks necessary. Hunter Dickinson is very talented but he's a massive true freshman who's probably not working through a normal offseason conditioning program. Austin Davis limits the team's upside and underwent shoulder surgery at the end of April. Even if those two have best-case outcomes, college teams tend to need a third center.

After looking lost when he played center as a freshman, Johns appeared much more comfortable in his handful of minutes there last season under Howard's tutelage. Although it's a small sample and you'd expect some three-point regression, lineups with Johns at center performed well in 2019-20 and a lot of is was because of dominant rebounding (data via Hoop Lens):

While the defense wasn't good, that's the area I'd expect him to improve the most, and he also got thrown into some difficult situations—in particular, getting some of his first minutes playing drop coverage as a center in game action against Oregon and an en fuego Peyton Pritchard. We're again working with small samples, but the offensive numbers above were a huge improvement on his freshman stints at center, as were the rebounding numbers. Bad three-point luck and tougher competition this year masked what, on tape, looked like a defensive improvement—my main focus on that end is that opponents grabbed twice as many offensive boards when Johns was a freshman:

There'll be more on Johns at center in the next section.

One of Michigan's strengths is going to be their versatility. The projected starting lineup is huge aside from the point guard spot with above-average outside shooters (I strongly believe in Wagner's perimeter shot) at four positions, then a 7'1" dude with enough game that Duke wanted him. They can go small/skilled with a Smith-Brooks-Wagner-Livers-Johns lineup. There are a number of hilariously large lineups to play if you start to get creative with the "shooting guard" position and play initiators—if Wagner goes full Stauskas you can get wild.

This also gives Howard wiggle room with his freshmen. Johns being available at center takes a little pressure off Dickinson, the freshman they most need to be ready right away. Even if nobody outside of Dickinson can contribute early—and I expect important minutes from another multi-position threat, Terrance Williams— they can cut the rotation down to essentially seven players for their toughest and most important games. If Williams and Jackson are ready to ball, that rotation could be as big as ten, at least while Howard gets a handle on his preferred lineups.

And, again, this is all without adding Brown, who could very well provide 30 minutes per game as a bully-ball 2/3 if he gets his waiver. If you add him to the fray, Howard never needs to go to the small Smith-Brooks backcourt combo unless he wants to do so, Wagner gets to spend more time at his more natural small forward spot, and Johns is freed up to play even more time at center if needed.

Scheme Versatility

switchable. [Campredon]

The main reason Livers wasn't a lock to get drafted is that NBA teams want to see that he's—say it with me now—Not Just A Shooter™. He knows this, too.

However, injuries cost Livers 10 games last season and he played many more at less than 100 percent. He's completely healthy now, and was asked what he's looking to improve upon.

"I'm going to say ball-handling," said Livers. "That's something everyone knows that I'm capable of, and not something I've shown. I'm going to be a go-to guy, and going to have to figure out how to keep the ball alive. I have a tendency to pick the ball up. But that's going to be a factor in my game next year. That, and being a leader. I know I've been deemed a leader, but it's also something I've been working on in quarantine time.

Livers reached the Junior Teske Zone last year, posting a turnover rate so low (3.7% in Big Ten play!) that it's as much a concern about a player limiting their game as it is a good sign. Incidentally, Livers also had a minuscule assist rate—lower than Jon Teske's, even—and that'll need to rise without Zavier Simpson around to run most of the halfcourt offense.

Livers has the ability. His skill at hitting shorter midrange shots forces defenses to commit to him in an area that opens up passes to the center. This has been mostly theoretical so far in his career, which is why the GIF'd example I have is from last year's Saginaw Valley State game: 

Most teams aren't going to be this small and overmatched, nor will they be playing a 2-3 zone that's far from Syracuse-level, but roll with me here.

If Livers adds nothing more than solid passing in the high-low game, that'll greatly help M's offense. While I'm not expecting him to suddenly turn into a pick-and-roll creator, he can also attack more closeouts off the dribble. Drawing fouls should be a priority for Livers given he went 44-for-46 (not a typo!) at the line last season and he's got the size for absorbing plenty of contact at the rim in order to do so. The threat of his outside shot is going to open plenty of lanes to the basket. There should be more spacing without Simpson on the floor, too; opponents made driving difficult last year when X didn't have the ball because they could sink so far off him and Teske.

This is where the idea of Johns at center starts to get really interesting. A Smith-Wagner-Livers-Williams-Johns lineup, to take one example, maintains plenty of size across the board, shouldn't get killed on the glass, and lets you play five-out on offense because everyone is at least a passable spot-up shooter. Imagine how hard this would be to defend if Davis were a shooter drawing his defender to the perimeter:

While Davis does a great job of sealing his man, this is an even easier bucket if that man isn't there in the first place. You can see the potential for Johns as a screener in that play, too; that's a well-timed slip to the perimeter, which got his defender scrambling before Johns caught him flat-footed after the pump fake.

It gets even more intriguing if you can slide Brown into the lineup; as a 6'5", 225-pound senior who's at his best attacking the basket, he's going to be a difficult matchup for a lot of college wings/guards. These lineups won't leave much room for hiding poor defenders.

I also like their defensive upside. Michigan will be forced to play drop pick-and-roll coverage with Dickinson or Davis at center; that's ideal with the towering Dickinson, less so with the shorter, ground-oriented Davis. With Johns, however, they can move between drop coverage and switching across every position. Johns may be the small center option but at 6'8", 235, with above-average athleticism, he's far from overmatched in the post.

In fact, Howard didn't change his defensive approach a great deal when he tried using Johns at the five to help contain Oregon's Pritchard, a move that nearly won the game. When Oregon ran a high screen, Johns stayed in the paint, and Pritchard had a harder time dealing with his mobility and athleticism than the size of M's primary big men:

Even when Pritchard scored in the pick-and-roll, it came tough. Most of his baskets down the stretch were out of isolation plays against Simpson, which put Johns in a trickier spot of choosing when to help—his timing and instincts in that regard still need work. Having a mobile center also made it easier for the rest of the team to stay home on shooters; the Ducks went 0-for-1 from downtown when he was out there.

Meanwhile, Johns went nuts on the offensive glass and created more havoc, making him M's most effective center in that game by a longshot (Davis didn't play):

Yes, more small sample theater, but it's what we've got to work with for now. Johns gives Michigan the ability to play multiple defensive styles, something the other centers can't bring to the table, and he also opens up the floor on offense.

Johns doesn't need to be a full-time center, but for Michigan to make the most out of their roster, he needs to be playable there. I'm optimistic he gets there this season. Having Livers back will afford Howard a lot more flexibility to match up with opponents and adjust the rotation to accentuate the team's strengths.

Year Two for a head coach is usually the time when you start to them install the system they truly want to run instead of the one they had to utilize to ease the transition from the previous coach. Maybe the most important aspect of Livers's return is it'll give us a better read on Howard as a coach.