Anyone watching the NBA's team Wolverines tonight?
With son in school in Orlando, I have adopted Magic games this year and tonight is again the Wolverine show as Caleb Houston is getting 20 minutes a game lately to put 3 Wolverines on the court quite often.
I wish I had skills to share video, but on ESPN site there is highlight tonight of Caleb diving past baseline saving a ball from going out of bounds and in air throw the pass through the defender's legs to open shooter for 3 point play. He also hit 2 of 3 behind arc to pull pull Magic close but 76ers look on track to pull this one out.
Still a fun team to watch especially while my Pistons are tanking for...well who knows what.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:11 PM ^
Nobody watches the NBA.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:15 PM ^
Except all of the bodies that do.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:50 PM ^
The NBA is the third most popular sports league in the world behind the Premier League and the NFL.
December 28th, 2023 at 7:27 AM ^
Though this might be interesting or not
As of 2023, the most watched sporting events in the world are:
- World Cup of Soccer – 5 Billion Viewers
- Tour de France – 3.5 Billion Viewers
- Cricket World Cup – 2.6 Billion Viewers
- Women’s World Cup – 2 Billion Viewers
- Summer Games – 2 Billion Viewers
- Winter Games – 2 Billion Viewers
- UEFA Champions League Final – 450 Million Viewers
- Super Bowl – 115.1 Million Viewers
- Wimbledon – 25.6 Million Viewers
- NBA Finals – 17.8 Million Viewers
- World Cup of Rugby- 17 Million Viewers
- Kentucky Derby – 16.6 Million Viewers
- The Masters – 15 Million Viewers
- World Series – 14.73 Million Viewers
- NCAA Final Four – 14.7 Million Viewers
December 28th, 2023 at 9:02 AM ^
And apparently video game industry numbers dwarf all of these
December 28th, 2023 at 9:18 AM ^
You missed U of M v OSU this year at 19.1 million viewers...
December 28th, 2023 at 8:16 AM ^
Basketball has gotten quite popular abroad. I feel like it's grown in popularity worldwide a lot more than the other big sports in America in the last couple decades.
December 28th, 2023 at 9:23 AM ^
As a practical mater, there are few countries that can play American football. It is extremely expensive. You can play soccer with a ball and a field, Even extremely poor countries play soccer. Basketball is relatively inexpensive too.
December 27th, 2023 at 10:15 PM ^
You a PGA or LIV guy?
December 28th, 2023 at 6:24 AM ^
+1 underrated.
December 28th, 2023 at 2:05 PM ^
Dumbass
December 28th, 2023 at 2:05 PM ^
Dumbass
December 29th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
I haven't watched it in years but apparently a lot of people still watch it. I know they dont play defense like they used to. From what I've seen its chuck and run.
Remember the 2002-2004 Pistons would smother you and make you earn 80 points a game? These guys are getting that midway through the 3rd period.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:17 PM ^
Jett Howard and Caleb Houstan are no doubt lighting it up, as only 5 stars can.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:20 PM ^
Franz has played like he was a 5 star.
December 28th, 2023 at 7:45 AM ^
Franz is looking so good. Pistons surely could use a player like him.
December 28th, 2023 at 9:26 AM ^
Although not as well as Franz, Mo has been playing well too.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:25 PM ^
Houstan has 6 boards? Did he have that many the whole season at Michigan?
December 27th, 2023 at 9:32 PM ^
What? Caleb Houston? I thought that all the anonymous basement-dwellers said he sucked and was going nowhere? ("Charmin bathroom tissue," etc.) Like Jordan Poole who's now making bazillions? What world am I living in?
EDIT: Since he's now making bazillions haters who claim to be M fans but hate on M players had to come up with something else; now the guy who was getting up at five a.m. every day through high school to work out is lazy! Selfish. . . yadda yadda, burp, more chain pizza. :)
December 27th, 2023 at 9:37 PM ^
Poole was a disappointment at Michigan, outside of one shot. Credit to him for being a key part of an NBA chamption. I never expected that.
Houstan is horrible, as is Jett Howard. Maybe I'll be proved wrong again, but if so it will take many years.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
Not sure what you were expecting from a kid outside the top 100 of his class in Jordan Poole, think the main disappointment was the feeling of losing him just as he was starting to show really good flashes like DJ Wilson, etc.
December 27th, 2023 at 10:20 PM ^
Yup.
I was hoping for more from Poole in his sophomore year, but he wasn't good and then left for the pros. Huge disappointment for Wolverine fans, but he ended up making it big in the NBA, so kudos to him.
December 27th, 2023 at 9:54 PM ^
Houstan is probably not great but Howard is a rookie. Hard to say he sucks right now less than midway during his rookie season. It was not like he was some can’t miss prospect.
December 27th, 2023 at 10:19 PM ^
Houston is horrible?....check out his highlights today, and he is only getting playing time on the NBA's #4 defensive team by playing good defense as well:
https://www.nba.com/watch/video/caleb-houstan-7-points-highlights-vs-philadelphia-76ers-4?plsrc=nba&game-highlights=0022300415
December 27th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
Don't believe it. He was -10 in perhaps the best game of his career (7 points).
December 27th, 2023 at 9:38 PM ^
You should drink some more and tell us all your brilliant thoughts
December 27th, 2023 at 9:39 PM ^
That’s fine but I don’t care much about their nba careers. I probably would if he had contributed more to team success at Michigan. we need to get a coach that can win games at the college level and the rest is gravy.
December 27th, 2023 at 10:08 PM ^
That is really selfish take dude.. The point of college is to learn and prepare yourself for a career. That’s what we all did. I am better now than I was at anything in college. Selfishly, I want them to win also. But if JH creates a program where these kids can fulfill their dreams, is that bad? Tom Brady was average at Michigan and didn’t win much. Yet, everyone wants to claim him based on his NFL success. So using your logic, you don’t care about Tom Brady?
December 27th, 2023 at 11:29 PM ^
Tom Brady was much better than average at Michigan.
December 28th, 2023 at 12:32 AM ^
“Didn’t win much.” Winning the Orange Bowl over Alabama isn’t much?
December 28th, 2023 at 12:38 AM ^
Brady was so much better than average at Michigan that he was drafted in the sixth round and had zero expectations in the NFL. Tom is the GOAT, but he was not an absolute world beater while wearing the maize and blue.
Choose your QB:
Player A: 395/638, 61.9%, 4773 yards, 7.5 Y/A, 30 TD, 17 INT, 134.9 passer rating
Player B: 424/706, 60.1%, 5661 yards, 8.0 Y/A, 45 TD, 15 INT, 144.2 passer rating
EDIT: Hint for the downvoters, Brady is player A. The Almighty Shea Patterson is player B. I doubt the experts on this board would call Shea's tenure at Michigan "much better than average."
December 28th, 2023 at 6:28 AM ^
jordan poole is not lazy. well, except when he’s on the defensive end. or working to get to the glass. or when someone else has the ball in their hands.
but when he has the ball, and the faintest opportunity to fire up a shot? a real hustler!
December 28th, 2023 at 10:06 AM ^
There are forum posts that add to the blog, and forum posts that make it worse. Which type do you suppose this is?
December 27th, 2023 at 10:20 PM ^
The magic have a great young core of ex-wolverines who are winning and it’s great. I’m a Cavs fan (go Caris, go Caris) but what they’ve put together down in Orlando is what the Pistons were hoping for but missed badly.
Very fun team to watch.
December 27th, 2023 at 11:07 PM ^
Banchero is the #1 pick the pistons hoped Cunningham would be. Unfortunately Banchero looks like he can be “the guy” on a playoff team and Cunningham does not. It also doesn’t help that Franz is miles better than any other top 10 pick we’ve had. I’m still holding out hope that Thompson can turn into something as he seems to be proficient on both ends of the court, but lord would it be nice to have Halliburton or Maxey instead of any of those 3 first rounders we took in 2020
December 27th, 2023 at 11:22 PM ^
I watch both teams quite a bit and disagree on this take that Banchero is superior to playoff team than Cunningham. I think both could be key pieces on a champion team.
The key difference between the teams to me is that Cunningham has nobody to hit the 3 and clear space for him (as demonstrated by how much better he does when Bogdanovic is in the lineup...like his career game yesterday).
I also see a lot of similarities between Ausur Thompson and Magic's Jalen Suggs.....it took 2 years for Suggs to really turn all that defensive promise and athletic ability into a key part of a winning team and could easily see Ausur do the same with time and other players developing around him.
December 28th, 2023 at 8:02 AM ^
It's really not the difference. The Magic attempt far less 3's and make the same percentage. He just isn't that good. Cunningham is like the fifth best player from that draft.
December 27th, 2023 at 11:03 PM ^
"diving past baseline saving a ball from going out of bounds and in air throw the pass through the defender's legs"
Is this written in English?
December 27th, 2023 at 11:48 PM ^
Are the Pistons tanking or are they just really bad?
December 28th, 2023 at 7:21 AM ^
Yes.
In all seriousness, Pistons were supposed to be on an upswing this year, but at this point, everyone realizes that isn't happening, and are going to tank for another top 5 pick and hope for better next year.
December 28th, 2023 at 7:38 AM ^
Tanking? This puts Tanking to shame. What about failing? They should pick up a new sport, 😆
December 28th, 2023 at 4:19 PM ^
More timely Wolverines in the NBA news, check out Duncan Robinson's recent renaissance after last year's dip in performance.
Robinson is back as a core cog in Miami's rotation, averaging over 29 minutes a game with starts in more than half his games -- and he is scorching hot, continuing his career-best campaign with a season-high 27 points in Miami's win over Atlanta on Friday.
Robinson scored 21 of those points in the fourth quarter, becoming just the sixth player to do so this season -- joining Giannis Antetokounmpo, De'Aaron Fox, James Harden, Anfernee Simons and LaMelo Ball. Over three minutes, he scored 11 straight. Predictably, two of those buckets were 3s, but the other two illustrated the legit impact Robinson is having as a downhill scorer this season.
...
Through his first five seasons, he was almost strictly a 3-point shooter, taking more than 80% of his shots from deep. This season that frequency is down to 64% -- still a big number, but again, it's evidence of a less predictable scorer, which makes him a far more complicated cover.
Beyond his scoring, Robinson is averaging a career-high 3.6 assists. That doesn't sound like a big number, but it's 86th percentile among all wings, per CTG, and it illustrates how functional -- and at times downright creative -- Robinson has become with the ball in his hands. The guy has some honest handle and shake to his game, and he's been empowered to use it.