Former Michigan head coach John Beilein is now working with the Detroit Pistons as Senior Advisor/Player Development, and his timing joining the team couldn’t be better. The Pistons took former Wolverines Isaiah Livers No. 42 overall (second round) in the NBA Draft last week, and former coach and player will be reunited.
Beilein, of course, coached the Wolverines for 12 years before leaving abruptly for the Cleveland Cavaliers job. He left before the end of his first season, spent some time as a Big Ten Network television analyst and is now back in a hands-on position.
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“John has been one of the best fundamental teachers in the college game for years,” Pistons head coach Dwane Casey said upon hiring him in early June. “With the age of our core group I wanted to add to our excellent developmental staff.
“John is a basketball lifer with a passion to help young players get better, especially in the area of shooting. We have an excellent group of young development coaches who have done a good job with our young core. John will add to and enrich the development staff’s quest to get our youth brigade to the next level.”
Livers said he could “feel” the excitement in the room when the Pistons called to tell him they were selecting him.
“I heard it over the phone; a bunch of loud cheers,” he told WXYZ's Brad Galli. “I don’t know if they were in the office or something, but it was a good sense of belonging. This is where I’m supposed to be. I’m staying in Michigan.”
And back with Beilein, with whom he bonded during the recruiting process. He’s the reason Livers ended up at U-M, the middle part of the journey that brought him to Detroit.
He gave a fist pump when reminded he and his coach would be together again.
“Coach B. texted at like 1 … I said, ‘Coach B., you’re still up?” Livers quipped. “He was just excited. We get to work again. We’re like a dynamic duo. We put a lot of work in the first few years at Michigan.
" It’s not even Ironic — it was like it was supposed to happen. I meet up with Coach B. again and we get some work in.”
Livers has spent time looking in the mirror, he said, trying to be a better man and player after a foot injury that derailed his postseason. He’s watched “a lot of film,” reshaped his body and changed his diet to prepare for the next chapter, one he credited Beilein with helping him reach when we spoke to him last month.
“Coach Beilein and I talked right after the season, right after the surgery,” he said. “I talked to him about three weeks ago; he talked to my mom. Coach B. is still well knit in my family. He’s the one that opened the door, gave me the opportunity to come to Ann Arbor, and I’ll always be thankful for that. He taught me so much about the game, so obviously, I’m so thankful for that.
“He’s going to be a lifetime friend. He pushed me because he knew what I was capable of. There were days it was a struggle, but I’m glad he pushed me through them.”
All the pieces fell in the right spot, he said, and now he’s a Piston.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “Detroit Basketball, baby!”
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