Michigan Wolverines Basketball: Q & A With Juwan Howard
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Juwan Howard met the media Monday and discussed a range of topics, including personnel. Here’s what he had to say:
On senior center Jon Teske: “In my opinion, he had a really good season last year. He looked confident out on the floor, he was productive, so this year, this summer he’s been working extremely hard getting himself in shape. We’ve been in the gym doing a lot of player development. The team, the staff … we’re going to lean on him a lot. I’m looking forward to working with him and watching him grow through the process.”
On senior point guard Zavier Simpson: “Zavier has been like another coach out there for us. He’s like an extension of the coaching staff with his leadership. His work ethic is off the chart. I had a meeting with him about I was told he was doing three-a-days, cause as coaches we cannot be in the gym watching him work out. We’re only allowed four hours per week. Out of respect for him, that shows he’s committed, wants to get better. You’ve seen it each year how he’s always added something to his game. Last year was more like the running sky hook, shooting better from the free throw line.
“This summer I had a meeting with him about you can have the best work ethic, work hard, but the key is work smart. Three a days is not what we’re looking for or good for your body. He looked at me and gave me that look … I thought he was about to chew my head off. But he understood where I was coming from. We want to see him have a healthy, great year.
“He’s been phenomenal. I wish I had him more than one year, because he’s a coach’s dream.”
On junior wing Isaiah Livers: “So much talent; so skilled. He’s a big guard with a great attitude, excellent work ethic. There are no games being played, but he’s steady. I don’t think you’ll see anything changing with his attitude and how he approaches the game. We’re going to lean on him a lot, and I trust he will produce."
On sophomore forward Brandon Johns: “Brandon is a talent. Now it’s my job to help Brandon trust Brandon … being able to have confidence and trust himself. He’s skilled, has a pretty stroke on his jump shot. He’s athletic, a nice kid. Now I have to help him add some more grit to him. His passion … I love his passion.”
On summer practices: "Workouts, not practices … six or seven. We have one today. Four hours is not enough for a week. I’m all it for whenever they put together a committee, the NCAA coaches’ association, if they want to request can we have more hours in the gym in the summertime. I’ll be the first one in line to be, ‘yes, can we have more hours?’ That’s where I come from … player development, being in the gym, having access to work with your guys if you want 24/7. That’s the NBA, because you don’t have any restrictions.
“Now you’re restricted to four hours, and for a guy that came in hitting the ground running because we came in kind of late in the ball game, you want to build that connection, that relationship with the players. The best way to do it is on the court.
“I think the work we’re putting in thus far has been good. I like what I see within the group. We have more days, more workouts planned for the future. We’re not there yet, and I don’t expect us to be. But I love this group. Great group. Coach [John] Beilein, DeAndre [Haynes], Saddi [Washington] as well as Luke [Yaklich] did a great job recruiting these players. They’re all hard workers, high character, good kids. It makes me excited every day to come to work because I know I’m working with a great group of guys.”
On leaning on John Beilein for help: “We’ve had conversations before. I can’t tell you what we discussed, but coach, we’ve always had a really good relationship prior to me taking this job and coach moving on to Cleveland. Every summer I’d come down and learn from coach, spend a day and half picking his brain and vice versa. I wanted to someday be a head coach in this league whether it was NBA or college. College was only going to be one job, and that’s Michigan.
“I always felt Coach Beilein was one of the best coaches I’ve seen from where he started and where he is now. He has so much basketball in him. We’ve seen it, his growth by being here at the school and what he’s done the years he’s been here has been awesome. I’d be a fool not to come here and try to learn from Coach B.”
On whether the NBA is his ultimate goal: “The NBA is there [far away]. I’m not even thinking about the NBA. I’m taking this one day at a time. My heart, my passion … I think I’ve shown you how much passion I have for this school with the tears. I still get killed for that, by the way.
“I’m locked in here.”
On style of play: “I’d rather keep that to myself. I don’t want to give everybody else out there our style of play, because you guys have a job to do … we’ve got a lot of competition out there saying, ‘this guy has never coached before’ or ‘this is their style, so do you want to go there?’
“I’d rather bring them to campus, show them the film, maybe see a practice or workout and then we’ll go from there.”
On the shooting guard position: “We can have some fun with that position, but it’s competition out there, too. It’s a spot. It’s open. I love to see in practice who is going to win it. That’s how it will be determined. David DeJulius could possibly play two, Cole Bajema, Franz Wagner, Adrien Nunez. Eli Brooks. It’s a lot of guys.”
On Franz Wagner: “Next week Franz will compete at European cup … this weekend. The 27th, 28th, 29th. After that we’ll work on his visa, and admissions is doing their part but it’s a process. My understanding is his brother went through the same process. We’ve got to make sure everything is lined up right. It’s not easy.
“I’ve been talking to him, too. Wow … he is skilled, big, has guard skills, played professionally over in Europe. He has experience, is battle tested. High IQ. He comes from good stock. His brother, you can imagine them in the gym, what one on ones were like. But he respects his older brother and his older brother loves his younger brother. He’s a protector, which I get it.”
On assistant Phil Martelli: “He’s a great addition. Saddi as well. Me and Howard [Eisley] like two little kids (learning) … give me more; give me more! You’d be a fool not to sit and learn from coach. Coach is the Godfather. Everywhere we go … ‘Phil Martelli. I love Phil Martelli!’
“I was like, ‘thank you God.’ I chose wisely, because I had a list. I wanted a former head coach on my staff who coached college basketball, not a former coach who coached in the NBA. I reached out to four to five people who I trust their opinion and that gave me a list. That name kept coming up … Phil Martelli. I reached out to two current coaches in college basketball … they gave me Phil Martelli and a few others. I went with Phil and haven’t looked back.”
On Director of Operations Jay Smith: “He wanted to be a part of it, taking ego out of the equation. He wore many hats in college basketball, head coach, assistant coach, video guy. It just meant a lot to me for Jay to say yes.”
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