Dusty May on ‘special’ Vlad Goldin: ‘I’ve never been around a better teammate’

Michigan basketball coach Dusty May shared a bit of a secret during our Thursday interview with him. While much of the fan base waited in angst for seven-footer Vlad Goldin to announce his decision, the coach was selling other potential portal additions on playing with him.

RELATED: INSIDE THE FORT, Part I: Michigan basketball — inside Dusty May’s first month … is the roster complete?

“We had a good idea,” May said with a grin when asked if he knew early in his tenure that Goldin would be joining him in Ann Arbor. 

Once Goldin officially signed (he and big man Danny Wolf were announced today), May was able to talk about his new addition … and he had a lot to say. The coach is building a team of players that want to win, he said — an unselfish group that loves playing with their teammates — and he couldn’t have a better guy to build that around than Goldin. 

“I’m biased, because Vlad’s been with us a couple years,” May said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been around … I know that I’ve never been around a better teammate. I’m not saying he’s the best, but he’s as good as I’ve ever been around at caring about his teammates, at doing anything he can to help them, support them, and do so in such an unselfish manner.”

On the court, Goldin averaged 15.7 points and 6.9 rebounds playing primarily in the paint. He’s deadly near the rim but has continued to add to his game, May continued. 

“He shot 78 percent from the field. He does a little of everything, and he continues to get better, expanded his range,” May said. “He’s shooting perimeter jump shots now, and his free throw percentage is going up every single year. He loves to work. 

“As much as he loves playing basketball, those things … when you’re around a guy that only knows how to work hard — and he only knows how to love his teammates and care about them — it’s so enjoyable.”

Knowing he had the centerpiece in place (literally), May set out to complement him with shooters, ballhandlers, and wings. Many recruits’ eyes lit up, he said, when he explained what they could be playing with.

“He was a big part of what we were selling in the recruiting process to these guards,” May said. “When you have a big guy, 7-1, who can catch it on the long roll, short roll, above the rim, bounce passes … he’s unselfish. He loves to screen. He loves physicality; he defends. So, those are some qualities and attributes a lot of guys want to play with. He makes everyone around him better. 

“We’re just very, very fortunate he decided to join us, because he’s special.”

May has a vision for the Michigan offense

Some have said that about May, too, after witnessing his first six weeks on the job, and it’s easy to see why. He hired coaches who might not be “yes men” to help him grow, and he’s embraced everything about the Michigan culture. 

He’s familiar with what John Beilein accomplished here, has followed the former coach’s career, and even implemented some of what Beilein was doing early in his career. But he’s his own guy, and he has an idea of what the product on the floor will look like.

“We want to look like a team that really enjoys passing the basketball … sharing the ball,” May. “We want to play fast. We’d love to create a great shot in the first 5 to 8 seconds of the shot clock. Obviously, that’s not always realistic because we’re playing against good teams and good defenders. But once we have an advantage to play off each other, where we don’t really want to play scripted basketball … we want it to be free flowing.”

“Read and react” is a common term that a lot of coaches use now, and it’s similar, he acknowledged. 

“Our staff, we love playing the game and watching the game,” May said. “When the game’s played in a certain way, it’s the most enjoyable sport to watch on the planet. We do value the entertainment part of it, to being enjoyable to watch. 

“I said in the press conference, we want to be easy on the eyes. I think if we recruit the right type of guys, and there’s a baseline of talent and they value what we value — which means we told them the truth in recruiting — then our teams will be easy on the eyes.”

Goldin is a huge piece of that, as are the others he brought in. They still have to make the pieces fit, but they’ve gotten the guys they wanted — 8 of 8 visitors — and May is excited to see what it will look like in his first year on the job.