Isaiah Livers: Juwan Howard drills 'NBA lingo' at Michigan
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Juwan Howard spent 19 years playing and six seasons coaching in the NBA. The league’s vernacular is ingrained into his mind, and he’s brought it to Ann Arbor since taking over as the Wolverines’ head man in 2019.
The NBA flavor Howard has instilled in the Michigan program is paying off for one former Wolverine in particular. Second-year Detroit Pistons forward Isaiah Livers said he came into the league ahead of the curve regarding understanding defensive rotations and concepts due to his two seasons spent with Howard.
“I started working on that my junior year of college,” Livers told reporters following the Pistons’ 105-99 victory over the Washington Wizards in the NBA Summer League Saturday. “No disrespect to Coach [John] Beilein, but when Coach [Juwan] Howard came in, he established the NBA lingo and communication.
“It was hard at first, but once you got it, it felt natural. Then, my time off last year allowed me to watch what [Pistons head] Coach [Dwane] Casey likes to do defensively.”
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Isaiah Livers shining in NBA Summer League
In the win over the Wizards, Livers posted 20 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range. He added five rebounds and one assist with just one turnover in 30 minutes of action. That performance came two days after he went 1-of-8 from long range in an 81-78 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
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“I wasn’t worried about his shots last game,” Detroit’s Summer League coach Jordan Brink said. “They were good looks.
“We knew he was going to bounce back.”
The Pistons have an exciting Summer League roster that includes this past June’s No. 5 overall pick, former Purdue guard Jaden Ivey, and the No. 13 overall pick, former Memphis forward Jalen Duren. But it’s the former Michigan standout who’s playing at the highest level through two games.
The former Michigan forward is The Athletic writer James Edwards III‘s early pick for the Pistons’ most valuable player in the Summer League, he wrote Saturday.
“The soon-to-be 24-year-old has an effortless stroke that he can get off from seemingly any distance,” Edwards wrote. “I have little doubt that he’ll one day be a routine 40 percent 3-point shooter. As the rest of the NBA becomes more familiar with Livers, he’ll show more off the dribble and as a passer. He’s smart. He sees the game well.
“It’s going to be tough for Dwane Casey to leave Livers out of the regular-season rotation.”
