Tag: Juwan Howard

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. —  It’s no secret that the NBA shaped Michigan head coach Juwan Howard in terms of his coaching philosophy.

You can see it when you look at how the Wolverines play so far in 2019-20, a bit more positionless, though still under similar strictures that you see across college basketball.

But it isn’t just scheme that Howard has brought from the professional ranks.

As a multi-year assistant for Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, Howard learned coaching the NBA way, and it’s informed him as to how he should run a college program, albeit the latter has different challenges unto itself.

“That helped – it helped me as far as preparing for whenever my time, when I (got) a chance to become a head coach,” Howard said. “What will be, how our responsibilities will be delegated with assistant coaches, but then also being a player. Getting a chance to watch organizations like Houston Rockets, Portland Trailblazers, Dallas Mavericks. And also watched the time I was with the Wizards. All the teams that I played for, and I sit back and watch Larry Brown, how he delegated the responsibilities for his assistant coaches.

“I was always like a little sponge, just watching and observing. So, when I got a chance to look back this summer and see how I wanted to give my assistants responsibilities – because I can’t do it all alone, by myself. And that’s why I hired them. I hired them to give them a responsibility to be an assistant coach and for those that haven’t been a head coach, my job is to groom them to become head coaches. Like a Saddi Washington and a Howard Eisley. Because I trust each and every one of them.”

Ultimately, it’s that delegation that’s helped Howard, who’s only 11 games into his first season as a head coach.

While some coaches are so meticulous in the sense that they want to do everything themselves and have complete control, that’s not how Howard does it. And there are multiple reasons behind that. Part of it is making sure he has a macro-sense of his team, but another is for the benefit of the team, and keeping that mentality.

But, just as importantly, it keeps Howard fresh, as he doesn’t toil himself ragged on the daily.

“So, overall, just by giving them different responsibilities, it’s helped me have clarity,” Howard said. “It’s also given me a life, too, as far as not feeling like I have to do everything and I have to do it all alone.

“Now, I have seen other coaches who have done everything themselves, by themselves. And I’ve also seen the look on their face each and every day. It’s like – they look like they have bags underneath their eyes, no sleep and they also grumpy as hell! I don’t want to live like that! I’m trying to live a healthy life! But, I’m also empowering my assistants, too, because I trust them, you know? It’s their job, they’ve gotta do some things as well as the players can see: we all do this as a collective unit. We all have responsibilities. And the players see that we all have a voice, and they see that I trust my assistants. I’m asking the players to trust me, I’m asking the players to trust the assistant coaches. They also see from me that I trust the assistant coaches. That’s what leadership is all about.”

Of course, he has a solid stable of assistants, including Saddi Washington — who has been in Ann Arbor for the past couple years, under former coach John Beilein — longtime head coach Phil Martelli, and former NBA assistant Howard Eisley.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. —  While Michigan has had a solid offense all year, rated No. 24 at the moment by KenPom, its worst two games this season haven’t been against the top teams it’s faced to this point, per se. The Wolverines shot over 50% from the floor against both North Carolina and Gonzaga — both top ten teams at the time of the matchups — on a neutral court, en route to lopsided victories.

But the two losses on the season thus far were both true road games, at No. 1 Louisville and unranked Illinois.

In those two games, Michigan shot 26% and 44%, respectively, easily the worst shooting performances in the short season.

With No. 10 Oregon coming to town on Saturday, while it is a home game, Howard is looking to diagnose just what has caused the Wolverines’ road woes. noting that there is an obvious disparity on that front.

“I looked at that, too, and those numbers are staggering,” Howard said. “We just gotta stay the course and not think about – ‘Okay, the last two road games that we’ve had, we didn’t shoot well.’ It can’t become a mental problem. We’ve just gotta stay the course and know and trust ourselves and one another.

“I think if we would have did a better job of moving the basketball, I think a lot of those shots would have been a lot easier shots for us. At times it was just too many one-pass/shot or there was an opportunity where we went to an isolation and there was no space.”

But why has it been such a struggle on the road? Does it have something more to do with Michigan or does it have to do with the defense it was facing?

As far as Howard sees it, a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.

“Give the other team credit, they do a really good job defensively,” Howard said. “I’m not gonna ignore the fact of what Louisville (has) done defensively. They’re a very good defensive team. When you’re ranked No. 1 in the country, you’re there for a reason. Illinois, they’re a very well-coached team.

“Not to get off track, but all the Big Ten games that have been played, every team that has played at home has won. It’s been tough to win on the road in the Big Ten. And I knew that coming in. I recalled that when I played here at Michigan, and going on the road to play at Minnesota, which I thought was one of the toughest places to play. Not discrediting Illinois. It’s a very competitive conference.

“Now, getting back to your question, I think our guys, the shot just didn’t go in for them. But yeah, defensively, they played well defensively. But we also missed some open shots, too.”

So, what does he do to keep this type of thing from happening?

Michigan won’t go on the road for several weeks now, but with it’s next game against rival Michigan State on Jan. 5, Howard is working to continue to build confidence among his shooters.

“Keep encouraging them,” Howard said. “’Shoot it! Let it fly!’ It’s that simple. You have an open shot, let it go. I trust that it will go in, but you have to trust it, too. When the shot doesn’t fall, be patient. Take the next open shot.”

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Michigan traveled to Illinois on Wednesday night as league play continued in the Big Ten Conference.

After a back-and-forth affair in the opening frame, Illinois leads the Wolverines at the break by a score of 30-28.

NEGATIVES:

• The Wolverines’ early-season rebounding woes reared their ugly head against Illinois. Michigan was out-rebounded 22-14 in the half, and allowed the Illini to grab 8 offensive boards. Conversely, the Wolverines only had 3 offensive rebounds themselves. It wasn’t all that surprising to see Illinois control the glass however. The Illini lead the nation in rebounding margin (+15.7 per game).
• Dribble penetration was a major problem for Michigan’s defense in the first half. Wolverine defenders were consistently beaten off the dribble, and it led to 26 points in the paint for Illinois. Michigan will need to close down those driving lanes in the second half.
• The Wolverines have shot well from three-point range in every game except the loss to Louisville, but Michigan is struggling in that area tonight. The Wolverines were just 2-of-12 from deep in the first half, a dismal 16 percent. Ironically, Michigan’s final percentage from three-point range against Louisville was….16 percent.

POSITIVES:

• Despite the negatives listed above, Michigan will only trail by 2 points as the second half begins. If the Wolverines can improve in the areas listed above in the second frame, they’re well within striking distance to take control of the game.
• A couple individual Wolverines were solid in the first half. Jon Teske has 9 points, but needs to be better on the glass after he was limited to just 2 rebounds. Zavier Simpson has 4 points, but more importantly has 3 assists while committing no turnovers. Michigan needs guys like Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner to pick up their games however.

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