Michigan Basketball: 3 Takeaways from commitment of Moussa Diabate

Juwan can develop Moussa into a star

We know that Juwan Howard can recruit. But looking back at his days with the Miami Heat, we know that he can develop talent too, especially big guys.

Just look at how he aided in the development of Hassan Whiteside and later Bam Adebayo. Both were bigs with tons of potential and Juwan helped them reach it and in Ann Arbor, he’s going to do the same with Diabate.

In fact, I’d hazard a guess that’s one reason Howard was able to win him over. These elite level players want to win but they also want to get to the NBA. While Howard has only had one season to prove he can win games and he did, his ability to develop goes back even farther.

And heck, look at what Juwan was able to do with Austin Davis, a guy who seemed relegated to the transfer market due to lack of playing time.

But under Juwan’s watchful eye, he exploded into an extremely productive player who averaged 4.9 points and 2.6 rebounds in 10 minutes a game. He also shot a ridiculous 69 percent from the field.

Obviously, Davis and all the players deserve credit for their own hard work. But there’s certainly a pattern of big men getting better under Howard and it’s going to be fun to see what he does with Diabate, who has as much physical ability as any U-M player over the past decade.