Michigan Basketball: Beilein likely had a hand in Isaiah Livers to Pistons

Michigan basketball’s Isaiah Livers won’t have to travel far to start his NBA career and in Detroit, he’ll find a familiar face in John Beilein. 

If any Michigan basketball fans stayed up late last night to watch the 2021 NBA draft, then they saw that former U-M star forward Isaiah Livers was selected at pick #42 by the hometown Detroit Pistons.

It was awesome to see Franz Wagner selected at pick #8 to the Orlando Magic earlier in the draft, but I knew Franz would be picked quite early, and so my main focus was on where Isaiah Livers would go next for much of the draft.

https://twitter.com/umichbball/status/1420972728820113410

Isaiah Livers definitely deserved to be drafted after all of the hard work he put in over his five years at U-M. While not being the most athletic guy on the court, he was definitely serviceable, got to the free-throw line a lot (shot 87%), and made 44% of his three-pointers last season. It’s just the injuries that hurt his stock a little at the end of the day.

As a Pistons fan (as well as a Michigan fan), it’s always great to see the hometown team select a player from your favorite college team. Livers is from Kalamazoo, went to Ann Arbor, and now is in Detroit. Quite a journey around the state of Michigan.

John Beilein likely had a role in the Livers pick

I can’t help but think that John Beilein had a hand in helping select Isaiah Livers though. After all, John Beilein is the senior advisor for player development for the Pistons and he did coach Livers for three years, and knows him on and off the court.

John probably whispered a few things in Pistons GM Troy Weaver’s ear while he was on the clock to select Livers.

This pick is also significant because it means Livers can now keep working on his game, now under the direction of his former college coach. John Beilein is now “in the know” of how the NBA is different from college and he can better help Isaiah even more than in college.

Livers has a golden opportunity

Lastly, Livers has a perfect opportunity right now to establish himself as a possible bench option of the future for the Pistons.

The Pistons don’t have many really good forwards (besides Jeremi Grant, and possibly Saadiq Bey) on their roster right now with Jeremi Grant, Saadiq Bey, Josh Jackson, Tyler Cook, and Sekou Doumbouya as their forwards.

I don’t see a path where Isaiah Livers couldn’t possibly be a third or fourth forward option for the Pistons in the future. He is definitely better than Tyler Cook, and Josh Jackson might be traded later this offseason.

The Pistons are still in the rebuild phases and are just drafting certain guys based on potential right now anyway, so there’s room for the Pistons to experiment a little and throw guys out to give them a chance.

At any rate, Livers will have two years (a two-year contract, because he was a second-round pick, with a third-year option) to showcase what he can do for Detroit. That’s plenty of time to make an impact (long as he stays healthy).

Thanks for all of the memories at U-M Isaiah! We’re rooting for you in the pros!