Jaelin Llewellyn could be an ideal fit for Michigan Basketball
Michigan basketball needs guard help in the transfer portal and Jaelin Llewellyn from Princeton could be a fit for the Wolverines.
It’s not a bold statement to say that Michigan basketball needs more shooting or that the Wolverines could use a veteran in the backcourt heading into the 2022-23 season.
Eli Brooks, who won more games as a Michigan basketball player than anyone else, has exhausted all of his eligibility and DeVante Jones has moved on to the NBA draft.
Frankie Collins had some nice moments in the NCAA Tournament and Kobe Bufkin is likely going to be a lot better before next season, just as Collins will. Yet, as we have all seen once again this March, you need veteran guards or at least good guard play to win in the NCAA Tournament.
And right now, it’s hard to have complete confidence in a backcourt that features Bufkin, Collins, and Dug McDaniel. Jett Howard is a wing and could play some at the two but in terms of ball-handlers, the Wolverines feel at least one man short.
But they are in contact with a new target in the transfer portal, Princeton’s Jaelin Llewellyn and he could be the perfect complementary piece in the backcourt.
Why Jaelin Llewellyn makes sense for Michigan
Llewellyn is a really hot name in the transfer portal right now and on Thursday, the Wolverines made contact with him.
The newest programs in the hunt for Princeton transfer Jaelin Llewellyn, sources told @Stockrisers, include: Tennessee, Texas Tech, Florida, Villanova, and Michigan. All reached out in last 36 hours.
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) March 31, 2022
Llewellyn just finished an official visit to Alabama yesterday.
He scored over 15 points a game in each of the last two seasons for the Tigers and made 38 percent from 3-point range last year. Mike Smith was also from the Ivy League but that doesn’t mean all those figures are going to translate exactly as we learned with Smith.
And for his career, Llewellyn is just a 32-percent 3-point shooter. In his sophomore season, he shot 30.8 percent.
Yet, that can also be a function of being a team’s best player or one of the best players. Sometimes you get the ball at the end of the shot clock and force up low-percentage shots. Each of the last two seasons, he shot nearly six 3-pointers per game which was about 44 percent of his attempts.
It’s not likely he would shoot that much at Michigan or 13 times per game or that he would be a full-time point guard. He did average 2.5 assists and around 1.8 turnovers per game. In all, his numbers feel pretty similar to Eli Brooks, at least offensively.
His defensive rating is 104 which isn’t great especially considering the competition. So I wouldn’t even necessarily expect Llewellyn to start for the Wolverines, however, he could help fill a shooting/scoring need in the backcourt without really threatening the role of Collins or Bufkin.
Next. 5 transfers that make sense for Michigan. dark
Michigan basketball fans should be hoping for really good role players in the portal, not superstars and for the role he would play, Llewellyn could be a great fit for the Wolverines.