Sad. I wish KG nothing but the best, but I really would have loved to see what he could do next year with CJ and Dave gone.

You had to know this was coming with his lack of playing time. But credit Kelvin with not being a distraction to the team after he lost his spot and playing hard when he got a chance. Good luck to him and he was a class act while he was with big blue.

I am truly sorry to hear this.

Mixed Emotions… He handled the benching and lack of playing time like a true champ. I too wish him nothing but the best.

No mixed emotions here..he refused to play D, only wanted to play O. I silently rooted for KG cuz he was from the 616 but he was garbage honestly. If big bro isnt on the football team, then he probably isnt at UM. Wish you the best KG, hello Ray McCallum and everybody else! LLP,Stu, and Darius are more than able to handle the PG duties. GL KG

If I recall correctly, he played decent D during the tournament. Energetic and switched properly on screens.

I think your comment is both factually wrong, Jay, and out of line. You don’t have to like him but he wasn’t and isn’t garbage.

Just as well. He was never going to be an elite player.

This is really bad and it should not have come to this. For all of you(including Dylan) Stu is NOT a point guard and what we have is a true freshman who does not know the system and LLP who is NOT a point guard. I have a question, was Merritt so good that Grady couldnt get 8-10 minutes a game? I think not, no in fact Merritt should have never played ahead of Grady at all. What did Merritt ever do and please dont say defense cause that is a JOKE!!! We just lost the only true ball handler on the team not to mention the experience in the system and his obvious solid character. Better start recruiting some athletes soon, its becoming a real concern.

I don’t think Jay’s comments are really fair.

One, saying he refused to play D is off base. He may not have been a great defender and had the well documented issues with screens, but his effort always seemed to be 100%. Additionally, he was in a terrible position trying to play the baseline in the 1-3-1. Not exactly striking a lot of fear into the hearts of shooters in the corner or big men who get a drop off pass.

Two, Michigan doesn’t beat Duke and consequently probably doesn’t make the tournament without him. He played 28 minutes in that game with 9 points, 4 assists, 0 turnovers and would have had 15-20 if he could have hit a layup. Despite assertions on this site that he couldn’t penetrate, watch the highlights of that game. He could beat his man off the dribble and was an effective passer in that role. Maybe he wasn’t big enough to finish, but saying he couldn’t penetrate is simply incorrect. He also had the second highest 3 pt % of anyone who played significant minutes (behind CJ).

Basically, I think anyone who says he is “garbage” or thinks Michigan is better off without him next year is really off base. Also, I’m pretty sure he is Kevin’s cousin, not brother (though I could be wrong there).

I hate to see Kg leave. He was a solid option at the point and would have proved a good tutor for DMo until he was ready to start. Maybe Kg didn’t want to lose his spot to a frosh next year? I was kind of hoping this news would have came about Wright. Although he did play well against OK, I am not sure he will contribute on a consistant basis(based on past games). If the OK game was a glimpse into his improved play then he could be a nice sub off the bench. Either way, I’m sure JB has been looking at options just incase a scholly came open. Dylan, nice job predicting that we would have 3 schollys!
Go Blue!

This news sucks, but some of you really, really overrate the necessity of a “point guard” in JB’s style of offense.

There are great things KG brought to the table, for example as someone mentioned his play against Duke which showcased what he can do well. We’re going to miss his quickness and experience.

We will be fine though. Stu and LLP can play “point guard” minutes because there aren’t a lot of requirements for that position – bring the ball up the floor, understand the offense, feed the post – and the only extra thing they don’t necessarily bring is the ability to penetrate and kick, which Grady was not all that effective at anyway considering his handle and quickness.

Sad to see KG on the way out but we just will have to hope D-Mo is ready to go.

I also left out, the ability to shoot at the 1 is stressed more than really any other system around. Doesn’t hurt to have a little more size at that position and ability to shoot it more often than when the player is wide open, which seemed to be the case for KG.

And THIS is what I worried about ALL season. We go into next season with one true point guard on the entire team and that point guard is a true freshman. Sure Stu can play a little point but he’s not an outstanding ball handler. I am very concerned that we do not have the proper depth to handle the pressure from opponents and we have to pray that Darius Morris does not get injured next year.

I think its real unfair to bash anyone on this team, considering what they accomplished. Grady never complained about playing time and gave maximum effort in every minute he was on the court.

However, he did not have a real role on this team in the coming years. Stu, LLP, and Morris all seemed to be above him, in reality or hypothetically, so why stick around? Though, sticking around for his education made more sense to me because the guy is not going to be a pro basketball player.

I think we should not rush to give out his scholarship for next year. I think we bank on bringing in 4 guys the following year (the year after Manny goes pro after his junior year). Michigan is getting in with better kids each year and the high school talent, especially in Michigan, is impressive in the younger classes.

Losing 3 point guards who know the system and bringing in one who doesn’t know the system is verrry dangerous. I’m not worried about lack of a true point guard when we play teams that do not press, but for the pressing teams we MUST have players who can handle the ball well enough to break the pressure. I think JB handled the situation all wrong with KG this year and we may suffer next year because of it. There is no reason KG shouldn’t have at the very least been playing Merritt’s minutes. Like him or not, this is a big loss for the program.

Why are you guys so worried? Zach Gibson is a VERY VERSATILE player. I have little doubt that he can come off the bench to run the point. He is a very under-rated passer and decision maker. Besides, a 7 feet he can see over defense and pass to Peedi in the post.

Kelvin is to be thanked, he played a big role in helping the program progress. Not knowing anything about it, my feelings are that he wants to play more than he is likely to get time here. It’s hard to fault him for that. I hope he shows up at another school I like. Central Michigan would be a good fit I think.

He is Kevin’s brother.

I agree with Richard that Grady was an exemplary kid. Saying that he wouldn’t have been here if he weren’t related to Kevin is completely off base.

This does hurt the program going forward this year, because a lot of extra responsibility will be placed on kids who aren’t true point guards. But with Morris coming in, he’ll be here in June and hopefully he’ll have time to learn.

For the future, this does open up a spot for 2010 and with Manny’s imminent departure after next year this can only help us. Hopefully we can bring in an athletic guard or a skilled wing to replace Manny and someone who is more apt to be able to run Beilein’s offense.

Dear Adam and Go Blue,

Since you both know how to handle this situation better than Coach Beilein and know more than he does about who should be playing, please leave your resumes with the UM athletic deparment. Regardless of the fact that we made the tourney for the first time in a decade and actually won a game, I’m sure the athletic department feels that if Grady played instead of Merritt, we would have been much more successfull. They are probably already planning on a coaching change so it would help to get your resumes in now.

Seriously. Grady is leaving because he was not going to play much. If he was not going to play much, we won’t miss him very much. I trust Beilein’s judgement of who should play. He has shown us that he kind of knows what he’s doing.

Sorry to see Kelvin go. Seems like a great kid.

On another note, i’d really love for him to come to Toledo. We still don’t have a true point guard in upcoming recruiting classes, plus he can team up with his HS teammate Justin Anyijong again.

(And also, as a UT play-by-play guy, i’d love to call Grady’s name every game. “Grady, open for three, gooooooooood.” Would be very cool.) :)

Dear Brick,

With CJ Lee, Dave Merritt and now KG gone who will play point guard? Sure we have a true freshman in Darius Morris who doesn’t know the system yet. We also have LLP who is an undersized shooting guard, NOT a point guard. LLP is just not a good enough ball handler or passer to be comfortable running the point. Stu is a great passer, but his ball handling ability and ability to break pressure is suspect.

So we have one freshman point guard, and 2 non-point guards to break a press and/or trap, as well as start the offense.

I’m not sure if you know basketball that well Brick but it’s no coincidence that all of the final four teams have outstanding point guard play. It is crucial to going far in the tournament when the defenses up the intensity. Kalin Lucas, Ty Lawson, Scottie Reynolds and AJ Price are 4 of the best point guards in the entire nation.

Now I’m not stupid. I am not comparing KG to those point guards by any means. But I am just trying to emphasize the importance of point guard play. We are entering next season with ONE POINT GUARD!

Brick,
I think the whole point of this is to give opinions and discuss. Half of the fun of being a fan is to think about how you’d do it and have an opinion. For me at least…

Do we now we need to use a ’10 ship on someone that can give minutes at the point? Do we really want to go 2 years with Darius being the only point guard on the roster. I agree that Stu can be a solid option for 10 minutes a game and maybe LLP can develop and pick up some minutes but what if Darius goes down with an injury? Its unlikely to think that he will go 2 years without missing a game – especially considering he is coming off a back injury. Is Hardaway’s kid a combo guard at all or just a wing?

I am growing more and more convinced we will start Stu, Manny, Novak, Sims, and Gibson. With LLP and the other kids coming off the bench. I think Coach’s system does require tremendous speed on either end of the court, but requires fundamentally sound players who can pass, dribble, and shoot (which the starting 5 all would next year). The size of the guards/wings (Novak, Harris, and Stu) would offset speed issues, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, its great to have that quicker guy out there to break the press, but sound ball handling (stu will progress, guys, he was just a freshmen last year, playing big ten ball) will overcome those difficulties. And the change of pace of LLP, Morris, and Vogrich along with the size of Cronin, Limans, and Morgan create a great future for Michigan basketball.

I know all of you will bash me for this comment but it almost seems like JB forced KG into this situation. There is absolutely no way Beilein can look down his bench and see KG and Merritt sitting next to each other, and think to himself, well Dave is much better so I’ll put him in to replace my other walk-on point guard. KG is a legit D1 point guard and SHOULD have been out there running our offense last year and next year. JB knows what he is doing so I’m guessing he probably knew KG would leave. I can’t wait to see the numbers KG will put up in an offense where he can really showcase his talent. Dylan, I hope you’re right about Stu running the point. If not, we could be in trouble.

Sad to see Grady leaving even it is not unexpected. However, I believe that the team will do well next season without Grady.

Now, there are officially three scholarships available for 2010 and Wright does not have to worry about getting his 5th year.

This really disappoints me. I remember a quote from Grady earlier in the year along these lines:

“If coach asked me to run to Grand Rapids and back, I’d do it.”

He seemed like a good kid, and I really loved to watch him run the point. However, it also seems like his only reason for leaving would be a lack of playing time NEXT YEAR. He wouldn’t leave because of the way he was treated this year, I don’t think, so that means Beilein told him he is not going to be ‘the guy’ at the point next year.

I really hope that means DMorris is that good, because I do not think I see LLP/Stu handling the point as well as Kelvin could.

Good Luck Kelvin! I’ll miss cheering for you for sure. I hope you land in a great spot and get tons of PT!

This is terrible! I was so hoping for KG to be rewarded for being a team player by becoming THE guy next season. Morris is talented, but the scouting services keep saying he’s turnover prone. I’m sure Beilein can help but right now I’m about as confident about our PG situation as I am about our QB situation.

I don’t know whether they didn’t get along or what but I wouldn’t be surprised if Beilein told Grady that just because Merritt and Lee left he wouldn’t necessarily get more playing time ahead of Douglas and Morris.

This opens up a scholarship!!!!!! KG didn’t fit this system too well anyway…I’ll be interested to see if JB tries to go grab another PG or sticks with Morris/Douglass/LLP for next year.

Too bad it didn’t work out for Grady but I’m not feeling the same doom & gloom. I agree with Brick that the depth at the PG position is a concern, but I don’t think the lack of it is catastrophic for next year. Lee, Merritt, & Grady combined averaged about 8 points 3 rebs, and 4 assists a game. I think those numbers can be replaced (and hopefully the leadership too)…and since we went the whole year minus a pg who both knew the system AND could break down a defense off the dribble (at least consistently) and it didn’t kill our season, I just don’t see it killing us next season either. Pressing teams may be a concern, but we don’t see much of that, and I guess I’m not convinced at this point in time that CJ and David were vastly superior ball handlers compared to who will be on the floor next year. Now if you are talking about an elite level (I’m not prepared to do that yet when I’m talking about next season)…well, Ray McCallum would be a wonderful addition.

Kelvin is Klassy. Best of luck to him wherever he ends up – I’ll be rooting for him. Dylan – what do you think we do w/ this extra scholly? Does Eso get it or do we use it for 2010 (Smotrycz, Regan, Zeigler, and M. Morgan (& Oliver on K’zoo Promise) sounds good to me).

True Kelvin was a great kid who had a few moments, but look at the positives.

1)It opens up a scholarship that we can certainly use. With the program on the up swing I would much rather Beilien bring in a player that better fits his system, than hope Kelvin Grady could fit in.

2)We made the tournament last year without a huge contribution from the PG position.Basically we got by on a mixture of guts, moxie, and hustle (and quite frankly some stretches of poor play) from KG, CJ, and Merritt. While it might not be ideal, I think a combination of Darius, LLP, and Stu at the point will be as good if not better. It gives us a taller lineup and more scoring options. I just hope D-Mo is as good as advertised, otherwise we could have problems

BUM the kid was a gunner from tip to the buzzer, and he was a turnover waiting to happen! He had no runner, no harassing or scrappy D.. Not to mention he hadn’t grasped the concept of making layups also. If your a quick little guy you have to bring something to the table other then giving your coach heart attacks every time you lead the break. DMo can handle the rock very well, and is bigger..LLP is not ball handling handicapped either. We will be fine, when it comes down to it..can you play or can you not play? Can you help on both ends of the floor? and KG’s answer is NO! If we can land someone like Ray McCallum now you all will forget about KG44 aka Green Light. Wish this would of happened earlier so we could of made a move on Carl “Tay” Jones out of Cleveland, but NOO we didnt want another small PG! Good Luck KG, maybe ill see you at Yesterdog this summer

Why would Carl Jones fit the system any better than KG? If KG didn’t work out in the system you can bet neither would Jones. I’d love if Michigan could land McCallum but there are 2 things that come to mind regarding Ray. #1 I don’t think he is all that high on Michigan right now, and since he did not grow up in Michigan he probably has no allegiances to in-state programs as he did not grow up rooting for UM or MSU. He is also used to traveling with his dad to new jobs so distance will probably not be a factor with him. #2 McCallum doesn’t help the team NEXT year, which by the way, is our last with Sims and likely Harris too.

I think the team can do big things next year and I really hope they are able to because as of now, we do not have a Manny or DeShawn replacement. Losing KG will hurt next year no doubt about it.

How ridiculous is it to think that maybe Manny could assume a sort of point forward position to start the year while Morris is still in the learning stages. He wouldn’t necessarily be a true point in a sense of running the sets, but I feel just as confident with him bringing the ball up as I do anyone else on the current roster. I feel like he could still play his role of slasher if we were to attempt this. I think it’s at least worth a look with the complete lack of experience at the position.

This could also open up a few more minutes at the 3 position for us to see if Ant/Novak/Vogrich are capable of giving us quality time there in the future.

Thoughts?

I’m sad to see him go but, now Darius will have all the time at point.

beilein has said that he wants everybody to be big and long, grady unfortunately doesnt fit that bill………

We’ll be fine at point. C.J. Lee, David Merrit and Kelvin Grady weren’t “good” ball handling point guards. Look at the Clemson game,C.J. Lee turns the ball over with under a minute to play. The mark of a true point guard keeps the ball in play and doesn’t turn it over much.

We’ll be fine with LLP and Darius Morris. How much press will Michigan honestly see during the year?…Not very much. Big Ten is all about half court defense and ball movement. No worries there.

And who’s to say that Darius Morris can not become a great point guard. We haven’t even seen the kid play at the college level. For 2009-2010 we’ll be fine and I expect we’ll be a lot better.

I am sad to see a real good kid leaving the program, but I dont think there is any reason to get too concerned over this. I really dont think Grady was going to be the main point next year anyway. Obviously, we are bringing in a true freshman that doesnt know the system, but Im not real sure Grady knew the system that well either. I believe the main reason he lost playing time was his defense, but I also think the team just played better offensively with Lee and Merritt in there. Grady had a tendency to over-dribble, and not get the ball moving on the perimeter. He had a ton of potential as a break down type player, but he never really figured out how to get in the lane consistently and make plays. Morris with help from Douglass/LLP should be able to do fine. Once the ball is initiated into the offense, every player handles it as much as any other, so you dont need a huge pressure relief guy.

[...] 09-10 Schedule « Kelvin Grady Leaving the Michigan Basketball Program [...]

Im glad to see everyone is so confident that a true freshmen is going to be the answer. Morris is a 3 star player guys, but reading this board you would think he was Tyreke Evans. I have a bad feeling and the QB comparison is a good one.

well depends who you ask. Rivals has him top 75 and four stars. Scout has only three, ESPN it is hard to tell, but he is just outside the top 100 or so. I dont know for sure that Morris is going to be the man next year, but I am pretty sure that Grady was not going to be that guy either. Im just not overly concerned about it, since I believe that we do have solid options. Including Morris and Douglass.

man o man…. to everyone with a “bad feeling” about next year: RELAX. We damn near made the sweet 16 with a pg that couldn’t start at Manhattan and a back-up that got cut not once but twice as a walk-on. I think its safe to say that Morris will be better than both of those guys. And Douglass will be just fine in a pinch. Hell, most of you don’t realize that Douglass brought the ball up almost 50% of the time this year anyways. JB’s system doesn’t require a “true” pg in the way that Izzo’s offense does. Michigan runs a lot of similar sets that revolve around reading the defense regardless of playing the 1 or the 5. RELAX. This team will be better off in the long run with the extra schollie and not knowing for sure that Manny will go pro at the end of next year.

Go Blue, you’ve made it abundantly clear this year that you are Kelvin Grady’s #1 fan. We’re all aware that that lousy David Meritt should have never played in front of him. You’ve said it a million times at least.

I will continue to trust Beilein’s judgement on this one. He chose not to play Grady for a reason. He probably knew that KG would transfer as a result. Still, he didn’t let him play much. I think JB knows what he’s doing.

I figured I would rile up the board a little with my last post.

I had a few points I was trying to make. There is nothing wrong with debating coaching decisions but the team did better after Kelvin got benched. If we lost the big games down the stretch or struggled with turnovers we may have had a valid discussion of the PG position. The fact is that we won the big games down the stretch and giving Grady more minutes would have done absolutely nothing in the games we lost. I just think someone flat out saying that Beilein was wrong and Grady should have gotten more minutes than Merritt is ridiculous given the results of the decision.

Point guard play is important and that is why Morris was such a priority for Beilein. I think other posters have made my point of how our offense can function fine without a true point. We did well this year with CJ and Dave just managing the offense from the position. Moving forward, of course we need more, but Grady wasn’t the answer. Grady was probably the #4 PG next year behind Stu, LLP, and Morris so his exit is not a big deal.

As far as knowing about basketball, I would be happy to have a beer with any Michigan basketball junkie the next time they are in Vegas if they want to listen to me drone on for hours about which screen off the ball set up a basket two plays later to help us win a game. I could also go over the plays Novak made this year that didn’t show up in the box score but were the reason why Beilein played him so many minutes at the 4 this year dispite the fact that he’s only 6’4″.

The Grady Bunch were somewhat disappointments on the field and the floor but they were both positive contributors. Wish them well ! Go Blue !!!!!

Yes, it is parallel to the QB situation. Two freshmen coming in to assume an impt role. B referred to it as being the captain of a ship. I enjoyed watching KG play, fast, good ball skills, but that’s not what B wants in his system, bring the ball up slow, half court sets. Morris has skill and talent, but who can say if he will pick up, learn and execute B’s system immediately? LLP didn’t even after practicing with the team for 1/2 the yr. He started quickly and then sat and had 5-10 min a game, if at all.

I agree with the earlier comment of needing a true PG. I think Duke is a similar to UM’s offense more than any other team and they didn’t have a true PG and when they hit 3s they won but they also struggled with TOs and bringing the ball up. I don’t think Duke will ever get past the sweet 16. Coach K has become more of a diplomat of the sport and nice guy

CJ and Merritt added the senior leadership roles but didn’t really see any thing more than that from Merritt. KG could have played and gained more confidence and experience in the system. I agree with earlier comment that B forced this upon himself or the team.

Also, as a general observation seems like the Grady bros have been getting the short end of both coaching transitions.

alien – i dont think you can say that the Grady brothers got the short end of either coaching change. Kelvin Grady was giving ample opportunity to take control of the pg spot. He didnt get it done, and other guys outplayed him. He also would surely have ample opportunity to earn it back this offseason, but apparently he has chosen a different avenue. Kevin Grady has not been given quite as many opportunities, but he has been given some and he showed very little in that time. Not to mention he also had an off the field incident. Plus his carries were cut in half from his freshman to sophomore year by Carr, so its not like its just Rodriguez who isnt playing him. I wanted to see both of these kids succeed at Michigan because they are really good kids, but neither of them have showed me enough to say anything bad about the coaches decisions not to play them.

Mith
The funny thing is my opinion of Grady probably comes across more favorable than it really is. I believe Grady was a very good ball handler which I place a premium on but other than that he was nothing special. The reason for my obvious support was the utter mystification I felt regarding Merritt. Bentley made a great point about how little we got from the PG position so I guess Morris wouldnt have to be anything special to fill the void. Perhaps Beilein gave Morris some kind of assurances in order to secure the commitment?

First, Michigan will be fine next year. They will have no problem finding someone to run the offense, whether it be Stu or DMo. As mentioned above, it does not take a Talor Battle or Kalin Lucas type player to run Michigan’s offense. As a part of this new development, we will be able to recruit for the future, not try and revamp the past. There are many good players in the ’10 Class that Michigan needs to actively recruit. If we can land 3 solid players in that class, this team will continue on their way to becoming a national powerhouse.

I have to agree that in the long run it didn’t look good for Kelvin – each long-armed guard Beilein recruits means less playing time for 5’9″ speed guys. There will probably be a negative impact early next year – the Old Spice Classic and Duke games come up awfully early, sooner than Morris will have mastered the offense – but Beilein has already shown the ability to make do with the players he has. With luck he’ll be Darius the Great by the new year.

Kudos to Grady (and Shepherd and Wright and Gibson…) for never being a distraction despite the team moving in a different direction.

I don’t get what all the fuss is about. Kelvin Grady’s departure allows just what we need- Zack Gibson transitioning to the point. Imagine a point guard that has the screen setting abilities of Gibson. He’s a one man show. Put it this way- the Big Ten will have a point gueard as the conference player of the year again next year, but this time it will surely be the Gibson factor.

Kelvin Grady Sr (Kelvin’s dad) is quoted in the AA News Friday: “You have to be in the business for 25 years to understand why we made our decision, and that is all that I am saying”.

This clearly echoes JB’s quote when he explained why Manny was benched, as well as other decisions.

Even one of those under-the-basket mops would not clean up all the sarcasm dripping from that statement.

I thought the Gradys were incredibly classy until I read that. Too bad they could not have left it as ‘difference in perspective’.