{"id":69973,"date":"2025-07-17T13:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69973\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T13:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:20:08","slug":"why-yaxel-lendeborg-believes-michigans-frontcourt-will-dominate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69973\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Yaxel Lendeborg believes Michigan\u2019s frontcourt will dominate"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg is good at a lot of things<\/a>. He can score the ball from all three levels, he can create shots for his teammates and he can excel guarding multiple positions. Combine his athletic ability with his basketball IQ, and there aren\u2019t many things the UAB transfer lacks.<\/p>\n

One thing is for certain \u2014 Lendeborg certainly doesn\u2019t lack confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we will be the best frontcourt in the league,\u201d Lendeborg said at a recent media availability.<\/p>\n

After being projected as a mid-to-late first round NBA draft pick, Lendeborg came back<\/a> to college to join a Michigan team he can lead through a deep postseason run. Lendeborg headlines a deep frontcourt that can beat you in more ways than one, and at summer practices, he\u2019s already establishing chemistry with his fellow transfers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorez<\/a> (Johnson Jr. is a) super brute force inside, he can do anything you need and (he\u2019s) a really good defensive player,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cAday<\/a> (Mara), super tall, super long, you can throw the ball up in the air, he can go up and get it over everybody, that\u2019s something different. Me, I just try to move the ball around, create for those guys. Those guys are lob threats and I\u2019m more of an under-the-rim player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar to Danny Wolf last season, Lendeborg is a matchup nightmare that can serve as a playmaker in a Michigan offense that values versatility and adaptability. We know Dusty May loves a ball screen and the ripple effect it has on an offense<\/a>, and Lendeborg is already getting reps as a playmaker.<\/p>\n

\u201c(May) wants me coming off ball screens and creating for my teammates, which is what I love to do,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019ve been doing so far. I haven\u2019t really taken many shots anyway. It\u2019s been super fun just getting assists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe enjoys passing the ball,\u201d May said of Lendeborg. \u201cWhen you have a guy that\u2019s been as publicized as Yax, if they\u2019re selfish, they\u2019re about numbers, they can present a lot of challenges. And with Yaxel, he\u2019s so team-oriented that he\u2019s been a very smooth transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

May said the focus of the next few weeks is determining which lineups fit best together. With his shot creation, Lendeborg pretty much fits well with everyone.<\/p>\n

In a college basketball landscape that features more players with NBA interest opting to return to school and rosters changing year over year, being multi-faceted is as important as ever. That\u2019s exactly what this Michigan team is.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust how versatile we are,\u201d Lendeborg said when asked about what excites him about the team the most. \u201cWe have so many assets 1-5, I\u2019m so excited to play with Aday and Morez. Aday is a super interesting passer, super long, the tallest guy I\u2019ve ever met in my life to be honest with you, so it\u2019s really interesting to see him every day. And Morez, super strong, those two guys, I\u2019m really excited to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n

As fans loved last season, having a height advantage leads to playing more above the rim. Lendeborg believes Michigan has the personnel to do that again this season. <\/p>\n

\u201cElliot (Cadeau) as well, pass-first guy, throws me lobs as well,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cI never really caught lobs like that last year. It\u2019s been interesting have a frontman.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to take actual game reps to formulate game reps, and as we saw last year, this team could very well go through some growing pains.<\/p>\n

But adaptability is May\u2019s biggest strength as a coach. He has won with a 6-foot-2 Alijah Martin playing the 4, and a 7-foot Danny Wolf playing the 4. Being versatile and having a complementary frontcourt<\/a> makes the Wolverines a tough cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can have a really good season with these lineups because we can do a lot of changes,\u201d Mara said when asked about the frontcourt. \u201cI just feel really good after a couple of practices with them, they\u2019re good guys, not selfish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg is good at a lot of things. He can score the ball from…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":69974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,49268,3254,30061,204,41209,49267,3252,214,3255,49269,3253,1317,1337,1338,196,62,67,132,68,3247,11816,49266],"class_list":{"0":"post-69973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-believes","10":"tag-brew","11":"tag-dominate","12":"tag-front-page","13":"tag-frontcourt","14":"tag-lendeborg","15":"tag-maize","16":"tag-michigan","17":"tag-michigan-mens-basketball","18":"tag-michigan-mens-basketball-analysis","19":"tag-n","20":"tag-ncaa","21":"tag-ncaa-basketball","22":"tag-ncaabasketball","23":"tag-s","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-why","29":"tag-will","30":"tag-yaxel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114868782639952621","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}