Dusty May turned Danny Wolf into a bona fide star, painting a clear pathway for more developmental success stories:
When Danny Wolf arrived in Ann Arbor, it felt like the perfect fit for Dusty May. The Michigan Wolverines had previously shopped around the Ivy League in the transfer portal (Mike Smith, Jaelin Llewellyn), so taking the First-Team All-Conference weapon out of Yale was a reasonable, but high-ceiling move for the incoming head coach.
In their lone season together, Wolf’s transfer was a win-win for both player and program. Wolf helped Michigan pull a 180 from the prior year’s disaster, winning the Big Ten Tournament and earning a place in the Sweet Sixteen. Meanwhile, Wolf is likely to hear his name called in the first round of Wednesday’s NBA Draft , having used his stop in Ann Arbor to supercharge his draft stock.
Strength of the pack
Truth be told, Wolf kind of wore on me throughout the season due to his laughable turnover rate. However, only so much blame can fall on him, as he was just behind Tre Donaldson in playmaking responsibilities, ranking second on the team in percentage of minutes played, assist rate, and usage. Wolf more or less was the engine, despite nominally lining up at power forward.
The encouragement for the future is that May recognized Wolf’s talent and installed a system around him where he could thrive. Playing with a ball-dominant point guard would limit his impact (and likely his happiness), so instead Wolf was paired up with Donaldson. May knew Vlad Goldin was likely to come to Michigan with him and recognized that Wolf could thrive next to a more traditional center.
Prospects like Wolf are rare — though Yaxel Lendeborg will be an interesting successor — but the focus should be less on this point-forward archetype and more on May’s ability to put his best players in position to succeed. Wolf is an electric player, but maximizing his output requires putting him in the right situation. May did just that, and the success of his development as a Wolverine is undeniable.
Seeing the vision
Wolf was not an unknown quantity (No. 26 in 247’s transfer rankings), but he did not arrive in Ann Arbor without question marks. Transfers in general always come with uncertainties, especially those moving up from lower conferences, but Wolf certainly fit the category of “intriguing yet not fully proven.” This was not a blind shot in the dark from the head coach, though.
All coaches would love to snag ready-made players out of the portal, but where May stands out is his ability to take what is available to him and fit those puzzle pieces together. Already, we are seeing his versatile philosophy with the transition from Donaldson to Elliot Cadeau and Goldin to Morez Johnson and Aday Mara, meaning the transfer market will be wide open for him each offseason.
Could Wolf have developed into a first-rounder at a different school with a different coach? Certainly; he has clear talent and NBA potential. Still, it is hard to look at how May grew and leveraged him this past season and not think that is a big reason why he is headed to the next level. Not every recruit or transfer will become an elite prospect at Michigan, but the presence of May makes the possibility quite real. Wolf is the first evidence of that and is unlikely to be the last.