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Vincent Grier NBA Draft Scouting Report

Vincent Grier NBA Draft Scouting Report
Feb 27, 2005, 04:04 pm
Strengths
A very explosive offensive player that can put up points with the best of them. He can get his shot off at any point in time and is very acrobatic in the air and on the move. With that being said, he is obviously a very solid athlete, he has deceptively good quickness and is well conditioned.

Grier has blasted onto the national scene this year and has been one of the most dangerous and offensively creative players in the Big Ten. He was absolutely dynamite in two particular games for the Golden Gophers games this season against Wisconsin and Northwestern. In those two, Grier scored half of the Gophers points in both of those games with 32 points each.

He is very good at scoring in the post for a guard, not being afraid to take it hard to the hoop no matter who is in front of him. He rebounds well for a guard and when he has the ball in his hands on the break, he just seems one step quicker than his competition. Grier is very creative going to the hoop, he will not always look to dunk the basketball, and he is very good at putting up circus shots and making them.

In terms of ball handling, he is good at creating off the dribble due to his strength, as most of his points come from dribble penetration, and he knows how to finish when he gets the chance. At times, he throws up some crazy and ill-advised shots but he is surprisingly accurate and makes a majority of those types of shots.

Physically he is a well-built player; however, he still needs to get
stronger as do most for the move to the next level. He does not have outstanding quickness or leaping ability, but when you least expect it, he will do something amazing. His physical strength allows him to get his shot off in traffic.

Grier is a good teammate, he seems to get along with his teammates and does not appear to have any attitude problems. He is a hard worker and his improvement from being a freshman at UNC Charlotte to what he is now shows that. In terms of competitiveness, he is an intense player, but I would not classify him amongst the great competitors from what he has shown so far.

Weaknesses
Grier's main weakness is that he plays out of control on offense at times. He is great at creating his own shot, but at times he takes bad shots that are not within the offense. He also needs to learn how to take advantage of more skilled based offensive moves that do not require as much energy as driving to the basket, and will diversify his offense. At this point, he doesn't use body and ball fakes or jab steps that often to free himself up. If he adds some moves to his offensive game, he will be even more dangerous.

His ball control when dribbling is also suspect at times, he loses control of the basketball under pressure at times and can be turnover prone. He handles the basketball well on the break and driving to the basket, but he is not a great ball handler by any means yet. Grier also does not pass the ball well or make his teammates better, he only averages around 2 assists per game. With his ability to create dribble penetration with the basketball, he must learn how to find his teammates and make them better. Part of that could be caused from the personnel on the Golden Gophers and the fact that he has to be aggressive on offense at all times.

One of his biggest weaknesses is his shooting right now. When he is hitting his shots he is very hard to stop on offense. The problem is, it seems like he either wants to settle for jump shots all the time or he just goes full steam to the hoop, there is not much combination of both at this point. He is not a very good three point shooter at all at this point of his career, he must work on his range because if he can't hit a college 3-point shot with accuracy the NBA three certainly won't be any easier for him. He does however have a nice touch from mid-range and has a nice pull up jump shot to his game.

For Grier to be a serious NBA prospect he will not only have to develop a better jump shot, he will also have to learn how to play consistently tough defense.

At times he is a solid defender, he gets a lot of steals and rebounds well for a guard. However, he does not move his feet laterally that well which leaves him out of position on defense and gets his team in trouble on rotations. He has trouble matching up against guards that are equally athletic or more athletic than him on defense. He can handle good defenders on offense, but when Grier has to play defense against comparable players equal to him he has trouble. Grier has the potential to be a very solid defender, but there are some things that he needs work on first. The obvious one is his lateral movement, but just as important is his off the ball defense, he does not always fight through screens or give full effort on defense. Grier is much more intense and active when he has the ball in his hands compared to when he doesn't, and that needs to change for him to make the NBA where he will be a role player who is expected to contribute in more than one way.

Mentally, he tends to get down on himself at times; if he misses shots he becomes frustrated. Grier needs a good motivated coach besides him that believes in his abilities. I do not believe he would deal well with a negative coach. Part of his NBA success depends on what situation he is put in as well.

Competition
This profile has yet to be completed.

Outlook
Grier will most likely not leave this year for the draft, which would be a wise move considering that he just returned to D-1 this season and doesn't have much buzz at this point. If he waits another year, and improves on his weaknesses (especially becoming a better outside shooter), while rounding out his game, he has a chance to be a late 1st round pick. He has that kind of ability and upside. He could just as well not get drafted, though. Much will depend on how hard he works this summer along with how he performs next season and in workouts.


Comments
Vincent Grier has the potential to be a good slasher and scorer in the NBA. He has good size for a guard, not ideal size at 6-5, but he is not small by any means. With his ability to create and finish at the hoop, he has the ability to fit in with the NBA's game of penetration and creating off the dribble if he can round out his game. He could be a good backup SG coming off the bench as a scorer.

If matched up against any of the SG's in college right on offense, I am confident he could take any one of them to the hoop at anytime, he is that good of a one on one player. I doubt he will ever be a great shooter, but his ability to score in the paint and under pressure will help him at the next level.

At times, Vincent Grier's creativity going to the basket is similar to plays Kobe Bryant makes in the air. Vincent is not where near the athlete or player that Kobe Bryant is, and we're not comparing the two in any way shape or form, but he shows small flashes of the same type of flair, body control and creativity in the air that Kobe does. Vincent will not always dunk it on someone; he'll also throw up some very creative reverse shots if he thinks that's more effective.

Since being a freshman on UNC Charlotte where he averaged 5 points a game, to being one of the best JUCO players in the nation, then coming to the Gophers and basically repeating what he did at Dixie State Junior College in terms of statistics, even though he had to make the transition from JUCO to the Big-10, Grier has come a long was a basketball player. He has made a lot of progress over his career so far and if he continues that into his senior year in college, he will have a good future in front of him as a basketball player, whether its in the NBA or in Europe.

Facts
2002-03 Freshman Season, UNC-Charlotte:
Averaged 5.2 points and 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals, in 18.2 minutes per game.

2003-04 Sophomore Season, Dixie State Junior College:
Averaged 17.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

2004-05 Junior Season, Minnesota Golden Gophers:
Averaged 18 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game.


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