DeMatha Catholic head coach Mike Jones called it an “unknown.”

Players leave college because they want to enter the NBA Draft when their stock is highest, not knowing how an extra collegiate year could affect it.

But that same “unknown” could be Jerami Grant’s greatest strength.

“The best quality he has is that you really can’t see how good he’s going to be because I think his ceiling is limitless,” Jones, Grant’s high school coach, said. “I have known Jerami since he was 6 or 7 years old and that’s always been a thing with him.

“For people to still be talking to this day about how much improvement he can make, I think it’s just incredibly impressive.”

Grant lies in the middle of former SU teammates Tyler Ennis and C.J. Fair in the draft projections, and is expected by most to come off the board in the mid-to-late first round at the Barclays Center on Thursday night. But lingering questions about his back, outside jump shot, skill set and position have him slipping closer to the fringe of the first round and possibly into the second. 

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said he thinks Grant isn’t a small forward because he doesn’t shoot or dribble well enough, but that he’s also undersized for a power forward, the position he thinks Grant will end up playing.

“He’s not an ultra-skilled player right now and that’s something he’s really got to work on,” Bilas said in a teleconference on Tuesday. “He’s got to be able to face up and hit an 18-footer.

“I think he’s more of a latter-part-of-the-first-round guy.”

In his sophomore season with the Orange, Grant showed the capability to knock down an occasional elbow jumper. But he hardly moved beyond that, only taking five 3-pointers on last year and making none. 

In an age when the outside-shooting big man is becoming more of a commodity in the NBA, Grant may need to incorporate more of a long-range jump shot into his game, especially when he’s not of the build of the prototypical power forward.

“He definitely needs to continue to improve his jumper,” Jones said. “I think we all saw last year that has begun and we maybe didn’t see it in games, but all reports are that his jump shot has gotten a lot better.”

Then there’s his back.

It hindered him late last season, keeping him out of Syracuse’s loss to N.C. State in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in March.

Jones said it won’t cause him to fall on Thursday night.

“I’ve spoken to 15 or 16 teams, and I can only remember the back coming up one time,” Jones said. “He did the pre-draft camp in Chicago and they’ve seen him work out, so I really don’t think that’s a concern at all.”

Grant’s untapped potential still has him highly regarded among many NBA teams.

It’s what makes them willing to risk a higher pick on him, simply because the room for improvement makes him a much more enticing prospect.

“He has so much potential,” Ennis said at NBA Draft media day. “I think a lot of people don’t realize how much he can dribble the ball and make plays.”

Bilas criticized Grant’s skill set, but praised his explosiveness around the basket. He worried about the forward’s stature but complimented his shot blocking.

Plays such as Grant’s monstrous put-back dunk against California in the Maui Invitational or his two-handed rejection against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden are just microcosms of the athleticism he’s working with. 

And though his game needs polishing to fit that circular athleticism into a square peg, the “unknown” alone may be what has him selected in the first round. 

“Just hearing your name called is what this is all about,” Jones said. “He can worry about all that other stuff afterward.”

Published on June 25, 2014 at 7:00 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman