Milwaukee Bucks NBA Draft Prospect Watch: Grant Riller

Milwaukee Bucks NBA Draft Prospect – Grant Riller: Weaknesses

Fair or not, the skeptics that have viewed what Riller has to offer will offer up the caveat of the level of competition he regularly faced up against in the Colonial Athletic Association.

It’s clearly a fair point to bring up and does cast his remarkable production at Charleston in a slightly different light. However, it shouldn’t solely create questions over Riller’s abilities.

Where some of the bigger questions that do exist in Riller’s all-around game come is on the defensive side of the ball. Whether it was informed by his increasingly high-usage role over his time with the Cougars or not, Riller’s defensive effort and overall focus leaves plenty to be desired.

With limited physical tools and size, Riller will have to dig in defensively and offer up some hope of being at least a net-neutral team defender, especially as his role is due to significantly change at the next level.

There are also some concerns about Riller’s playmaking skills and overall vision as a passer.

Certainly Riller’s high-level scoring ability directly played into some of those questions and averaging 2.8 career assists and posting a 1.42 assist-to-turnover ratio over his time with the Cougars doesn’t help either. Whether Riller’s facilitating and ability to set the table for an NBA team’s offense holds up is a big question with him likely to take on a backup role.