As the basketball season is winding down and the Lakers and Celtics play for the title, teams turn their eyes to free agency and the draft to improve their teams.  Of particular interest for Terps fans are the prospects for Greivis Vasquez.

Of course, before we can go into teams that Greivis might fit into we have to know some of Vasquez’s strengths and weaknesses.  As Terps fans and college basketball fans in general can attest, Greivis Vasquez exudes passion for basketball.  Some of the other things Chad Ford, ESPN’s draft insider, states are that he thrives on drives to the hoop, solid passing which can be helpful to play some point guard in the NBA.  Some of the weaknesses are his athleticism (in terms of leaping and speed) and his mid range jumper along with needing to bulk a bit.  Scouts also can’t figure out what position he would fit best at whether it would be as a true point guard or as a combo guard.  With all that said, Greivis figures to grade out as an early to mid second round pick.

The most interesting team that continued to pop up was the Detroit Pistons.  Greivis worked out with the Pistons last year before pulling his name out of the draft and the Pistons last year took Jonas Jerebko around the same pick they have this year in the second round.  I mention Jerebko because the Pistons do a good job of finding quality talent in the second round and developing it.  The Pistons also need a point guard to complement Rodney Stuckey and the Pistons like guards with size like Richard Hamilton (6-7, 193), Stuckey (6-5, 205), and Chauncey Billups (6-3, 202).  Greivis fits this profile at 6-6, 195 lbs and would be a good complementary guard coming off the bench for Detroit.  This was Greivis’ take on his role for next year:

I know my role is going to be different in an NBA team than it was in college. It’s not about me playing 48 minutes and taking big-time shots. It’s just maybe coming off the bench and being a backup point guard and learning from some veteran guys and getting better until eventually I become the starting point guard of a team. It’s going to take me a little while. It’s always hard in any process you do at the beginning. So I understand that. I don’t have no ego. It’s not like I got to go to a team and be the starting point guard right away. No, I got to work my way up.

Some of the other teams I read about were the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Washington Wizards. Each of them could use someone like Greivis on their team but the Bucks and Wizards were the most intriguing of this group.  The Bucks because John Hammond, the Bucks GM, worked for the Pistons as an assistant GM before the current job so he is quite familiar with the guards with length strategy.  The Wizards would be cool for the obvious reasons that it would be a short drive from Comcast Center to the Verizon Center.

This quote from NYKnicks.com sums up Greivis’ draft prospects the best, “While naysayers may point out his shortcomings and question how productive he can be at the pro’s, all you have to do is look at what Vasquez accomplished in college and ask how he is not worth giving a legit shot.”