Milwaukee Bucks: Options at No. 31

Feb 19, 2014; Syracuse, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange forward Jerami Grant (3) looks to get past the Boston College Eagles defense during the first half of a game at the Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Jerami Grant, PF, Syracuse

Grant improved a lot as a sophomore and his physical tools are intriguing. He’s 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-2½ wingspan, which is great size for a small forward.

But what he is at this point is a great athlete with a lot of work to do to become a polished offensive player. Even considering that, Grant improved from 14 minutes a game as a freshman to 31 as a sophomore and averaged 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting .496/.000/.674.

Yes, .000 from 3-point range, which is a major red flag for a perimeter player. But he only attempted five shots from long range, meaning he is aware of his limitations as a shooter.

The 67.4 percent at the foul line was up from 56.2 percent as a freshman and he averaged 5.6 attempts per game, so he was aggressive taking the ball to the rim and was an effective finisher once he got there.

But he made only 29 percent of his jump shots, meaning there are some major flaws that will have to be corrected for him to be an effective contributor at the next level.

He also can force things at time, trying so hard to get to the rim that he can get out of control and he lacks some upper-body strength.

Defensively, he is similar—a tremendous prospect who can be very green at times. He’s coming out of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, so the transition to the man-to-man defense expected in the NBA could be dicey, as it is for many prospects coming out of Jim Boeheim’s program.

The bottom line on Grant is that he might have enough pure athleticism to be able to contribute in spurts, with that same athletic ability—and the fact he just turned 20 years old and had one year as a significant contributor under his belt—leaves a lot of room for future improvement.

Grant has been ranked as high as No. 27 in the mocks I’ve looked at, so he’s another player who might not be there for the Bucks.

Projected to come off the board: No. 27-40.