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Orlando Magic NBA Draft: One player from each Final Four team to consider drafting

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Jalen Suggs has emerged as one of the top prospects in the NBA Draft and Gonzaga is the favorite to win the national championship. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Jalen Suggs has emerged as one of the top prospects in the NBA Draft and Gonzaga is the favorite to win the national championship. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /
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Quentin Grimes, Houston Cougars
Houston guard Quentin Grimes has emerged as a solid 3-and-D win potentially. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

Quentin Grimes, Houston

SG, 6-foot-5, 205 lbs.

Houston has proven an AAC team can compete for a national championship. That is the place to start . . . with that joke. Obviously, basketball is different than football. But I digress.

Quentin Grimes has helped Houston make its first Final Four since Phi Slamma Jamma with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. It is an incredible accomplishment that has taken the program back into the spotlight.

Coach Kelvin Sampson has proven himself as a college coach. But his sojourn into the NBA after he was dismissed from Indiana for what many have deemed innocuous recruiting violations involving three-way calling. It was never about his basketball acumen.

Nor was it ever really about his recruiting (he was let go the year after bringing Eric Gordon and D.J. White to Indiana).

His Houston team is a strong defensive outfit. They get after teams on that end and it helped them dominate the AAC this year and emerge as one of the top teams in the entire country.

His prize recruit and the ace defender of that bunch is Quentin Grimes.

Grimes is averaging 18.0 points per game in his second year at Houston after transferring from Kansas. That should give some clue to the talent he had in high school. Like NBA players, some guys just need better situations to shine.

Grimes shot 41.3-percent from beyond the arc this season too in addition to his 2.4 defensive win shares and +2.9 defensive box plus-minus, according to Sports-Reference. Grimes adding that offensive game has made him a more valuable player in the draft process.

During the NCAA Tournament, he is averaging 18.0 points per game and posting a 54.3-percent effective field goal percentage. He has stepped up his game to help Houston reach this point.

Grimes still projects as a second-round pick — Vecenie has him No. 48 on his board and ESPN has him No. 56. Maybe this tournament run has helped him turn enough heads as a 3-and-D player to sneak into the first round. He could impress too during the Combine.