3 thoughts on the commitment of Winters Grady to Michigan basketball

There has been momentum building for Michigan basketball in the 2025 recruiting class. Five-star guard Trey McKenney feels like he could be committing to the Wolverines but four-star guard Winters Grady beat him to the punch on Friday announcing his commitment.

Grady is 6-foot-5, 185 pounds out of Napa, California. He plays for Prolific Prep and is ranked 83rd overall according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. Grady is also a consensus four-star recruit, meaning all four rankings services rate him as a blue chip.

The scouting report reads that Grady is one of the best shooters in the 2025 class. He shot over 50 percent from two last season, 42 percent from 3-point range, and 87 percent from the free throw line.

Winters feels like a great fit for Michigan basketball. He's the first commitment in the 2025 class and here are three thoughts on what it means for the Wolverines.

An ideal fit for Dusty May's system

It feels like Winters Grady was made to play for Dusty May. He can create shots for others, even if it's more as a secondary creator. He can shoot, and he's sneaky good in ball-screen situations. He's known for being a big guard who can shoot and for good reason.

But Grady has been his chances to create for others increase and he has done well with those chances. Dylan Burkhardt of UMHoops points out how good he was in on-ball situations:

"Of his 329 possessions used this summer per Synergy, 136 were some type of on-ball action (ball screen handler, isolation, dribble handoff, post-up), and Grady scored 1.04 points per play on those attempts. The percentiles all check out: 88th percentile as a ball screen scorer, 74th percentile in isolation, 63rd in DHOs, and 85th in post-ups. So roughly a third of Grady’s offense came from self-created shots, and he was highly efficient."

You probably wouldn't guess that 1/3 of Grady's shots came from self-created shots. I didn't. But it makes sense. May wants three guards who can handle the ball. They don't have to be the point guard but they need to shoot, create their own shot, and score in on-ball situations.

Grady can do all of that and he does some of it better than people realize.