Michigan Wolverines basketball freshman guard/forward Winters Grady is one of the many highly-rated recruits assistant coach Justin Joyner has helped reel in. Joyner, a Concord, Calif., native, previously worked at Saint Mary’s and was a frequent visitor at Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep, where Grady attended. The two built a rapport then, and Joyner was able […]
Michigan Wolverines basketball freshman guard/forward Winters Grady is one of the many highly-rated recruits assistant coach Justin Joyner has helped reel in. Joyner, a Concord, Calif., native, previously worked at Saint Mary’s and was a frequent visitor at Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep, where Grady attended.
The two built a rapport then, and Joyner was able to land Grady at Michigan once he took the job under head coach Dusty May ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
“I wasn’t too close with him, because I don’t think that he thought I fit Saint Mary’s really well at the time, but we still built a good relationship,” Grady said of Joyner on the ‘Defend The Block’ podcast with host Brian Boesch. “Then he came over here, and he got it jumping right away.”
It’s hard to ignore all the praise from recruits — even those who didn’t choose Michigan — on how personable May and his staff are throughout the courting process.
“Michigan was always the most consistent — and that’s kinda how I operate,” Grady said, comparing U-M to the other schools he was considering. “They were super consistent with recruiting, reaching out, coming to see me, sending me film, sending me clips.
“It got personable really quick, and I really enjoyed that. All of the other schools, for lack of better words, it was kinda wishy washy, just kinda what you want to hear.
“It’s great in the moment, but my dad told me this, ‘You gotta look toward the future, to when you get there. It’s not gonna be a shell shock. When you get there, they’re all of the sudden completely different people than they were when they were recruiting you.’ Here, they’ve been the same people, from the first phone call to me.”
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Tualatin, Ore., native was on a loaded team at Prolific Prep, and learned to play a role. The four-star recruit still averaged 17 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2 assists per game while playing with other high-end talents.
“I think it just comes down to knowing a role,” Grady said. “I feel like, I mean, even my sophomore year going into junior year at Prolific, I didn’t really know how to fit a role to impact winning very well. I was just kinda like, ‘Give me the ball and let’s see what happens,’ which is not bad, but I was just a young kid. I was more talented than other kids in my state, so it was just what it was.
“But the biggest part is being able to know my role, knowing how to impact winning within that role and still knowing that you’re a super important piece of the team. Every single person plays their role, and every single person is just as important as the next. Everybody needs their role to win.”
He’ll have to fit in before he stands out at Michigan — a sentiment former Michigan coach John Beilein used to share and one May has repeated this offseason.
Grady said he’s working to improve defensively, where he’s stronger off the ball than he is on it.
“I think I’m in a good place, very solid at it, but not anything extraordinary, to be honest,” Grady explained. “I’m solid, and I want to get to the point where I’m a higher level defender.”
A terrific shooter, Grady is feeling out when to pull the trigger, and where.
“I’m still adjusting to all that, as well,” Grady said of shot selection. “It’s all an adjustment. I’m learning what’s a good shot, what’s a bad shot.
“I think that I shoot a high percentage off of catch-and-shoots, so I’m more prone to shoot contested catch-and-shoot shots, but I’m still trying to smooth out my mid-range game, knowing when to use it and when to not, because analytically it’s not the greatest shot, a contested mid-range. I’m still learning to cut most of those out and just shoot those open ones and play off two feet in the mid-range.”
Michigan’s excellent front court — highlighted by graduate forwards Yaxel Lendeborg and Will Tschetter, junior center Aday Mara and sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. — will help the guards and wings get open looks.
“Just their gravity,” Grady said of what stands out. “They’re so big, and they’re also so versatile. Aday, Yaxel — they’re not even looking to score most of the time, they’re looking to use their gravity and pass, find somebody else an open shot. And for a shooter, that’s a dream. I’ve loved playing with them. I’ve had countless assists from both Aday and Yaxel. And then Will, he can shoot. Will can shoot.”
Michigan’s shooting, and lack of proven volume three-point marksmen, has been a question mark heading into the 2025-26 campaign. Grady, however, believes the Wolverines will be just fine.
“I’ve heard that a couple times, and I’ve seen it just on social media that we don’t have much shooting,” Grady acknowledged. “But we get into practice, and it’s like, Will can shoot, Yaxel can shoot, [junior guard] Elliot [Cadeau] has been shooting it really well, I can shoot, [graduate guard] Nimari [Burnett] a great shooter. I mean, [redshirt freshman forward] Oscar [Goodman] can knock down shots. [Freshman guard] Trey [McKenney] can shoot it. That’s seven people just off the top of my head. Morez is developing a great jump shot.
“I think it’ll just be part of the process of just proving people wrong.”
Category: General Sports
