Inside The Huskies

Oregon Forward Builds Basketball Following, Including UW

Winters Grady shows off the early interest in him.

Dan Raley

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He's one of the more intriguing Northwest high school basketball players out there right now. Before everyone's eyes, he's still physically developing. He has a catchy first name.

Yet Winters Grady, from Lake Oswego High School in the Portland suburbs, remains a full three years removed from joining the collegiate ranks.

This week, the 6-foot-7, 210-pound power forward released a list of 17 schools that have either offered him or shown interest in his game — among them are UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Colorado, Gonzaga, WSU and the University of Washington.

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Again, young Winters, who spends his summers on the AAU circuit, is a Class of 2025 recruit and will be required to play three more high school seasons before he can advance.

He comes off a freshman season at Lake Oswego High in which he averaged 20-plus points per game playing mostly with seniors and was named all-conference.

Rather than attack the basket explosively, Grady presents a power game geared to wear people down. As a bonus, he has a soft shooting touch that stretches all the way to 3-point range and he can handle the ball.

Recruiting analysts note how Grady has streamlined his physique and shed pounds since they first saw him. Remember, he's just a 15-year-old kid who still maturing.

He's had to learn how to make adjustments in his play when an opponent specifically sends a defense after him to stop him. In a game against West Linn High, he scored 22 points in the opening half but was held to five thereafter and his team lost by seven.

While it's unclear if he has any interest in the UW, and how big of a deal he'll become when he's through with his growth spurt, Grady certainly brings the right mindset to the possibility of impending stardom.

On social media, he posted the following mantra, "Never will I ever need a ranking to tell me how good I am or predict my future."

Words to play by

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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