Treveon Graham Hits New Level For Stampede

A two-time First-Team All Atlantic 10 player during his years at Virginia Commonwealth University, Treveon Graham entered the NBA Draft this past year in hopes of taking his game to the next level. Though he was seen as being on the radar of teams during the second round, he was ultimately passed up by each team and wound up going undrafted.

After a brief preseason stint with the Utah Jazz, Graham made his way for the NBA D-League, where the Idaho Stampede welcomed him with open arms. As an incredibly skilled four-year college player, the general consensus was that he would be able to make a relatively smooth transition to the NBADL, but that wasn't the case out of the gate.

Shooting under 40% throughout the first two months of the season, Graham saw his playing time scaled back to under 30 minutes per game and as the last few months have shown, that was really the kick that he needed. After averaging 14.4 points on 50.3% shooting throughout January, Graham has seen his responsibilities grow within the context of the Stampede offense.

Over the course of the month of March, Graham has been playing nearly 40 minutes per game and it has been to the benefit of the team, as they have went 4-3 over that span. His increased workload has provided him the opportunity to have the best month of his professional career, as he's averaging 27.3 points per game on 56.3% from the field as well as 41.4% from three-point range.

Though he has not ventured beyond the arc all that often throughout the month, he's shown an uptick in efficiency compared to to past months. This added consistency in his jump shot (44.6% throughout March) will bode well for him moving forward if he's able to keep it up, as it was one of the minor knock against him coming out of VCU.

While his jump shot has been impressive, what stands out on his shot chart is just how relentless he has been in getting to the rim and finishing. He's hitting his shots in close at over 8% higher than league average and it's gone a long way in proving that he is able to finish through contact on the professional level.

He doesn't have the quick first step that many of the elite NBA scorers have, but he's still able to use his size to make his way into the lane even through tight defense. It was the same story at VCU, but he's been able to keep up the same level of efficiency even against the improved defenders that he's seen in the D-League.

Defensively he has also shown some promise, which is especially important considering that another one of the knocks against him was his sub-par ability on that end in college. He uses his long wingspan (nearly 7') to disrupt passing lanes and although his lack of elite athleticism hurts him here as well, he has shown progress as both an individual and a team defender.

The Stampede are currently out of the playoff race for this season, but the improvement that Treveon Graham has shown throughout the past few months, and the month of March especially, has added to their player development reputation.

As for Graham himself, the jump that he has taken on both ends of the court has certainly grabbed the attention of teams on the NBA level and internationally, and he undoubtedly is looking at a much brighter future as the D-League season nears its end.