If Ulysses S. Grant played basketball: center, rated 81

Ulysses S. Grant as a basketball player: scouting report

Ulysses S. Grant was the finest horseman of his class at West Point, and he set a high jump record on horseback there that reportedly stood for about twenty five years. That kind of controlled power is what a center needs: strength, timing and a feel for exactly when to go up. In basketball terms he is a defensive center first. His defense is one of the two best marks on his card, and he plays it with a quiet, relentless steadiness that wears opponents down over a full game.

His basketball IQ is the other top mark. As commander of the Union armies he was known for staying calm under pressure and pressing forward when others would pause, and that habit becomes a big who keeps contesting, keeps rotating and never takes a possession off. His rebounding is strong, and his athleticism is better than most centers in this draft, so he can step out on a pick and roll and still recover to the rim. His Personal Memoirs are still regarded as some of the finest ever written by an American general, plain, clear and direct, which is also how he plays.

Shooting is the weak spot. He will not stretch the floor, so build spacing around him with shooters on the wings and a playmaking guard who feeds him on rolls. He slides to power forward with a small drop, and his mobility lets him survive at small forward in a big lineup. Draft him in the early middle rounds as the anchor of your defense. He is a quiet, steady presence, the center who does not need the ball to control a game, and the kind of teammate who makes the whole lineup tougher.

Plays like A relentless defensive center who just keeps coming

Put Ulysses S. Grant in your lineup

8 rolls, a starting five and a bench, 82 games. Can you go 82-0? Free, no account.