NBA: 4 overreactions to the 2020-21 shortened preseason

NBA preseason overreaction: Maybe Jerami Grant should’ve stayed in a smaller role

I think I’ve spent enough virtual ink on Jerami Grant. I wrote about his options heading into free agency, looked at what’s next for the Nuggets after losing him, and how the team can build on last year’s playoff run and fill the hole he left.

I’m happy to say, after a preseason overreaction, that I won’t need to worry about Jerami Grant anymore and can focus my attention elsewhere.

One of the main reasons he went to Detroit was to shoulder a heavier load of the offense and make a name for himself according to The Denver Post’s Mike Singer. More power to him for wanting to do that and getting paid in the process with a four-year, $60 million contract.

In four preseason games, Jerami is averaging 10.8 points while hitting 35 percent of his 3’s (good) and 29 percent of his field-goal attempts (horrible).

He put up 12 points per contest with Denver last season but that was in the Nuggets free-flowing offense where a Jamal Murray-Nikola Jokic pick-and-roll opens cracks in the defense for the best center in the league to exploit, finding the open man with ease.

Since Grant’s bread and butter isn’t his jump shot, he was able to cut behind the defense for a layup or dunk since Jokic’s vision is out of this world. In Detroit, those little duck-ins go from wide open, spread out by four shooters to a little more cramped with other big men in Mason Plumlee, Blake Griffin, and Jahlil Okafor clogging the paint.

Additionally, the team is lacking above-average outside shooters to help open the floor in the first place for those finishers with a lot of pressure on rookie Killian Hayes, newcomer Delon Wright and paint-orientated Derrick Rose the main ball-handlers.

Maybe Grant becomes the scorer he sees himself being with more shooting next to him, but through four preseason games, maybe he should’ve stayed in a smaller role.