Jerami Grant Has Proven To Be The Missing Piece For Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers went 27-55 last season, their worst record since they won just 21 games during the 2005-06 season. With Damian Lillard injured and changes occurring in the front-office, it appeared as if Portland was ready to take a step back, especially after they traded away Norman Powell, Robert Covington and CJ McCollum.
Well, this theory was certainly short-lived, as the Blazers have done nothing but impress early on during the 2022-23 season and they currently find themselves with a 10-4 record, currently the best record in the Western Conference.
A team that struggled mightily on the defensive-end of the floor and really had no primary options outside of Lillard has very quickly turned into one of the more balanced scoring teams in the league and a Top-10 defensive team.
How did this happen you ask?
The emergence of Anfernee Simons as a secondary ball-handler and scorer out on the perimeter next to Lillard has helped fill the void McCollum left behind, but the key to all of Portland’s success lies no further than Jerami Grant.
All offseason long, Jerami Grant found himself at the center of trade conversations with multiple playoff contending teams trying to pry him away from the Detroit Pistons, but when the Trail Blazers made a move for him, nobody really thought much of this acquisition simply because Portland was coming off of a dreadful season.
Giving up a future first-round pick acquired from Milwaukee and some second-round picks, Portland was able to trade for the guy that they have had their eyes on for a while and a guy who has done everything they have been searching for out on the wing.
He may not be a traditional power forward, but Grant plays his role to perfection and there really is not anything he has not helped the Trail Blazers improve upon this season.
Through 13 games, he is averaging 21.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the floor and a career-best 49.3 percent from three-point range. He currently ranks sixth in the league in three-point shooting percentage and he is tied for 20th in total three-pointers made.
Maybe Jerami Grant is not a household name in the league because he has never been an All-Star, but that has not mattered to the Portland Trail Blazers because he has been their All-Star so far this year.
“There's so many really good players in the league that it's hard to be an All-Star,” Damian Lillard recently said when talking about Jerami Grant. “Whether he actually makes the All-Star team or not, he's that caliber of a player. We definitely got that guy we were looking for.”
Portland has all the confidence in the world in Grant and he has delivered for them, as he is now averaging 26.0 point per game while shooting 55.3 percent from three-point range in the month of November after scoring 29 points on 6-8 shooting from deep on Tuesday night against the San Antonio Spurs.
“I think everyone is making it easy for me and I’m not having to work too hard for my shots,” Grant said following Tuesday’s game. “They just make things very easy for me.”
When asked about if making the All-Star Game this season was a goal of his, Grant was very brief with his response, stating “definitely” multiple times with a slight grin on his face.
Damian Lillard is obviously the star of this team and Anfernee Simons is the “new kid on the block” with his breakout performances over the last year, but Jerami Grant’s scoring abilities and leadership abilities on the court are priceless for Portland.
He is exactly the kind of player that they have been missing over the years and so far, Grant is proving why he is the All-Star-like talent that the Portland Trail Blazers wanted this offseason.
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