Detroit Pistons fans are heading down a familiar road with Jerami Grant

Jerami Grant’s role with the Detroit Pistons may be more than he anticipated.

With the preseason officially underway, the Detroit Pistons are finally back. After notching their first win over the New York Knicks last night, a few things have become glaringly obvious.

Jerami Grant has struggled tremendously on the offensive end. Shooting just 3 for 19 from the field with 14 points and 2 blocks through Detroit’s first two games, he’s already been getting some rough treatment from the fans.

In their eyes, we’re going to pay someone $60 million to highjack the offense and miss a ton of shots. The way that Grant is already being villainized is eerily reminiscent when Reggie Jackson was brought in to Detroit.

When he was first traded to the Pistons, fans embraced Jackson and he embraced them. He frequently wore Bad Boys and Detroit Vs Everybody gear. Additionally, he was viewed as a legitimate option at point guard for them.

There was a general sense of positivity.

Then Detroit rewarded him with a contract extension, one that paid him $80 million over five years. This is where things began to take a turn.

Whether it was Jackson’s inability to stay healthy (which is not his fault) or the frequent trips down the floor where he’d isolate and try to play hero ball, fans turned on Jackson pretty quickly. Over the course of the next few years, they never had a positive relationship with him.

Even when he was healthy and even playing productive basketball during their playoff push in 2019, people still wouldn’t shake the tired narratives. They sought out any potential trade proposal that they could until his final days with the Pistons.

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That’s the condensed version of what went down with Jackson. It’s not entirely fair to immediately assume Grant will go down the same path, especially considering only two preseason games have been played.

However, the immediate reception that Grant has faced feels familiar.

Considering he was brought here under the assumption that he’d receive a larger offensive role, not only are his first two showings indicative of that fact but it also won’t be going away any time soon.

Even with the shots that he’s been missing, they’ve for the most part been on good looks. The efficiency will come with time. The lack of patience that people are showing with players who’ve been in lockdown (just like us) is astounding.

You also have to keep in mind that this team is less than a few weeks old. It’s difficult to know exactly how Grant wants to be set up when you’ve had almost no time to build any team chemistry.

As time moves on, you’ll begin to see shots fall for him. He’s also shown us so far that the defensive abilities he possesses are no joke. Not that there’s much competition, but it’s almost safe to say that he’s already Detroit’s best defender.

The hostility that has been thrown Grant’s way has often been in a joking manner, but that cultivation begins somewhere. Patience is important.