Detroit Pistons: Jerami Grant Will Get Better at Basketball
Jerami Grant is already a very good basketball player. He should have won the Most Improved Player Award (instead of playoff flop Julius Randle) and been named an All-Star. But he was not.
Am I still bitter about it? I can lie and say no, but he really did deserve both honors. But he played for a bad team in a small market, meaning most voters did not see him in action much.
Grant is already a great NBA player, but after this summer he’ll return a star.
Grant has to play for Gregg Popovich, undoubtedly (in my mind) the greatest NBA coach ever, who excels at player development, and getting the most out of players who seem to have raw potential but lack the true talent to be NBA superstars (Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard). So simply playing under ‘Pop’ will do wonders for Grant as a player.
Grant has excelled on the defensive end his entire career, and while guarding some international players might not be a challenge, Pop is a defensive-minded coach who will work to improve the already strong defensive game Grant has.
Playing against other members of Team USA will help too. In official and unofficial scrimmages, members of Team USA will not be easy opposition. Kevin Durant wants to win, and a lot of other players have something to prove, so they won’t be an easy task, even in inter-team play. The practices alone will be enough to improve Grant’s game more than any summer workout session could.
The USA Select team will also be there, made up of young players including two Pistons. Facing them is also not a light task. While Team USA should make easy work of them, Grant and other Olympians will surely break a sweat playing against hngry players looking to make the main team in four years.
It won’t be an easy summer for Jerami Grant, but he’s going to come back to Detroit better than ever, which is a scary thought for the rest of the league.