Will the Detroit Pistons be better off without Jerami Grant?

Detroit Pistons: Jerami Grant’s replacements

The Pistons didn’t add another true power forward to the roster in the offseason, but will try to replace him with guys like Isaiah Stewart and Marvin Bagley III logging time at the position in Detroit’s starting lineup.

But those guys were on the team last season, so Grant’s points, defense and production will really be replaced by players like Ivey, Burks and Livers.

I don’t think anyone would argue that any of these guys are currently better than Jerami Grant. Grant is a solid defender and a guy who can get his own shot. Ivey will be a rookie, and rookies rarely make huge contributions to winning.

Alec Burks is a journeyman role player, though he is a better 3-point shooter than Grant. Livers only played in a handful of games last season, so the book is still out on him, but he too should provide more 3-point shooting accuracy than Grant did.

The real issue is that Grant only played in 47 games last season. For comparison, Burks played 81 games last season, so the real question is whether 81 games of Burks is worth more wins than 47 games of Grant.

There is also an argument that these players are better fits with Cade Cunningham than Grant was, as they are better shooters, shoot fewer long 2-point shots and don’t hold the ball like Grant often did.

We’ll have to wait and see if these players actually make more impact collectively than Grant did, but when you look at the numbers, there is a strong argument that Detroit was better without Grant last season and could be even better in the future.