Will the Detroit Pistons be better off without Jerami Grant?

After endless speculation, the Detroit Pistons finally traded leading scorer Jerami Grant to the Portland Trail Blazers last season.

The trade worked out for both teams, as Portland got another veteran to put around Damian Lillard and the Pistons got a package that eventually led to Jalen Duren.

Most fans saw the trade as necessary since Grant was entering the final year of his deal and didn’t quite fit with the timeline for contention around Cade Cunningham and the rest of the Pistons’ young guys.

Others saw it as a sure sign that the Pistons were tanking for another season, as Grant was arguably their best player over the last two seasons and certainly their best veteran.

Detroit added Jaden Ivey in the draft and Alec Burks via trade, who should somewhat offset the loss of Grant, but this led to a spirited conversation on Twitter yesterday about whether the Pistons would actually be better next season or if losing Grant assured that they wouldn’t be.

I can see both sides of this debate, so we’ll go through Grant’s contributions, the impact of his replacements and the Pistons’ numbers with and without Grant on both sides of the ball. Some of these numbers might surprise you. So are the Detroit Pistons better off without Jerami Grant? Yes and no.

Detroit Pistons: Jerami Grant’s impact

Jerami Grant averaged 19.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and a block last season for Detroit. He did it on mediocre efficiency, as he averaged just 42 percent from the field overall and 35 percent from 3-point range.

But he only played 47 games last season, and the team’s record was 11-36 when he was in the lineup. This awful record isn’t all his fault of course, but he only played in just over half the games and the Detroit Pistons were 12-23 without him.

The Pistons didn’t do anything directly to replace Grant, so will try to pick up the slack with guys like Jaden Ivey, Alec Burks and Isaiah Livers.

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.

Detroit Pistons: Numbers with and without Grant

Detroit had a better record last season without Grant, but we need to look at more than just team record. A deeper dive into the numbers shows that the Pistons could get better in some areas without Grant, but may also be worse in others.

The offense

The Pistons had a 108.5 offensive rating last season without Jerami Grant and a 105.6 rating with him.

This led to 107.4 points per game without Grant in the lineup and 102.9 points per game with him in there. The eye test supports this, as the offense just looked more dynamic and flowed a lot better when Grant wasn’t in there. His absence allowed Cade Cunningham to be the primary creator and there were fewer isolation plays that led to tough shots.

The overall field goal percentage was better without Grant (43.9%) than with him (42.5%), as was the 3-point percentage that was 33.3 percent with and 32.1 percent without.

I think it’s safe to say that Detroit was better offensively without Grant.

The defense

The Pistons had a 116.3 defensive rating without Jerami Grant last season, which is pretty bad. The defense rating dropped to 113.6 with Grant, so he clearly made an impact on that side of the ball.

Aside from numbers, Grant is a long defender who can block shots and guard several different positions, which you can’t say for any of the guys the Pistons added.

I think it’s safe to say that the defense was better with Grant and that the Pistons could potentially take step back defensively without him.

Cade Cunningham

Cunningham’s numbers were nearly identical with or without Grant, though he did average more assists and slightly more points with him out of the lineup.

I think you could make an argument either way, as Detroit has a chance to be better offensively without Grant but could take a dip on the defensive end. Will this lead to more wins next season? That is yet to be seen, but it’s not as clear-cut either way as some fans might think and we’ll have to wait and see how the new parts fit before fully understanding Jerami Grant’s impact.