Should the Detroit Pistons pursue this former player in free agency?

The Detroit Pistons should pursue Jerami Grant in free agency

I had no problem with the Pistons trading Jerami Grant, as they weren’t going anywhere with him and at times his usage was taking away from some of the young players. He was on the final year of his deal anyway, so the Pistons did well to walk away with Jalen Duren in exchange.

But Grant has evolved as a player, which is something we started to see last season when he began to defer more to Cade Cunningham as the primary playmaker. He’s done it even more this season with Portland, as he is shooting over 44 percent from 3-point range on the second-most attempts per game of his career.

Almost all of his 3-point shots are of the catch-and-shoot variety and he is shooting an effective field goal percentage of 63 percent on catch-and-shoot shots this season. He is officially a 3-and-D wing, which is exactly what the Detroit Pistons need.

Grant is not dribbling as much, is taking more efficient shots and is at the stage of his career where he clearly knows his role.

Grant is a quality wing defender (the Pistons’ biggest need) and is a guy who genuinely seemed to like Detroit and had a close relationship with Troy Weaver. Adding him would move Bogdanovic to the four and Bey to the bench permanently, giving the Pistons a player who can make up for some of the defensive deficiencies  of both of them.

Although he’s not a lockdown one-on-one defender, his loss clearly hurt the overall team defense, as they are six points worse than last season and on pace to have the worst defense in team history.

There is a lot to like about a reunion with Jerami Grant, but there are also reasons the Detroit Pistons should go in another direction.