Here's Jerami Grant in the Pistons win in Boston. He and Jayson Tatum were guarding each other down the stretch. Not shown in this clip is Grant poking the ball away from Tatum causing a 24-second violation by the Celtics, and Grant defending Tatum as Tatum tried to hit a mid-range shot for a Boston win (Tatum missed). What is shown is Grant's game-winning shot against Tatum. You can see how Grant is very in control of his body near the hoop in that shot and others in the clip.
can somebody refresh my recollection of Grant as far as position. I know he's spent most of his time at PF. But how has he done when he's been matched up against SF's? I'm wondering about his defense against quickness I've said before I would be pissed if the Blazers traded a top-10 pick for Grant. But if the Pels pick was 10-12 and Detroit accepted Bledsoe instead of Portland's TPE, I'd be OK with that trade * how good would a starting unit of Dame-Simons-Hart-Grant-Nurkic be? I'd much prefer Hart as the 3rd guard and 6th man but I'm having a tough time seeing Portland with a another high-level forward suitable for the start. I like Little but he's completely unreliable because of his magnetism for injury * another possibility: Dame-Simons-Winslow-Grant-Nurkic .....That would certainly be a good defensive unit; or at least better than what the Blazers have trotted out the last few years * or, if Portland landed a top-4 pick: Dame-Simons-Grant-?-Nurkic.....where the ? is one of the PF's like Jabari or Banchero or Murray. Or would it be better if the ? was a SF like Griffin or Mathurin? I haven't been watching March Madness and don't really have any opinion of any of those guys. Who would be the best fit assuming the Blazers did add Grant?
I think the lines are blurring a bit between SF/PF these days. On defense, you want ability to switch up/down at least one position. And on offense, we're gonna remain Dame-centric, and Dame hasn't had a pick and pop threat at any forward position since LaMarcus. I think Jabari as the "?" in your above lineup would check a lot of these boxes.
thanks...of course, it looks like Jabari could be the #1 pick so he very well may be out of Portland's reach I don't watch much college ball....mainly when it's the Ducks. That's kind of what motivated my questions because I have seen Mathurin and he's looked pretty good when I've seen him. Not sure he's worth a 6-8 pick...maybe? I was mainly reacting to the continuing reports about Portland's strong interest in Grant. If they do add him using the Pels pick, I was trying to come up with a 5th starter that would keep Hart as 6th man because Dame-Ant-Grant-Nurkic, as a foursome, does not look very close to contention. Of course if somehow Dame/Ant can develop a synergy that Dame/CJ never had, Portland's upside could be higher than I credit
I agree, I'm hopeful but not expectant that Dame and Ant can be more than the sum of their parts when we've seen a very similar duo for the last six years be less than the sum of theirs. If they are complementary on offense and aren't a terrible liability on defense then Dame, Ant, Hart, Grant and Nurk might be the best starting lineup in theory since 2016. If we hit in the lottery and also keep the Pelicans pick I think Dame, Ant, Grant, Jabari or Paolo and Nurk would be really fantastic with both Hart and Nas coming off of the bench... with a clever free agent acquisition and a couple of our young guys popping, that would be a team to reckon with.
I actually think Dame : Ant : Grant : Chet : Nurk would be really solid. Here’s why: Dame, Ant backcourt is still really defensively challenged. Chet, although not my favorite, is a defensive monster … and can shoot. He would arguably be the best fit, although I think Banchero is the best player followed by Jabari.
I don't know if Chet and Nurk have the collective quickness that you need to defend in today's NBA. Both guys move their feet well but slowly. Jabari and Paolo are both much quicker than Chet from what I've seen... so I'd rather have either of them as far as fit goes and as far as overall talent as well.
Let me also add, I don’t think Jerami Grant would buy into the necessary role on this team particularly with Jabari or Paolo. There’s a chance with Chet because I don’t think they’d try and integrate him into the offense as much as Paolo.
I'm willing to give it a shot, but honestly I'm super not excited about Dame/Ant. What the hell is up with this franchise and undersized scoring backcourts????
Chet doesn’t need to be quick with his length and he flips his hips really well. And his BBIQ is really high, particularly defensively. Offensively, I question that idea (high BBIQ) but defense wise he’s amazing.
To clarify: Chet doesn’t need to be quick because he can give people more space and still contest shots due to his length. I don’t think he’ll get blown by as much as I, and many others, may have thought previously.
I really don’t see how it would work with Jabari, who is a poor defender from what I’ve seen. But I’m kind of with you. Partially why I said Ant should be a 6th man and Hart should start but … we know how that goes.
If Grant is the move, I would lean towards starting Dame, Hart, Little, Grant, and Nurk. (Simons, Dame, and Hart can still all get 30+ minutes at the guard spot but I would end games with all three) Our pick would be young and not quite ready to start. I would take BPA. I like Mathurin, but would take Banchero (And Smith of course) before him. If a good PF is not available I would role with a combo of Winslow and Watford as the backups for Grant. I also would consider Chet if he slips. The guy is a gamble with his frame, but you can't deny his skill set. If he slips to 7th or 8th I would take him for the future. (after he adds 3o pounds to his frame) I do think he can defend the perimeter against most PFs and would make a good stretch 4 who can help with his off-the-ball rim protection. Much like Watford and Winslow, I love that as a PF he can bring the ball up court and pass to open shooters in transition. Dame and Simons will feast on that.
I still think you either need to commit to rebuilding and go with Ant as your lead guard/point guard OR you commit to trying to give it one more shot with Dame and you trade Ant for the best possible haul. I don't see how it's going to work with both of them.
I don't know... I do get what your saying because the kid really moves well but it's in slowmo and I just don't know if that flies when you have two guys like that sharing major minutes in games in today's NBA. I realize he was able to give the space because of his reach that would allow him more time and when he did get blown by a lot he recovered with that same length and good movement for blocks or contests but with the speed difference in the NBA I think both of those strategies will be really hard for him to continue to rely on. The game is just so much faster. I really think there's no way that Chet can play with a 5 that isn't extremely athletic and unfortunately Nurk isn't even close to extremely athletic. The kind of player that he would flourish with in the front court is Bam, Embiid, Ayton, Robert Williams III, or even Isaiah Stewart. If the guy he plays minutes with is too weak their going to get posted up nonstop and if he's not quick enough neither guy will be able to cover for the other's lack of athletic ability. That's why anyone talking about Durant and Chet in the same sentence is clearly not paying attention because Durant was and is an incredibly explosive athlete. Chet could be great in this league but who he plays with is going to have to be very specific because while his skill set is wildly eclectic it is not at all versatile. He's like a specialist at a bunch of things but when you look at him overall I think there are a lot of holes that his teammates are going to have to plug.
I still think that too but current management doesn't seem to be going that way. The crazy thing about all of our speculation is that we're all kind of proceeding to guess at what things might look like with the crazy amount of pick variables and using the the front office as a control but that is an extremely volatile situation itself. Maybe the Vulcans gave Joe the green light on the CJ deal because he convinced them that it was a good deal and now they can see with the Pelicans and CJ having so much success that it wasn't a favorable deal for our situation. So regardless of if the pick conveys or not they hire a new GM during the playoffs to run the organization from the end of the playoffs going forward. Then we might just see what makes sense to someone who hasn't been around here for a decade plus. I think what will make sense to them is cashing in either Dame or Ant. For those that think that a sign and trade of Ant can't have value because it's a sign and trade, I think you're very wrong. It would be a sign and trade with a restricted free agent who we are very willing to keep, so he should have close to equal value as a sign and trade that he would if he were under contract for the amount that he signs for. I want Dame to win one here but if I were a GM candidate that wasn't some die hard Blazers fan I would definitely pitch ownership on getting the best we can for Dame and building around that, our draft pick(s) and Ant as the foundation for a champion in the not too distant future.
I'd be starting Little at the 3 instead of Hart or Winslow. Not a fan of Grant at this time. It'd depend what the Blazers had to part with to get him, though. I thought the Grant from Denver was what we needed. Thought that was a better fit than RoCo. I think Grant doesn't really understand his game at its most valuable and overestimates his worth, and I'm not sure he's a good fit for the Blazers anymore, especially considering what we'd have to give up to acquire him.
