A nice surprise for the Thunder during their recent stretch of strong play has been the development from Jerami Grant, especially as he entered a new role in the starting lineup. As Maddie Lee writes for NewsOK, Grant is thriving as a starter and the team has benefited from his presence in the lineup.
Lee points out that Grant is shooting 52.7% as a starter, as opposed to 26.1% coming off the bench this season, which makes sense considering the offensive talent he is surrounded with in the starting lineup. Grant is having a career year across the board, posting career-highs in scoring (11.6 PPG), rebounding (5.2 RPG) and 3-point shooting (36.8% on three attempts per game).
It will be interesting to see if Grant can keep shooting at this level, especially when Andre Roberson returns, which would further cramp the floor-spacing in the starting lineup.
There’s more from the Northwest division:
- Royce Young writes for ESPN that Russell Westbrook‘s trust of his teammates and offseason additions like Dennis Schroder have the Thunder playing more like a team, which has helped them navigate stretches and games without their leader.
- The structure of the offense and struggles from key players have hampered the Jazz and their ability to put up points this season. Tom Ziller of SB Nation writes about the team’s over-reliance on Donovan Mitchell to keep them afloat.
- After calls to blow up the team came this summer, the Trail Blazers retained their core and altered several supporting pieces. Paolo Uggetti of The Ringer suggests that – as a result of their offseason – the Trail Blazers may be better than they’ve ever been in the Damian Lillard–CJ McCollum era.
The players POR could/would not keep– Ed Davis, Shabazz Napier, Noah Vonleh, Pat Connotn– are also having good years. So, @yoyo137 can be forgiven for bailing on GM Olshey and at one point, the whole crew. Still, tsk tsk lol smh etc 1 game out of 1st.
Right now the Thunder is starting Ferguson, who isn’t a good shooter, anyway.