Chicago Bulls: Jerian Grant Making Case To Be Included In Playoff Rotation
Despite inconsistent playing time during the 2016-17 season, Chicago Bulls reserve guard Jerian Grant is building a case to be included in the playoff rotation.
Coming into the 2016-17 campaign, the Chicago Bulls had eight players with three years or less of NBA experience. And as you can imagine, second-year coach Fred Hoiberg has had his fair share of difficulties putting together a consistent roster for most of the season.
One of the positions that has been similar to a revolving door is the point guard slot. At various points throughout the year, Hoiberg has started Rajon Rondo, Michael Carter-Williams and Jerian Grant.
Rondo is the guy who helps the Bulls play at a faster pace, often creating easy baskets for the team’s perimeter shooters. MCW can be a matchup problem for opposing teams because of his size and length.
Meanwhile, Grant — who was acquired as part of the Derrick Rose trade last offseason — is considered to be the best long-range shooter of the trio.
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But despite this fact, Grant has not played well enough to create separation between himself and the other guards on the roster, as his 19 DNP-CDs would indicate.
However, when Rondo was out of the lineup with a sprained right wrist, Grant filled the role of starting point guard quite nicely.
In a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on April 6, Grant finished the game with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and five assists.
A few nights later, Grant’s final stat line included 15 points, five assists and three rebounds. Unfortunately, his production wasn’t enough, as the Bulls fell to the Brooklyn Nets 107-106.
Against the Orlando Magic — a game the Bulls absolutely had to have, Grant stepped up yet again, scoring 17 points and dishing out a career-high 11 assists, enabling the Bulls to stampede over the Magic to the tune of 122-75.
In the three outings prior to the Bulls’ 112-73 win over the Nets on Wednesday night, Grant’s averages included a very respectable 15.7 points, 7.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds per outing. Along with that, Grant shot 60 percent from the floor, including 46 percent from beyond the arc.
Needless to say, this is best stretch of basketball for Grant since joining the Bulls, and he seems to know the reason why he has been playing so well as of late.
"“I’m playing faster,” Grant told the Daily Herald. “Earlier when I was getting my starts, I was just kind of bringing the ball up, swinging it, then just going to spot up. Now Fred and guys on the court are telling me to push the ball. We can get some fast breaks and good looks for guys that will help our whole offense.”"
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For those of you who have followed Grant’s brief two-year NBA career, his recent explosion should not come as a complete surprise.
Similar to his time with the Bulls this year, during his 2015-16 rookie campaign with the New York Knicks, Grant didn’t see significant playing time until the end of the season.
But during the last month of that season, he posted averages of 14.5 points on 49 percent shooting overall and 37 percent from three-point range, thus proving he is capable of playing well when he doesn’t have to worry about looking over his shoulder.
With the playoffs on the horizon — a time of the year in which coaches have a tendency to shorten up their rotations — Grant has definitely made a case to be given some serious minutes at the backup point guard spot.
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It will be interesting to see if Hoiberg feels the same way.