Pistons: When is it time to worry about Jerami Grant?

The Detroit Pistons got themselves one of the gems of free agency when they signed Jerami Grant to a three-year, $60 million contract this past offseason. He wanted an expanded role, something he couldn’t realistically have gotten with his previous team, the Denver Nuggets, and the Pistons needed a player just like him to take the reins of their rebuilding franchise.

Grant was magnificent to start off his Pistons career. Over the course of the first 24 games of the season, he averaged 24.3 points per game, shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and 39.3 percent from 3-point range. He took the mantle for this once-proud franchise and made general manager Troy Weaver look like a genius for betting on him.

So when do the Detroit Pistons start worrying about Jerami Grant?

Things have trended poorly since those first 24 games. Over the last 22 games, dating back to February 11th, two games after Derrick Rose was traded, Jerami Grant is shooting just 38.5 percent from the field on 17.2 attempts per game. He’s shooting 29.2 percent from 3-point range on 6.2 attempts per game, and he’s averaging 20.5 points on 19.9 shooting possessions per game.

Since February 11th, Grant’s true shooting percentage of 51.3 ranks fourth-worst among all players with usage rates over 29 percent. He’s a massive 5.6 percent behind the fifth-worst in that stretch, Nikola Vucevic. The only players with worse true shooting percentages are Jordan Clarkson, John Wall and Russell Westbrook.

It’s been a rough month and a half for Grant, that absolutely can’t be denied, but there are a couple of lessons we can glean from this ongoing calamity.