While the opportunity to play a more significant role on offense played a major part in his decision to leave Denver for Detroit in November, Jerami Grant was drawn to the Pistons for another reason, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. The opportunity to play for a Black head coach (Dwane Casey) and for a franchise with a Black general manager (Troy Weaver) appealed to the veteran forward.
“Whether it’s on the court or off, there’s a sense of understanding that you get from — and I’m not going to say all, but a majority — Black people who have gone through and are going through some of the struggles that we do,” Grant said. “I think that gives you a better connection, makes it a little easier and makes you feel better about yourself when you have people that look like you around.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- One silver lining of the Bucks‘ failed offseason attempt to sign-and-trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic – which cost them a future draft pick – is that the deal falling apart allowed the team to keep Donte DiVincenzo, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. As Amick notes, DiVincenzo is off to a nice start this season, averaging 12.3 PPG and 1.7 APG with a .556 3PT% so far.
- The Cavaliers‘ injury woes are threatening to derail their surprising and promising start to the season, says Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs confirmed today in a press release that Dante Exum is expected to miss 6-8 weeks of basketball activity due to a right calf strain and said that Darius Garland (right shoulder sprain) might be sidelined for up to a week. The team has also been missing Kevin Love (calf), Dylan Windler (wrist), Matthew Dellavedova (concussion), Isaac Okoro (foot), and Kevin Porter Jr. (personal).
- The Bulls pulled to 4-4 with an impressive comeback win over Portland on Tuesday night, and their bench has been impressive in the early part of this season, says Sam Smith of Bulls.com. Smith enthusiastically refers to Chicago’s second unit – which includes Otto Porter Jr., Garrett Temple, Thaddeus Young, and Tomas Satoransky – as “perhaps the most veteran and experienced group in the NBA.”
Jeremi Grant talking about the struggles that we go through made me laugh. The struggles may not be the same for a man who makes north of $19 million than it is for the rest of us.
If it can happen to Sterling Brown or John Henson, it can happen to any African American.
Jeremy Grant is one man, along with his brother who were fortunate to have an uncle in the NBA. Steph,Klay,the late Kobe had dads whom played professionally. They are very few. 98% of the NBA’s black players grew up hard and had to earn and fight for everything. Can you relate to that???
As a Raptors fan look no further than your GM. No one is exempt.
wdym.
u mean webster or ujri?
Who said anything about exempt??? Ujiri had to earn everything! How about you???
little dunker’s silent lmao cat got ur tongue or something?
Divincenzo is a better player then Bogdan. Just as good a shooter, better rebounder, better passer, way better defender and cheaper. Also we’re able to afford Portis, augustin etc…
Plus he’s very young. He’s going to be a very good player
I have to imagine DiVincenzo felt slighted when he nearly got dealt this offseason, so this hot start is probably him trying to prove his worth to management.
You can also see the improvement in coaching paying dividends for the Bulls. After a miserable first quarter and an 18 point deficit, the team held strong and made an impressive comeback. That doesn’t happen if Boylen or Hoiberg are still coaching
Agreed the Bulls were fortunate to get Donovan. His level headedness has been huge after the bulls looked awful in the first 2 games. Boylen had no idea how to lead
Love watching post game again, for the first time since Thibs. Actual thoughtful analysis and honest answers.
Cona’ton literally looks more angry— or something— has more red in his face… wants the ball. Or— is mad when he doesn’t get it. Anyone else see a difference?— not sure if wagner13 is going by that.
Still amazed that Grant chose Detroit over Denver…
He did get jerked around a lot in Denver, but that was because the overload of PFs there, not the race of staffers. At least, that sounds more likely than racism— after all the other three or four PFs were black too, and Jokic likes to pass more than shoot.
It didn’t help that the media kept speculating that they needed a new guy at PF to take over from the three part-timers, or that Presti dumped him earlier for why, or that the playoff successes boosted his ego and market value.
Whose the racist if someone needs one race or another. He comes from an NBA family not poverty.
But that’s part of the game; now GMs and such know about his preferences, if they did not before.
What implications did you get about racism??? I said 2% of the NBA were privileged to have a dad or another relative play professionally. 98% of th NBA had to earn every level of success that they have…
I didn’t care about your earlier post where posters were talking in code. Still don’t care… It’s from a different thread. I agreed with “amazed Grant chose Detroit”, and took off from there, considering possible reasons, rejecting racism, while using regular english.
Sure you care, you care enough to find a reason to reply to me.
Bogdanovic is better for Bucks than DiVincenzo. But nice to see him playing well. Bucks need everyone to win a ring.
I thought Grant should stay at Denver too. But he’s a solid yr in Detroit. 23 pts, 5.4 reb, 1.7 ast. And he’s a great defender. It’s a good career move. Can’t fault him for that. Honestly I didn’t think he could be 20 pt scorer consistently.
I was saying during bubble days the Cavs would come out this season mad and working hard to account for the lack of invite. But maybe they are trying too hard.