New York Knicks rookie point guard Jerian Grant is FINALLY getting a chance to showcase his skills.
Ever since New York Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony gathered up the veterans and requested interim head coach Kurt Rambis to play the youngsters more minute, Jerian Grant has been putting up some numbers!
Grant FINALLY got his first career start against the Brooklyn Nets on April 1, 2016, and finished the game with 14 points and four assists.
In five games started since April, Grant has averaged 13.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Grant saw his minutes almost double, going from 15.37 minutes per game to 29.2 minutes per game.
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As his minutes increased, so has his productivity. Previous to the starting, Grant shot 37.35% from the field. Since starting in April, Grant has shot 46.4% from the field. With the increased minutes, Grant has also gained confidence in his outside shot, previously shooting 18.5% from beyond the arc… while coming off the bench, Grant has now improved his three-point shooting to 33.3%.
The increased minutes has definitely boosted Grant’s confidence, and he admitted as much to Al Iannazzone of Newsday.
"“When you get in there, you know you can just play a little bit,”“You’re not looking over your shoulder every second after you make a mistake or miss a shot. You move on to the next play.”"
Grant has definitely been positively effected by the increased load work. Although, his increased play might also have something to do with “looking over your shoulder”, as recently Tony Wroten (who is still recovering from an ACL tear) stated he was confident he would win the starting point guard job. Then was praised by his former-coach, calling him a “mini-LeBron“. Whatever the motivation may be, whether it was opportunity, or competitiveness, it is working!
And if it was up to Grant, he would be the Knicks starting point guard next season, not Wroten.
"“I’m ready to get right back,”“I’ve got a lot of things to work on if I want to be this team’s lead guard to start the season. I’ve got to get better.”"
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Grant definitely needs to get better, particularly in his point guard duties. Despite his increased playing time, Grant’s assist % and assist/turnover ratio has not increased… lingering at 19.3 assist % and on 2 assist/turnover per game, as per NBA.com.
Although Grant seems to be more concerned with his shot-selection.
"“You go in there for two minutes, you miss a shot, you come right out [and wonder], ‘Man, what’s going on here?’ ”“One thing the guys told me is you can’t let people take your confidence. That happened to me earlier this season. As the games have gone on, I’ve been able to play with more confidence.’’"
Knicks fans are glad to see the 23-year old rookie gaining confidence, and looking more and more like the 19th overall pick we all wanted him to be. Especially in the recent match up against the Toronto Raptors Sunday night, in which the University of Notre Dame product scored a career high 19 points.
If New York does not find a better point guard in the summer (which would be an EPIC fail…), Jerian Grant should be given the opportunity to run the team for the whole year. The Knicks desperately lack his athleticism at point guard, his injection of youthful legs into the starting lineup has helped the team.
Previous to Grant starting, New York averaged 19 drives a game (need to subtract Wroten stats, who never played), as per NBA.com. Grant has almost single-handily averaged half as many drives per game in his April starts (8.2), as the whole team previously, as per NBA.com.
Although, given the increased opportunity Grant has not really changed his impact much on the end result. In fact, in his five starts, Grant has had a -2.8 +/-, as opposed to a -1.97 +/- when coming off the bench. But I am sure that given the opportunity to learn the starting point guard role in the NBA, Grant will perform better.
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Hopefully Grant works nonstop on his outside shot this summer, and return to Summer League to develop his point guard skills. If Phil Jackson wiffs on this free agency, the Knicks are going to need Grant to step up even more.