Syracuse Basketball: Jerami Grant absolutely crushing things with Detroit

Former Syracuse basketball star Jerami Grant is faring quite well in the NBA this season.

The Detroit Pistons are struggling so far in the recently begun NBA season, however, former Syracuse basketball player Jerami Grant certainly is shining with his new pro team.

Through 11 games, the 6-foot-8 forward is averaging a career-high 24.8 points per game, which as of Thursday evening placed him at No. 12 in the league in scoring, according to ESPN statistics.

I had a gut feeling that Grant, who was traded by the Denver Nuggets after the 2019-20 campaign to Detroit, would have a big 2020-21 term, but I didn’t expect these types of eye-popping numbers.

Now, in all fairness, the Pistons were a sub-par 2-9 entering NBA contests on Thursday night. Grant and his new team have a long way to go in the present stanza.

But after reportedly signing a three-year, $60 million deal with Detroit, Grant is performing at an elite level. In addition to his nearly 25 points a game, he’s also collecting 6.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.0 steals per encounter.

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What’s more, Grant is connecting on 45.6 percent from the field, 86.4 percent from the charity stripe and 38.5 percent from beyond the arc, while tallying 36.7 minutes of court time per game. If those aren’t all-star kinds of numbers, I don’t know what are.

Keith Langlois, editor of Pistons.com, writes in this article that “Grant has been nothing short of a revelation through his first 11 games.” I wholeheartedly agree.

We recently detailed how Jeremy Woo, a Sports Illustrated staff writer and NBA Draft insider, published a feature on the top-100 NBA players of 2021, and Grant deservingly placed at No. 79 on Woo’s list.

Grant definitely provided a preview of his offensive prowess in 2019-20, when he averaged 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.8 blocks per affair for Denver, while logging 26.6 minutes in 71 regular-season games.

However, even with those solid statistics from a stanza ago, I didn’t entirely see coming what Grant is doing these days for Detroit. I’m really happy for him.

Grant was a fan-favorite on the Hill in his two terms with the Orange, helping the team to a Final Four run in 2013 and a 25-0 start in the following campaign.

The Philadelphia 76ers selected Grant at No. 39 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, and he played there and for the Oklahoma City Thunder before joining Denver. Keep on crushing things in Detroit, Jerami!