"He’s a guy that we’ve long coveted": Why the Nuggets targeted Jerami Grant

Jerami Grant held up a freshly pressed No. 9 Nuggets jersey Thursday afternoon at his introductory press conference, the only jersey Denver brass hopes Grant will wear over the next several seasons.

The Nuggets want Grant with the organization long-term, and based on Tim Connelly and Michael Malone’s remarks as they sat on either side of the 6-foot-9 forward and fielded questions about his fit with the current roster, Denver had that thought in mind when it moved to secure a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“There are always a handful of guys that you covet and try to do everything in your power to get him on your team within your ability,” Connelly said. “With full sincerity, Jerami is one of those guys, both as a person and a player. He’s a guy that we’ve long coveted. We’re unbelievably fortunate to add him to our team. I think it’s a special day for us. I think he’s going to be a guy that we continue to grow with. He’s going to be here for a long time and an additional piece to what we think is going to be a very strong team.”

Grant comes to Denver under a contract that only runs through the end of next year and the 25-year-old has a $9.2 million player option for the 2020-21 season. If all goes to plan and the Nuggets are able to keep Grant in-house past next year, he’ll be a big part of their future.

“We think he’s going to fit great in our locker room,” Malone said. “He’s going to fit great next to Paul Millsap and Nikola Jokic and he’s going to help us take that next step.”

Here’s what else stood out from Thursday’s press conference at Pepsi Center.

Jerami Grant is a Michael Malone guy

Asked what’s the one thing he does best on a basketball court, Grant spoke about his defense.

“Being able to guard the basketball,” he said. “Weak-side defense. I think just defensively overall.”

That’s music to Malone’s ears. For three seasons, Denver’s coach had tried but failed to get his group to buy in on the defensive end of the floor. But that changed last season when the Nuggets ascended from a bottom-10 defense in the league — a mark they had held for the previous three years — to the NBA’s ninth-best defense.

Grant’s length, athleticism, and ability to guard all five positions means that Denver’s defense can get even better next season.

“He does a lot of things really well,” Malone said. “His shooting, his cutting off the ball. For me, what really stands out is in today’s NBA his ability to guard and cover whoever. Guard bigger guys, use his size, his length his athleticism to cover up for other people’s mistakes.”

Grant, who averaged 1.3 blocks last year, is an ideal fit next to Nikola Jokic. He’ll also be able to spell Paul Millsap throughout the regular season.

Nuggets are staying committed to their culture

Connelly first met Grant in 1996, when he was just two-years-old. Grant’s father Harvey played for the Washington Bullets from 1988-93 and for the Wizards from 1996-98 and then worked for the organization when Connelly was an intern in Washington.

Connelly has watched from afar as Grant grew up around the game and tailed his father around NBA gyms, rose the ranks as a high school prospect at DeMatha High School in Washington D.C., was drafted to the 76ers and then traded to the Thunder where he was a productive player for the last three seasons. The Nuggets have packed their roster full of gym rats who prioritize team success above individual accolades and don’t carry egos that dominate locker rooms. Grant fits that mold.

“A genuinely good person from a great family that understands the professional game, certainly grown up around it,” Connelly said of Grant. “… Our culture is something we’ve hung our hat on. I think it’s very positive and it’s developing organically. We look very extensively at who we bring in and I don’t think you’ll find someone whos going to be a more seamless and equipped fit than Jerami.”

Grant is excited to be in Denver too. He’s looking forward to the prospects of playing alongside Jokic and has previous relationships with both Gary Harris and Will Barton (Grant attended high school in Hyattsville, Maryland, 45 minutes away from where Barton grew up in Baltimore).

The Nuggets’ read-and-react offense that’s predicated on ball and man movement will be a big change from the Thunder’s isolation style of play centered around Russell Westbrook and Paul George. It’s an offensive philosophy that will lead to countless open layups and 3s for Grant. He converted on a career-high 39% of his triples last season.

“Going against (Denver) I always told my teammates that they move the ball,” Grant said. “They always move the ball at an extremely high clip and they get a lot of open shots, a lot of easy baskets. I’m definitely excited to be here.”

Acquiring Grant likely puts a bow on Denver’s offseason

Here are the Nuggets’ notable transactions this summer:

• Traded into the draft to select Bol Bol 44th overall
• Traded a 2020 first-round pick to the Thunder for Grant

That’s it.

Denver stayed relatively quiet this offseason as the Clippers, Lakers and Jazz loaded up, but the Nuggets never felt like they needed to move heaven and earth to keep pace in the West. The Nuggets are likely returning all of their key rotation players from last year’s 54-win team and more internal growth is still coming from Jokic, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Malik Beasley, Monte Morris and others. Denver is banking on continuity and the addition of Grant carrying it further in the playoffs this coming season.

Sure the Nuggets would have liked to land Kawhi Leonard this summer, but Grant isn’t a bad consolation prize for a team who just needed to plug a few holes in its rotation.

Next up: training camp in late-September.

“I’ll give myself an A+” Connelly joked assessing the Nuggets’ offseason. “… We can’t control what happens elsewhere. We can’t control where we are geographically and how appealing we are to other free agents. But we can control the culture and team success. The year we’re coming off of, to add a guy like Jerami, I’m as excited as I’ve ever been with any team I’ve been associated with.”