When news broke that the Nuggets had acquired Jerami Grant from the Thunder, Michael Malone couldn’t help but smile.
“My initial reaction was I was excited as hell,” Malone told BSN Denver earlier this week in Las Vegas. “For me, he was a player that as a coaching staff we’ve long admired and respected playing against, a division opponent, a division rival. And the great thing was our front office felt just as highly of Jerami as we did, which is great that there’s that common belief in him.”
Malone’s fondness for Grant, who averaged 13.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game last year for Oklahoma City, shouldn’t come as a surprise. Denver’s coach has preached defense ever since he arrived in Denver in 2015 and after three seasons of finishing in the bottom-10 in the league in defensive efficiency, Malone finally got the results he was looking for last year. The Nuggets are coming off a magical 54-win season where Denver finished as the ninth-best defense in the league.
At 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan and the ability to guard multiple positions from small ball centers to high-scoring wings, Grant should help the Nuggets keep their top-10 defensive standing not just for next season but for many years to come.
“You look at what he’s done, his body of work, the improvements that he’s made, his defensive versatility, his youth, his size, his wingspan, I can go on and on,” Malone said. “I think Jerami is not a guy just for this year, he’s a guy who for many years that can really help our team achieve our ultimate goal which is to win a championship.”
Denver’s front office feels the same way. The Nuggets acquired Grant with their eyes on both their present and future. The 25-year-old has only one year remaining on his contract and a player option valued at $9.3 million but Denver hopes Grant wears a Nuggets’ jersey for a long time.
Grant’s length and defensive versatility make him an ideal fit next to Nikola Jokic — the Nuggets’ All-NBA center and franchise cornerstone who’s under contract for the next four seasons — on one end of the floor. His ability to keep the defense honest from beyond the arc last year means that he’ll be able to play alongside countless other big men in Denver too. Grant shot 39.2% from 3 last season and converted on around 40% of his corner triples, a mark which slotted him in the 60th percentile among all big men, per Cleaning The Glass.
He’ll be able to space the floor if he’s playing alongside Paul Millsap, or on the Nuggets’ second unit next to Mason Plumlee. With Denver looking like it will return most of, if not all of its key contributors from last year, Malone will have more than a few ways to deploy his new jack-of-all-trades power forward.
The Nuggets’ depth also means some difficult decisions will have to be made when it comes to how Malone will divide minutes. As of now, Denver is returning all five starters plus its top four contributors off the bench last season in Malik Beasley, Monte Morris, Mason Plumlee, and Torrey Craig.
Juancho Hernangomez is under contract as well and will arrive at training camp healthier than he was last year after undergoing surgery to repair a core muscle injury. Malone also expects rookie Michael Porter Jr., who’s being held out of Summer League with a knee injury, to garner regular rotation minutes next season.
“We’ll figure that out. We’re still in the middle of July and that’s a great challenge to have as a coach, to have all of these talented young players who are hungry and who want to play,” Malone said. “Yes, tough decisions have to be made, but that’s my job and I have no problem doing that. But I’m all for getting as many talented players as possible. Players will win those spots, players will earn those minutes.”
