{"id":1312328,"date":"2019-07-11T17:56:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T23:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/jerami-grant-hopes-to-help-youthful-nuggets-take-next-step\/"},"modified":"2019-07-11T17:56:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T23:56:01","slug":"jerami-grant-hopes-to-help-youthful-nuggets-take-next-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/jerami-grant-hopes-to-help-youthful-nuggets-take-next-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerami Grant hopes to help youthful Nuggets take next step"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE – In this April 23, 2019, file photo, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jerami Grant shoots against the Portland Trail Blazers during the first half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, in Portland, Ore. Two people familiar with the situation say the Oklahoma City Thunder have traded forward Jerami Grant to the Denver Nuggets for a 2020 first-round draft pick. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday, July 8, 2019, because the trade hasn’t been approved by league officials.(AP Photo\/Craig Mitchelldyer, File)<\/strong>
AP | FR170751 AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DENVER \u2014 Jerami Grant\u2019s introductory news conference turned out to be a real show stopper.<\/p>\n

Actually, more of a sound-check interrupter.<\/p>\n

Between rehearsals before an Ariana Grande concert Thursday at the Pepsi Center, the newly acquired Denver Nuggets big man chatted about how defense just may be his best attribute and how much was looking forward to playing alongside All-Star center Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

It was all music to the Nuggets\u2019 ears.<\/p>\n

The acquisition of Grant in a deal with Oklahoma City was the only significant change the Nuggets have made so far in the offseason. It could be just the move they needed to keep pace with the rest of the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe year we\u2019re coming off of, to add a guy like Jerami, I\u2019m as excited as I\u2019ve ever been with any team I\u2019ve been associated with,\u201d said Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly, who surrendered a 2020 first-round pick to the Thunder in the deal.<\/p>\n

The youthful Nuggets are banking on cohesion to improve on a season that saw them go 54-28 and earn the No. 2 seed in the West. They\u2019re basically running it back even as teams in the West got stronger and stronger. Although, Denver now has Grant and Michael Porter Jr., the No. 14 selection in 2018 who sat out last season as he recovered from another back surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at our culture it\u2019s something we\u2019ve hung our hat on and I think is very positive and it\u2019s developed organically,\u201d Connelly explained. \u201cWe\u2019re very sensitive to who we bring in and I don\u2019t think you could find someone who would be a more seamless fit than Jerami.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Grant is coming off a career season where he averaged 13.6 points and 5.2 rebounds. He also shot 49.7% from the field and 39.2% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

In his opinion, though, his best biggest contributions could be on the defensive end. Grant found himself covering anyone from Damian Lillard to James Harden to Anthony Davis.<\/p>\n

Coach Michael Malone liked the sound of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, what really stands out in today\u2019s NBA is his ability to guard and cover whoever,\u201d said Malone, whose team beat San Antonio in seven games during the first round of the playoffs before losing to Portland in seven games in a second-round series. \u201cAdding a player of Jerami\u2019s talent and the person that he is, his ability to add to our culture, is just going to make us a better team and a more dangerous team.\u201d<\/p>\n

There might be times when Grant finds himself paired on the floor with Jokic and Paul Millsap, who had his $30 million option picked up. Not that Malone has given it much thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m enjoying the moment,\u201d Malone said. \u201cBut I\u2019m excited that he\u2019s on our team. He\u2019s going to play for us. He was a starter on a playoff team. He helped the OKC Thunder play at a high level. I have no idea on minutes or rotation. I will promise you he will be a prominent figure in our rotation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant\u2019s early impression of the Nuggets is they\u2019re a team that likes to work the ball around. Especially Jokic, who averaged 7.3 assists during the regular season to go with 20.1 points and 10.8 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always move the ball at an extremely high clip and get a lot of open shots and get a lot easy baskets,\u201d Grant said. \u201cI\u2019m definitely excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FILE – In this April 23, 2019, file photo, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jerami Grant shoots against the Portland Trail Blazers during the first half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, in Portland, Ore. Two people familiar with the situation say the Oklahoma City Thunder have traded forward Jerami Grant to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1312328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 12:30:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}