Jerian Grant Should Play with the Bulls' Strong Rim Finishers

Jerian Grant has earned bright marks for running attacking plays, and either finishing strong at the rim or sneaking a pocket pass to the Bulls post player in the Bulls’ loss to the Celtics in their second matchup. He plays tough, and should be playing more for the Bulls.

I really liked Jerian Grant playing as the second backup guard for the Bulls on Wednesday, replacing the injured Michael Carter-Williams. Carter-Williams will be out for 4-6 weeks for a bone bruise in his knee and the team is not risking to go into action any sooner.

Grant played well against the Celtics by playing smart, attacking basketball, driving to the hoop to score himself or dishing out pocket passes to a waiting Bulls post player. He scored six points from on three shot attempts, dishing out three assists and grabbed two defensive rebounds in just 13 minutes of play.

He’s not a long and tall NBA athlete like MCW or a power guard like Damian Lillard, but he resembles his own veteran teammate, Rajon Rondo, who uses loping Eurostep strides and change of pace, stop-start dribbles to get his defenders timing off and get a jump at the rim for a floater or a lay-in banker. He drives to the hoop almost like Rondo and he passes well.

I want Fred Hoiberg to give Jerian Grant more playing time to prove that he may be more clutch inside defending against smaller point guards and keeping them at bay. Quicker point guards, as we saw in the Celtics game, can run rings around Rondo, so Hoiberg needs to wise up and learn effective matchups by looking at who MCW, Isaiah Canaan, and Jerian Grant match up well against in past NBA games.

Jerian Grant Dominates Smaller Guards on D

Hoiberg needs to improve his scouting prowess by looking over past games to check what facets of his players games are best suited to his system. It looks like he’s just trusting his players to deliver when/if they jell on the court, but understanding how well they have played previously against NBA teams should help him shuffle his players better.

Jerian Grant absolutely owned smaller guards on defense in his New York Knicks stint. He was handcuffing Isaiah Thomas like nobody’s business, something not even Rajon Rondo could do in their loss. Thomas was running circles around Rondo the whole game long.

Hoiberg and the Bulls coaching staff should never ever forget how good of a defensive stopper Grant really is and should run him as the defensive guard opposite Rondo or shooters Denzel Valentine and R.J. Hunter.

That combination might be more potent for the second unit’s back court.

Jerian Grant Can Finish Games

Rajon Rondo chucked up an airball in the last two minutes of the Bulls loss against the Celtics. If Hoiberg went with either Denzel Valentine or Jerian Grant to finish the game, things might have been different.

Rondo has a tendency to get excited and panic shots. Grant has already shown in the Bulls’ Las Vegas Summer League stint this year — where they won the championship — that he can be clutch. Grant was the MVP of the game and helped put the handcuffs on hot shooting Timberwolves backup guard, Tyus Jones.

In the preseason game against Charlotte, Hoiberg called a BLOB play for Grant to shoot the 3 with Doug McDermott as the decoy to force overtime and Grant buried the trey.

When the game is on the line, it might be better to have Jerian Grant or Denzel Valentine as the playmaker and at least one shooter. Even Nikola Mirotic can stay in as long as the playmaker is either Grant or Valentine.

You can also see Grant playing really well with Bobby Portis, Cristiano Felicio and Doug McDermott. He holds his own defending the opposing point guard, which makes the Bulls forwards defensive chores easier because they don’t have to scramble everywhere to chase someone down.

Nov 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Jerian Grant (2) is guarded by Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley (0) during the second quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Play Jerian Grant Big Minutes in the Clutch

There is no sense waiting for someone to get hurt to use Jerian Grant and let him get into the groove of being the future Bulls playmaker, while learning the Hoiball system. While Rajon Rondo may play intensely and smartly during the course of a game, I want someone who can deliver the goods in crunch time and it might be good to let Grant have a go at it.

Rondo can get his production going during the course of the game, but I don’t want his penchant for turnovers to get the better of him and lose games we may otherwise win.

If Michacel Carter-Williams will be delayed coming back to form and rehab properly after the bone bruise, it will be worth all the playing time the Bulls can assign to Jerian Grant to play the fourth quarter. Give him confidence to perform ably as the Bulls point guard of the future.

The future of either Jerian Grant and Michael Carter-Williams or Jerian Grant and Jimmy Butler looks like a promising one if the former Knick can learn Fred Hoiberg’s system faster and run plays in his sleep.

For now, only the kid’s long-range shooting needs more work to be at least as torrential as Isaiah Canaan when he is on fire. His Summer League game and preseason work should be proof enough that he can be the Bulls point guard of the future with the explosive Carter-Williams providing energy off the bench.