4 OKC Thunder players who need to up their game this season
By Noah Schulte
Jerami Grant:
Although Jerami Grant has improved significantly since he entered the league, he still has big offensive flaws to address before he can become a reliable, nightly contributor. Grant is easily one of the most versatile and athletic defenders on this team. Last year Grant was probably the best big defender the OKC Thunder had, largely because he could defend virtually any player on the floor.
Like in the sequence below where he works to block a shot on the perimeter, before recovering to slide his feet and force his man into a terrible contested, fade-away:
Although that was a few years ago, he’s always had moments where everything comes together for him defensively and he looks like an elite defender. As long as he can stay out of foul trouble next year, he should be a huge weapon for OKC on the defensive end.
It’s on the other side of the court, where the majority of Grant’s problems lie. Offensively, he’s always seemed like more of a theoretical player than someone who can make an impact. He’s supposedly a stretchy big, although his 29.1 percent clip from three-point range last season begs to differ.
Grant has the tools to be an elite rim-runner, but he can’t set strong enough picks to create separation consistently in the pick-and-roll. And he can handle the ball, but he’s turnover-prone and doesn’t keep his head up enough to be a viable option.
Sure, there are times when everything comes together and he appears to be a real option on offense:
Too often he finds himself completely out of control and burns possessions for the OKC Thunder. If that trend continues into next year, it could be bad news for Oklahoma City.
They have a void at power forward–more on that in a second–and they just agreed to pay Grant $27 million over the next three years to be a key role player for them.
If he can’t improve offensively, the team will have a hard time playing him big minutes no matter how good he is on defense.