Jerian Grant is coming into his own with the Bulls

Like fellow point guard Kris Dunn, Jerian Grant has found a home in Chicago after a poor rookie season. Grant has firmly grabbed the backup point guard role behind Dunn while filling in as the starter when needed, and he has appeared in every game this season for the Bulls en route to a career-high in minutes per game. He brings a solid offensive presence for Chicago on their second units with his efficiency in pick-and-rolls and he is an active defender, though the Bulls’ defense worsens when he’s on the floor.

Grant’s pick-and-roll work is his calling card on the offensive end, as more than two-thirds of his total possessions are a pick-and-roll, per Synergy. The Bulls have scored at a rate of 104 points per 100 possessions on the more than 500 pick-and-rolls initiated by Grant this season. Of the 23 players who have initiated 500 pick-and-rolls, Grant ranks sixth in efficiency. (Dunn ranks 20th and Chicago is the only team in the league with two players on this list. They run a lot of pick-and-rolls).

In particular, Grant has developed a good chemistry with Robin Lopez as a pick-and-roll partner. Grant excels at getting into the teeth of the defense and pressuring the big man into coming to the ball before dumping it back to Lopez, who can hit short floaters and hook shots at a high level.

One big change in Grant’s pick-and-roll game is how often he looks for the pass rather than his own shot, which has actually made his own shooting more efficient from mid-range, where teams are willing to give up shots to point guards in pick-and-rolls. Grant passes the ball to a roll man, spot-up shooter or cutter on almost 66 percent of his pick-and-roll possessions, up from 55 percent last year and 57 percent in 2015-16 when he was a rookie with the Knicks. In general, passes to teammates are far more efficient than shots created by the pick-and-roll ball handler, so this uptick in passing has certainly been a boon to Grant’s overall effectiveness in pick-and-rolls.

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Outside of pick-and-rolls, Grant doesn’t provide a ton of value. He’s a subpar 3-point shooter and doesn’t move well without the ball within the Bulls’ offense. (He has yet to even attempt a shot off a cut this season, a way poor shooters can take advantage of defenses that leave them alone off the ball). As such, it stands to reason lineups with both point guards don’t do well — the Bulls score 96.7 points per 100 possessions with both Dunn and Grant on the floor, albeit in a very small sample size of just 121 possessions. Still, it’s telling that Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg has been so hesitant to throw that pairing out there together.

On the other end of the floor, Grant executes well and has the height and wingspan of an above-average defender at the point guard position but hasn’t been able to quite put it all together to play at a high level consistently. Against New Orleans on Monday night, he was tasked with guarding Rajon Rondo at the beginning of the game and made a number of smart defensive plays related to Rondo’s inability and unwillingness to shoot the ball:

When the Pelicans went with a Jrue Holiday-DeMarcus Cousins two-man game on the right side of the floor, Grant parked himself in the middle of the paint, allowing Rondo to remain wide open in the corner. The ball was swung across to E’Twaun Moore, and Zach LaVine closed out hard to Moore, a 44 percent 3-point shooter. Moore drove past LaVine but Grant was once again in good position to defend at the rim.

Here, Grant was charged with guarding both Moore and Rondo on the weak side after Justin Holiday helped into the paint. When the pass came out to Rondo, Grant started to close out but remembered the scouting report and instead went to the corner to contest Moore, who had to pass it back to Rondo. Rondo hit this particular 3-pointer, but Grant still made the correct decision.

Once again, Grant essentially played center field, forcing the Pelicans to find the open man and Rondo bricked the 3-pointer. When Moore came around the dribble handoff and had a slight advantage on his defender, Grant was right there at the free-throw line to eliminate that advantage. The ball went back to Cousins, who looked inside to Anthony Davis, but Grant sunk down to take away that passing lane, leaving Rondo as the only opening.

Grant’s help instincts can sometimes get him in trouble when he guards a more capable shooter on the perimeter. Additionally, he likes to jab for steals in the back court, which can pick up needless fouls or lead to transition opportunities for the Bulls’ opponent when he misses:

Jrue Holiday missed this 3-pointer, but Grant’s gamble clearly didn’t pay off and left his teammates in a lurch behind him. He has a solid steal rate for his position but also picks up more fouls than he should. He’s a fine individual rebounder, though his team can sometimes struggle to clear the defensive glass when he’s on the floor. Grant can be a good finisher in transition, but the Bulls are slower and more methodical when he’s on the floor — they run in transition almost 3.0 percent less when he’s on the floor versus when he sits, a mark that ranks him in the 10th percentile league-wide.

Grant is a perfect backup point guard for Chicago, as he’s capable in pick-and-rolls and is at least an adequate defender. Drafted in the first round in 2015, he still has one more year on his rookie contract after this one before becoming a restricted free agent in 2019, at which point he’ll be looking for a significant raise above the $2.6 million he’s slated to earn next season. How much more will depend on his growth as a shooter (he shot 37 percent from the perimeter last year, though that seems to be more of an aberration) and as a defender, especially at the point of attack.

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If he can push himself forward in either of those areas, he’ll certainly begin to warrant a starter’s role and salary in the low eight figures per season. The league is currently flooded with quality point guards, but teams are always looking for more and the teams who don’t have them are at a massive disadvantage. In Chicago, they have two starter-level players at the most important position on the floor in Dunn and Grant, and they will need to figure out over the next year and a half which one of them is worthy of a larger investment.