I would be delighted for Philly to play Dwight Howard against Grant, Same for DeAndre and the Nets. Dwight can't score on Grant enough to offset being forced to defend the perimeter DeAndre either. Grant isn't bad on D, even against bigger guys, certainly not to the level where anything but a top scoring big is going to just light him up.I think the issue with Grant is that it hard to picture 15-20 minutes per game when he can thrive. He's a small-ball center who can only guard undersized 5s and slower 4s. So when does he play?
Look at the teams that finished ahead of the Celtics in the East:
Philly ran out Embiid (7-0) and Howard (6-10).
Brooklyn went with DeAndre Jordan (6-11) and Claxton (6-11). I guess if you call late Jeff Green (6-8) a center maybe Grant is a decent matchup?
The Bucks run out Lopez (7-0) and Portis (7-0). Grant is a good matchup for P.J. Tucker, but how often is Tucker going to play small-ball center on a team with Giannis?
Knicks? Robinson and Noel, both 7-0. Maybe Grant guards Taj Gibson (6-9) if the Knicks go small?
The Hawks play Capela (6-10) at center 33 MPG. His backup Okongwu (6-8), plays 12 minutes per game, so there's a potential Grant matchup.
The Heat--Adebayo (6-8)--give Grant credit here, he handled Bam fairly well in the bubble playoffs. Bam's backup Dedmon (7-0) plays 13MPG, so in this case, Grant is maybe more useful against the starter?
I guess you could give Grant Semi's minutes and he becomes your backup PF?
But Semi's minutes were sitting right there for the taking and Grant didn't make the case. I hope Grant improves to become serviceable, but we're down on him because last season the team gambled on Jabari Parker instead of trusting Grant with an expanded role. Jabari Parker, man.
When you play Smallball 5s, it's because you are trying to get an offensive advantage and force the other team to match. The other team can try to stay big and punish you inside, but other than Embiid and MAYBE Lopez there isn't a guy there who can score efficiently enough over Grant to offset the floor spacing and quickness mismatches at the other end if Grant is a real 3pt shooter.