TUALATIN — New Portland Trail Blazers Jerami Grant and Gary Payton II each have Oregon roots.
Payton starred for the Oregon State Beavers from 2014-16. Grant was born in Portland in March 1994 while his father, Harvey Grant, played for the Blazers.
Of course, both have different types of memories.
During their introductory news conference Thursday at the team’s practice facility, Payton reminisced about playing with Blazers backup center Drew Eubanks, who re-signed with the team this offseason.
“It’s nice having a Beaver next to me in the organization,” Payton said. “So, it’s going to be fun. I’m excited. Hopefully, we can get back to throwing lobs to each other.”
As for Grant, well, his memories weren’t as rich.
“I don’t have too many memories,” he said. “I was only 2 when I left.”
Well, now both can build new memories here, together, as the newest two additions to a Blazers team desperately trying to build a winner around Damian Lillard, who turns 32 on July 15.
The Blazers on Thursday also re-introduced Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic. Both signed new contracts with the Blazers. But they are old news. So, too, is Eubanks.
The new faces are Grant and Payton. Both certainly bring strong skills to the table. But likely not enough to move the team’s needle toward contender status.
That said, Blazers general manager Joe Cronin made it clear several times that his plan goes into the summer of 2023. So, although he had hoped to land another big fish, he wasn’t going to overpay and sacrifice what he perceived to be valuable assets to pry another star of Grant’s caliber away from another team. Reported negotiations with Atlanta for John Collins and Toronto for OG Anunoby fell through.
Then again, neither had their respective teams in contention last season, so who knows what either could have done for the Blazers. But it’s clear that this team needs another impact player to have a reasonable chance of even reaching the Western Conference finals amid a deep field that only appears to be getting stronger next season with the return of injured stars Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers and Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Gary Payton II, who signed with the club as a free agent, speaks with the media at the team’s practice facility in Tualatin, Oregon on Thursday, July 7, 2022.Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
For now, what Cronin and Blazers coach Chauncey Billups believe they do have is a team that will be versatile, gritty and competitive, especially if Lillard returns to his past MVP-contender form before a core injury led to surgery in January and ended the worst season of his career.
“I think we’re very content with what we’ve accomplished thus far and I think we’ve built a team that others will be nervous playing,” Cronin said. “We have a team that’s going to compete, that’s going to be very difficult to beat and that has the potential to win a lot of ballgames.”
Still, he acknowledged that the roster is not a finished product and he must continue seeking to upgrade the roster’s talent level.
“We want to continually look for opportunities,” he said. “We want to be aggressive in the trade markets and any other opportunities where we can improve. But at the same time, I think we have a really, really solid core that we want to grow with.”
Personality, character and fit appear to be the primary traits the Blazers are after, and Cronin and Billups said that both Grant and Payton check those boxes with ease.
However, the roster’s lack of size, an issue Cronin acknowledged existed before trading away the 6-foot-3 CJ McCollum and Norman Powell, still remains to a certain degree.
Yes, the Blazers traded primarily the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick, acquired from New Orleans in the McCollum deal, for the 6-8 Grant, who can excel at power forward or small forward.
But the addition of the 6-3 Payton, signed away from Golden State for $28 million over three years, left many fans puzzled, given that the Blazers will start the 6-2 Lillard and 6-3 Simons at the two guard spots with the 6-5 Josh Hart as a primary backup guard and potential starting small forward. Also, the team drafted Shaedon Sharpe, listed at 6-6, with the No. 7 pick in the June 23 NBA draft. Next, factor in that small forward Nassir Little, who will challenge Hart for the starting job, is 6-5. That leaves the 19-year-old Sharpe as the tallest player available to play at point guard, shooting guard or small forward.
“The way we’ve turned this roster over, we’ve been looking for specific types of players regardless of their height,” Cronin said. “We’re looking for, like I said earlier, number one, the person. Number two, their mentality. And of course, always the talent.”
Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin speaks with the media at the team’s practice facility in Tualatin, Oregon on Thursday, July 7, 2022.Sean Meagher/The Oregonian
Billups is most intrigued about the athleticism that Grant brings to the forward position as a versatile player who can play well off of Lillard and score in a variety of ways, plus bring length and the ability to switch defensively onto smaller players.
“We haven’t had that and we need that,” Billups said. “And every team needs a guy like that … He just kind of feeds and eats off everything. Switch everything defensively. I just see putting him in a pick and roll with Dame or Ant, and them switching that and having a small guy on him. I mean, you can just let him go to work. So many things that we can do.”
Billups said Grant has the ability to score 18 points without having a play called for him.
“He can take advantage of mismatches,” Billups said.
As for Payton, who reached this point in his career after going undrafted in 2016 and spending time with four franchises in six years, he defines Billups’ desired type of player.
“He’s my kind of guy,” Billups said. “Swiss Army knife. He proved his value and his worth all year long. He’s done something that a lot of people never do in this league. And I’m not just talking about winning championships, I’m talking about, he grinded all the way up.”
Their character, Billups said, is paramount to their importance moving forward.
“I love high-character guys, high-character people,” Billups said. “Winning character. Competitiveness, I’m very competitive. So, I love players that are really competitive.”
Grant’s name had been linked to the Blazers for several months. He and Lillard played together last summer for Team USA and became closer as friends. Grant said he’s been thinking about this move happening for some time.
“I definitely thought it was a possibility early on,” Grant said.
Following the Blazers’ win at Detroit on March 21, Nurkic and Hart tweeted out a photo of them talking to Grant on the court. The tweet included no words.
Nurkic on Thursday translated the message his tweet meant to convey.
“Bring your ass to Portland, straight up,” he said. “The player he is and what he’s able to do on the court. Obviously, I know some people around him, too. I played with some ex-teammates, too. So, I know he is a special guy. Like Chauncey said, it’s both sides. Not just on the court, but off the court, too. We’re really happy to have him.”
Nurkic added that he planned to take advantage of Grant’s ability to dunk off of lob passes.
“I’m going to test it,” he said.
While rumors of the Blazers’ interest in Grant had swirled, the signing of Payton came out of the blue. He played a key role last season behind Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Now he will look to do the same for the Blazers.
“Basically, whatever you need,” Payton said. “I can do anything you need. Set screens. Rebound. Defend. Whatever you need, whatever he comes up with in the game plan. I think I’m going to fit in and be able to do it without a problem.”
Plenty of time remains for the Blazers to pull off a trade or signing. But for now, this appears to be the team the franchise will enter next season with. And Cronin and Billups appear to be pleased with the direction they have taken thus far.
“We’re super excited as an organization about them as people, as talents and as guys who play the brand of basketball that we want to play,” Cronin said.
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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