Grant Featured in N&O

NC State’s Gavin Grant was featured in a story titled, “Enigmatic Grant remains optimistic” in today’s N&O.

Gavin Grant may be N.C. State’s most versatile, unpredictable, outspoken, intriguing and, at times, infuriating player.

The 6-foot-7 junior can be streaky good shooting the ball or slashing to the basket, then force up a shot so poor it makes NCSU coach Sidney Lowe and Wolfpack fans cringe.

Grant can make a blink-of-the-eye crossover dribble that leaves a defender sprawling — Maryland’s D.J. Strawberry comes to mind — and zip a pass for an easy layup, then make an unforced turnover on the simplest of plays.

On defense, Grant has good hands, good anticipation and can sky for a block. Moments later, his concentration waning, he might allow an easy shot.

Before the season, NC State’s coaching staff shared in pricate that they expected Gavin Grant to have a breakout season and potentially compete for the ACC’s Player of the Year. As the following quote and bullet point #2 in this entry indicates, nothing could have been further from the truth.

Grant has had seven or more assists in five games this season, with a high of 10 against Alabama. He also has had seven or more turnovers in five games, with a high of 10 against Cincinnati. In the 12 games when he was used primarily at point guard, Grant had 70 assists and 72 turnovers

The arrival Wolfpack recruits Marques Johnson, Farnold Degand and JJ Hickson next year could have both positive and negative impacts on Grant. On one hand, having more depth in key positions – particularly point guard – will allow Grant to roam his natural position on the wing and capitalize on his strengths. On the other hand, the new players will impact the number of available positions for playing time and may create a situation where Grant, Courtney Fells and Brandon Costner are competing for playing time for just two positions – shooting guard and wing forward.

If such a situation were to evolve next year, Grant would need to elevate the consistency across his game to insure he would get the playing time that would make him happy; defensive effort, blocking-out/rebounding, outside shooting, and (most importantly) unforced errors/turnovers would need to improve.

Of course, this all assumes that Grant will be playing as the Wolfpack’s lone senior next season. By the sounds of the following quote there may be some doubt to that:

“I think I got a lot better this season,” he said. “I think if I was to be here next year, I’ll definitely benefit from what happened — playing point guard, having to play so many minutes.”

Grant said he has not made a decision on whether to stay in school for his senior year or leave early to play pro ball. Plus, his life could change after the immigration hearing in June in Atlanta.

Federal officials contend Grant entered the United States illegally from Jamaica 12 years ago. He could be deported or ordered to leave the country voluntarily and then apply to return.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s kind of weird. I don’t have any control over it, so I don’t try to think about it. I’ll let it take care of itself. There’s nothing I can do but try to stay out of trouble.”

And keep playing.

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06-07 Basketball General

18 Responses to Grant Featured in N&O

  1. stateguy08 02/18/2007 at 1:04 PM #

    Coming into the season, I thought he might have Julius Hodge type numbers with the rest of the team being so young and without engin just because somebody has to score right?

    But I’m impressed with his unselfishness and his defense as of late, even though his defense seemed to be very poor early on. He has shown leadership but also has committed 999999 turnovers. overall I give Grant a B-

  2. Dogbreath 02/18/2007 at 1:57 PM #

    I see Grant as a sort of poor man’s Nate James, whose playing time dwindles once better players are added into the rotation.

    At least Nate James had a reliable jumpshot. Grant is probably the better ballhandler, but in all, a very appropriate comparison.

  3. StateFans 02/18/2007 at 1:58 PM #

    Those are fair assessments and grades.

    I would say that it also partly indicates why State hasn’t been able to elevate further this season – team’s need better than a B-/C+ grade from their ‘leaders’.

  4. pakfanistan 02/18/2007 at 2:20 PM #

    Grant makes me weep inside. When I saw him as a freshman, I predicted him being an unstoppable player. In my mind, as he matured, the simple mistakes would decrease and just the awesomeness would remain.

    I wonder where he thinks he’ll be playing pro ball…

  5. vtpackfan 02/18/2007 at 2:49 PM #

    Maybe he didn’t mean pro basketball. He could be really consistently good, like pro good, at some other type of ball.

  6. vtpackfan 02/18/2007 at 2:59 PM #

    Out of all of the Herbsters, GG is the only one to produce the exact same product as last year. Maybe next year the apple would bonk him on the head, who know’s. I wrote some shite piece comparing GG’s experience to UCLA’s Marques Johnson here on SFN pointing to the experience of playing out of position as a point guard and how it overall could lift your game. It’s nice to know that this loopy thought is shared by someone else, and who better then GG. Maybe I should be is agent when he goes pro. We could work out some Reggie Bush deal, I could get him in on some lease in Negrille…

  7. redfred2 02/18/2007 at 3:25 PM #

    Grant has definitely had his woes with ball handling and decision making, but he has also been the one player who keeps playing his game until he becomes a factor. A lot of people have been on his case about it, and rightfully so a lot of the time, but I believe there have been many times when no one else on the team was willing to step up. I like to see him go directly at the defense and challenge them without any hesitation, especially when his teammates are struggling and starting to second guess themselves. Grant isn’t the most skilled player on the court but he is trying to be a leader, and he is the one player on the team who doesn’t mind forcing the issue at any time. He may be out of control more often than anyone would like, but I’d still like to see more players playing with that fearless mind set. If Fells would take a lesson, step up and start forcing the issue, he could possibly become a consistent factor.

  8. PurplePeopleEaters 02/18/2007 at 3:40 PM #

    Grant is really frustrating just because he can do that complete flip during the game and turn from a total game changing force Gavin Grant into the dribble of his feet liability Gavin Grant.

    I don’t know why he would consider going pro.. That’s borderline TA McClendon delusional.

    He’s a strange player to watch. I felt like he was taking the next step at the end of last season in the Wake Forest games but he hasn’t taken what he did then and tranferred it back over.

  9. vtpackfan 02/18/2007 at 5:18 PM #

    Oddly enough that was a solid, consisten half GG had. No D to speak off, but offensive he played a role in the offense and helped it to it’s guady 67% shooting, 4 TO first half. Something called the “second half” coming up so we’ll see what thats all about..

  10. gopack968 02/18/2007 at 7:32 PM #

    “Grant said he has not made a decision on whether to stay in school for his senior year or leave early to play pro ball”

    Delusional.

    However, Grant has the skills and with more work on defense and avoiding dumb turnovers – the mental game – he could be a selection in the draft after his senior year. I hope that happens!

  11. sksr97 02/18/2007 at 7:55 PM #

    As fans we can not let our opinions of Grant be skewed by the ups and down of the team as well as his game. Remember he had to play 12 games as the sole point guard for almost 40 minutes per game and then several minutes a game when Atsur went to the bench. That is asking a lot of a guy who is FAR from being a point guard.
    Grant has had a bit of a break out year. A POY season? No way but he has shown that he is one of the better players in the league.
    His numbers show this and considering playing out of position for much of the season is a testament to his ability and value to the season.
    Make no mistake next year when the WOLFPACK

  12. sksr97 02/18/2007 at 7:58 PM #

    As fans we can not let our opinions of Grant be skewed by the ups and down of the team as well as his game. Remember he had to play 12 games as the sole point guard for almost 40 minutes per game and then several minutes a game when Atsur went to the bench. That is asking a lot of a guy who is FAR from being a point guard.
    Grant has had a bit of a break out year. A POY season? No way but he has shown that he is one of the better players in the league.
    His numbers show this and considering playing out of position for much of the season is a testament to his ability and value to the season.
    Make no mistake next year when the WOLFPACK has a complete team, the most effective Grant will be seen. He will not lose loads of playing time because of other players on the team!!!

  13. tvp 02/18/2007 at 8:01 PM #

    If Gavin gets it together, he could be an NBA player. He’s got the same game as Julius but he’s a better athlete and appears to have a better 3 point shot. He doesn’t have the drive Jules had – or if he does it’s not apparent.

    However, very, very good game today! He played the whole way until the bench was cleared and did not turn it over once.

    I’m excited to see how much better our core guys will be when we can play them 28-32 minutes a game instead of 35-38.

  14. sksr97 02/18/2007 at 8:09 PM #

    Excellent points tvp!!

  15. Gene 02/19/2007 at 12:47 AM #

    From what I read somewhere, Grant’s a family man. He has a wife and kid, so turning pro might be based on his family’s money situation. I really don’t know, but just food for thought as to why he might turn pro, even if it’s not the NBA.

  16. sksr97 02/19/2007 at 10:28 AM #

    Grant is one year from a college degree. He will be no worse off with one more year. One more year and he may be a NBA draftee and if not he will at least have a degree in his hand!

  17. newt 02/19/2007 at 11:00 AM #

    The article says “pro ball” not “NBA”. Grant could play in a European league beginning next year and support a very comfortable lifestyle for his family.

    Grant has won me over during our tough stretch as the most energetic player on the court when others were flat footed. He played a solid game against VT.

  18. redfred2 02/19/2007 at 11:28 AM #

    Newt

    Thats what I see too. I like Grant’s attitude and the fact that he doesn’t allow a bad trip down stop him from going right back at it and trying again. He definitely needs to work harder on parts his game during practice sessions, but right or wrong, he is out there trying hard from start to finish during ball games. I think his skills and the mental aspects of his game can be greatly enhanced in the off season when proper coaching has time to really sink in.

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