Of all the declarations at Portland Trail Blazers Media Day yesterday, none was as striking as the comments from veteran forward Jerami Grant. As our own Conor Bergin summarized Grant came to the event with a devil-may-care level of honesty that threatened to turn boilerplate into barn-burner. Grant expressed a strong conviction about playing in Portland’s starting lineup, then admitted frankly that he was surprised to still be with the team following a summer of speculation about his status.

Grant’s interview caused a ripple of reaction in the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag, including this question:

I can’t believe what I’m hearing from Jerami Grant. Even though I’m not surprised much it’s still unbelievable to me how a player can have such little care for the team that pays him. Why don’t we just get rid of him? He’s not helping and he’s taking minutes from more deserving players. I could make an argument for not guaranteeing contracts because of things like this. What are the chances we lose him sometime this year? We never should have let it get to this point.

Let’s have some measure here. Grant’s two most striking comments stood out, but as Conor’s piece highlighted, Grant also said plenty of other things about the team’s evolution and his continued role in the process. In cases like this, it’s usually prudent to interpret phrases as narrowly and specifically as possible. Jerami probably wasn’t saying, “Blow it up. I don’t care if I’m here anymore. Screw all of you!” I read his comments as, “If I’m here, I intend to start,” and, “I don’t know if the team still has confidence in our relationship but I’m here to play.” Those aren’t ideal sentiments because the situation isn’t ideal. But they aren’t bad or wrong things to say. They’re simply his reaction to the current environment…which, after all, he was asked.

I’m not sure I want Grant publicly surrendering his starting forward position before training camp. However the matter turns out, I want him to approach the season thinking he’s the player he always was, believing he has the talent and experience to start, and fighting for that spot. If he gets it, fair enough. If he doesn’t, he’s a harder-fighting bench player for it. I don’t see the downside.

The “not expecting to be here” comment reveals more. It’s not so much the surface meaning but the implications. Grant’s had talent and potential for a while now. Yet in his first eight seasons he played for Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Denver, and Detroit. Bouncing around like that wasn’t accidental. Rumor has it that he left Detroit with the team wanting to re-sign him. His refusal to come back was what allowed Portland to pick up the near-star forward from the Pistons for a modest first-round pick. If he wasn’t mercurial, the Blazers couldn’t have afforded him.

After three years in Portland, it’s possible the patience clock is running out again. That’s not surprising. Grant is 31. The team isn’t going anywhere, at least not obviously. I don’t think it would shock anyone if Grant saw 20 or so other franchises as better opportunities. That’s just natural. And it’s not inaccurate. It’ll be interesting to see how much this theme resurfaces during the season, especially if Jerami doesn’t get the starting nod.

As far as dollars on his paycheck, why should that matter at this point? As you said, NBA contracts are guaranteed. Once they’re signed, that money is in the player’s possession no matter what. There’s a huge difference between money you could earn and money you’ve already earned. The first is speculative. It factors into decisions and conduct, maybe overwhelmingly so. Once you already have the money in hand, it stops being a variable and starts being part of the landscape. That doesn’t have the same impact.

When you’re looking to buy a house, the paint and wallpaper matter to you. You compare different options, trying to find the most suitable before you purchase. Once you own that house, you barely look at the paint again. It just exists, at least until it’s time to replace it. You assume it’s there, glance right past it, and go on to make the important decisions about your day like whether it’ll be honey or marmalade on your morning toast.

Guaranteed contracts are the same way. When that money is prospective, it’ll factor into your decision-making big time. Do you want to start or come off the bench? “Well, I’d rather start but I’m willing to do what it takes to help this team win (because it’s more important for me to earn good compensation than to insist upon a specific role).” Once that consideration is off the table, different concerns arise. We paid you. You now have the money no matter what. Let’s re-ask the question. Do you want to start or come off the bench? “I’d definitely rather start (because the higher-priority matter has already been taken care of and this issue has now shuffled into that primary place).”

The solution you suggest, eliminating guaranteed contracts, has its own problems. Leaving compensation up to team management would allow ultimate flexibility and force players to live up to their billing. It wouldn’t be fair to injured players, obviously. Beyond that, it’d put pressure on players to look good individually–and thus “earn” their contract–versus sacrificing for team goals. I don’t want even my star player concentrating on 23 points a game for its own sake, let alone my role players.

Guaranteed contracts lead to gray areas and hiccups, but most of the time they work just fine. If a player’s motivations change occasionally because money is no longer an object, that’s easier to cope with than the litany of interpretive issues that non-guaranteed contracts would bring. You don’t want to kill a fly with a sledgehammer, especially not inside the house.

As to why the Blazers haven’t traded Grant, there are only two possible options. Either they don’t want to or there’s not enough of a market. Frankly both may factor in at this point. Maybe that’ll change as Grant’s contract shortens or his play improves. Or the Blazers might just be stuck with him. We’ll have to see.

It’s also possible–at least theoretically–that Portland buying out Deandre Ayton’s contract and/or trading Anfernee Simons during the offseason set a precedent. Along with Grant, those two were the hottest, most speculative figures on the roster this summer…veterans who didn’t belong anymore. Two of the three are gone. Life would probably be better for Jerami if a buyout or trade happened to him too. Maybe at this point he just doesn’t give a flying fig what happens because playing here, getting traded, or getting bought out, it’s all the same to him.

No matter how you sort it out, this is the classic example of “it is what it is”. As long as the matter doesn’t overflow the riverbanks and become a crisis, it’ll remain a quirk and not a determining factor for the season. If Jerami sandbags the year, that’s different. Having your highest-paid player pulling in a different direction than the rest of the team often spells disaster. The rebuilding Blazers can’t afford to become a clown show. But there’s no real evidence of that yet. Unless it does, the best course is to continue forward, try to integrate Grant the best way possible into this versatile Portland lineup, and hope for the best.
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