| Detroit Free Press
The NBA released its first batch of 2021 All-Star votes from fans on Thursday, and two Detroit Pistons players made the list.
Derrick Rose ranked eighth among Eastern Conference guards with 183,899 votes. And Jerami Grant made his debut on the list, placing 10th among frontcourt players with 134,487 votes.
Grant is in the midst of a breakout season in his first year with the Pistons, averaging 23.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 blocks while shooting 45.1% overall, 40.2% from 3 and 86.7% from 3. His previous career-high as a scorer was 13.6 points per game during the 2018-19 season.
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Head coach Dwane Casey said that in his conversations with other coaches, the NBA has become aware of Grant’s improvement and candidacy for the All-Star Game and Most Improved Player award.
“Everybody I talked to talks about, the coaches talk about the improvement Jerami’s made, how he’s handling his step toward his higher usage rate and that type of thing,” Casey said. “All those things, I think the entire league knows right now and it’s to Jerami’s credit. I don’t think you have to flaunt it. I think there’s so much media coverage of his play right now, even though our record doesn’t indicate it. He has played at the level that I know Troy (Weaver), we all envisioned him playing. He’s only scratching the surface of the type of player he can be going forward.”
The Pistons’ 5-16 record is tied for the NBA’s worst, which will make it tougher for Grant to garner support to make the 12-man roster.
Rose, 32, is averaging 14.2 points per game — down from 18.1 last season — 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.9 turnovers in 15 games, all off the bench. He’s shooting 42.9% overall and 33.3% on 3s. With his lengthy injury history, he is on a minutes restriction, averaging 22.8 minutes per game. He averaged 26 minutes last season.
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Per reports, the All-Star game is scheduled to take place in Atlanta on March 7. Fans can vote daily on NBA.com/Vote, on the NBA App or on Twitter using both #NBAAllStar and #JeramiGrant, #DerrickRose or whichever player fans wish to cast their vote toward.
Fans account for 50% of the voting for starters, and all current players and a media panel account for 25% each. The five starters in each conference — two guards, three frontcourt players — will be announced on TNT on Feb. 18.
Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid are the top-3 leaders in frontcourt voting, and Bradley Beal and Kyrie Irving lead guards.
In the West, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic and Kawhi Leonard are the frontcourt leaders, with Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic atop guards.
Durant’s 2,302,705 votes is tops among all players.
All-Star reserves are selected by NBA head coaches and revealed Feb. 23. The last Piston to make the All-Star Game was Blake Griffin in 2019.
All-Star voting opened Jan. 28 and runs through Feb. 16 at 11:59 p.m. The next fan voting update will be shared Feb. 11.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @omarisankofa. Read more on the Detroit Pistons and sign up for our Pistons newsletter.