Knicks rookie Quentin Grimes continues to impress

NEW YORK — Julius Randle anxiously scrolled down his phone in between questions from the reporters. 

No, this isn’t the same Randle who shunned media availabilities in recent weeks. 

Randle was in good spirits and disclosed that he was ordering food while facing the reporters following a much-needed 116-96 win over lowly Sacramento Kings Monday night (Tuesday Manila time) at Madison Square Garden. 

As his gaze juggled between the reporters and his phone, his eyes suddenly lit up when New York Knicks sideline reporter Rebeca Haarlow asked about their rookie Quentin Grimes. 

“He’s good,” Randle said. “He’s really good.”

Grimes, the 25th pick of last year’s NBA Draft, had been a bright spot for the Knicks, who won just for the second time in their last eight games. 

Grimes pumped in 11 of his 14 points in the second half as he put Sacramento’s athletic point guard Tyrese Haliburton on skates in one of the game’s highlight plays. 

Grimes is actually supposed to ptich this back to IQ but he calls an audible. He creates enough space on the stepback to pull the 3 if he wanted to, but he gets Hali off balance before crossing over and burning him to the rim as well. Just filthy stuff pic.twitter.com/aR5U87uosQ

— Ariel (@APachecoNBA) February 1, 2022

The 21-year old rookie added four rebounds, one assist, and three steals in more than 23 minutes. 

Over 15 games in January, Grimes averaged 7.7 points on a 43.1 percent mark from the three-point range. His 2 for 5 clip from deep against the Kings was his sixth straight game hitting at least two triples. 

Grimes came into the NBA with a reputation as one of the better 3-and-D prospects. So far, he’s been as good as advertised. And more. 

“I think he has a lot more to his game,” Randle said. “Other than just shooting the ball, he can get in the lane and finish. He plays at a really good pace.”

A projected lottery pick in 2019, Grimes had to recalibrate after an unimpressive one-year stint at Kansas. He went back home to Houston and played two years for the Cougars before re-applying for the NBA Draft. At Houston, he learned how to play defense under long-time NBA assistant coach Kelvin Sampson, cut from the same cloth as Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.  

“This league is about what you earned. Everything matters – like how you practice, how you conduct yourself, whether you play one minute, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, it doesn’t matter. You have to go all out in your practices,” Thibodeau said. 

“[Grimes] treats practice like a game. He's there early. He practices extremely hard. He guards everyone. He doesn't take any possessions off. He's not too cool. So that's why he's earned his way. And if he plays well, and the team plays well, they'll continue to play,” Thibodeau added. 

A trait which Grimes said he got from his father. Marshall Grimes, who played college ball at Santa Clara University, prepared his son for his chosen path. 

“It really comes from my dad,” Grimes said. “He’s always told me that no matter if you’re not playing, playing a lot, playing 40 minutes, you got to treat every practice like it’s a game because you’re ultimately preparing yourself for the game. If I’m BS in practice, that’s not going to help me in the game.”

“My dad really played prepared me at a young age to take everything seriously because I love playing, and I want to play as long as I can,” he continued. 

His seriousness to his craft has endeared him to Thibodeau, who has earned a reputation for his maniacal work ethic, marrying himself to basketball. 

Grimes is no longer just a placeholder in the rotation after the Knicks lineup got ravaged by COVID-19 and injuries. His minutes have gradually increased from 7.6 minutes in November to 16.6 in December and a season-high 21.3 in January, in which he topped the 20-minute mark in 10 of his last 15 games. 

“I feel like every time I step on the court, I get more and more comfortable,” Grimes said. 

He’s been backing up the more offensive-minded Evan Fournier,who scored 25 and 18 points in their last two games, or since ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Frenchman is one of the Knicks veterans that have been made available ahead of the February 10 trade deadline. 

Like Fournier, Grimes can get hot too. But the rookie guard offers more defensive upside. Grimes has earned his stripes, often getting the toughest defensive assignment from guarding Jimmy Butler to Haliburton. 

While he isn’t perfect and is learning the NBA ropes on the fly, his competitiveness and sound defensive fundamentals have been his calling card. 

“I take every matchup personal because it’s my time to go out there and kind of prove to coach and just show everything that I’m capable defensively and offensively,” Grimes said. 

He watches films and studies the scouting report to learn his assignment’s tendencies on the court. His competitive fire lights up every time he steps on the court, even if it’s just a scrimmage.  

“We don’t practice a lot. So, every time I get the opportunity to go up and down, I want to pick up full court. I want to make sure I’m guarding whomever the blue (starters) team’s best player – might be RJ (Barrett), might be Evan (Fournier) – and just try to assert myself,” Grimes said. 

Grimes has the best defensive rating among the Knicks guards and wings with 101.5 (meaning the Knicks only allow 101.5 points per 100 possessions when Grimes is on the floor). Grimes is on the outside looking in the top 10 qualified players around the league for the best defensive rating, which Milwaukee guard George Hill’s 98.2 currently leads with Phoenix’s backup center Javale McGee’s 101.0 landing 10th. 

“That's the thing that I love about Quentin, and I think he’s shown he's guarded four positions. He’s got great determination to win. Sometimes when a guy scores [on him], he comes back right the next time, and he's going to compete as hard as he can and get him. So, it's a dogged determination. It's a will to win, great feet, the anticipation of conceding things, can get ahead of things, prepares himself extremely well,” Thibodeau said. “So, before you get to talent and skill level, you got to have those things.” 

“When you have guys like that, it's, it gives you the ability to not onlymatch up with people but to do more switching. And we see more and more of that in this league. So, the toughness factor is huge. The competitive factor is huge. The ability to think on your feet is huge. And that's what we need. We need those types of players.”

Grimes’ defensive versatility, coupled with one of the most beautiful shooting strokes,has prompted the Knicks front office to keep him away from the Cam Reddish trade. The Knicks instead surrendered a heavily-protected future first-round pick in addition to seldom-used former lottery pick Kevin Knox. 

“Every time he shoots the ball, it looks like it’s going in,” Randle said. “I think he's gonna have a bright future.”

Grimes has made such an indelible mark on this Knicks team that Randle forgot his growling stomach for a moment and talked about all the good stuff about his rookie teammate. Like good food. 

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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based sports website empiresportsmedia.com.