Nick Nurse simply wished a physique.
The Philadelphia 76ers had been spiraling into the abyss, their championship hopes unraveling with every new addition to the damage report. Paul George didn’t maintain up lengthy. Neither did Joel Embiid. Abruptly, the Sixers had little to play for. A once-deep workforce had grow to be a shell of itself, and when Dallas known as providing Quentin Grimes and a second-round decide for veteran wing Caleb Martin shortly after stunning the world with the Luka Doncic commerce to the Los Angeles Lakers, the choice made itself.
“Caleb just wasn’t healthy. He wasn’t playing,” Nurse, the 76ers’ head coach, says now. “Everybody knows what Caleb can do. But he just couldn’t stay on the court. So I was really excited [about the trade] because I thought, ‘We have a body,’ first and foremost.”
Grimes has been excess of only a physique. Since arriving in Philadelphia, he’s not simply been current — he’s been productive.
Practically 27 factors per sport in March. Forty-four in opposition to Golden State. Forty-six in a loss to Houston. Twenty-six extra Tuesday night time at Madison Sq. Backyard in opposition to the workforce that drafted him twenty fifth general within the 2021 NBA Draft.
Grimes is not a spare half in a crowded Knicks rotation. He’s a featured piece — one who’s all of a sudden placing up star numbers, even when these numbers are coming in losses.
The Sixers are 3-11 in Grimes’ March appearances. However the quantity? The effectivity? The rhythm?
It’s actual.
“He’s had great moments in the league,” says Tom Thibodeau, who coached Grimes by his first three-and-a-half seasons with the Knicks. “He’s playing, he’s got great rhythm. He can shoot it, put it on the floor, he’s dangerous in transition. He’s making good plays off the dribble. Defensively, he’s terrific. Very dangerous in the open floor.”
Now, as Grimes heads into restricted free company this summer season, the questions are loud — and they’re justified.
Are these numbers a byproduct of quantity on a shedding workforce robbed of its star energy? Or has Grimes at all times had this in him, hiding in plain sight beneath the position participant’s uniform? Can a participant who excels in a nasty scenario carry his manufacturing over when the expectation is to win?
“I think it’s a super valid question,” Nurse says. “And I think you have to know exactly what’s happening — and I think you have to figure out how that fits with what you possibly have. In our ideal world, he’s not getting these many attempts when we have our three main scorers playing.
“But I think the real world is those guys [Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey] are in and out. So maybe can he be a guy who plays one role one night and steps up a role in certain situations, those kind of things. I think he can score the ball. I think he can shoot, which is what we need.”
* * *
Quentin Grimes flashes a figuring out smile — half nostalgia, half satisfaction — because the reminiscences rush again.
“I’m pretty comfortable in this arena,” he says, glancing across the customer’s locker room. “I was here for three years.”
These years had been formative. And what as soon as felt like frustration has, with time and distance, softened into appreciation for the setting — and the top coach — that molded him.
“Playing for Thibs, he gave me a great foundation on what the NBA is, how to be a pro, how to approach every game like it’s a Game 7,” says Grimes. “Thibs is super prepared every game, takes no B.S. and doesn’t take anything lightly, and never tries to overlook anything. So having that kind of got my mindset really geared to when I go into any game, I take it very seriously.”
What Grimes is doing now could be spectacular, however to grasp how he acquired right here — how a former position participant became one of many league’s hottest scorers — it’s a must to return to the place it began.
Thibodeau at all times noticed this model of Grimes in flashes: gym-rat motor, high-volume 3-point taking pictures, defensive depth. However on a workforce with one basketball to share between Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley — and later joined by Donte DiVincenzo, a veteran at Grimes’ place — the runway for creation dried up.
The alternatives weren’t there. The participant nonetheless was.
“[Grimes’ scoring outburst] doesn’t surprise me,” Thibodeau says. “He’s high energy. He came in with an intensity about him. He’s a gym rat. He’s always been able to shoot, put it on the floor and defend. And he’s just continued to get better.”
Even nonetheless, nobody anticipated this type of surge — besides, possibly, Mitchell Robinson, the longest-tenured Knick and one in all two gamers (Miles McBride the opposite) remaining from Grimes’ rookie season.
“I’ve seen him in practice a million times getting up hella shots,” says Robinson, with further emphasis on the second-to-last phrase. “His hard work’s paying off.”
And it’s paid off in numbers: 26.6 factors per sport in March, tied with Anthony Edwards for eleventh within the NBA. The names above him are a who’s who — MVPs, Finals MVPs, prime picks, franchise guys. Jokic. Doncic. Giannis. Tatum. Banchero. Brunson. SGA.
After which there’s Grimes.
Traded 3 times in a 12 months. Dumped by three groups and thought of disposable. Now, all of a sudden indispensable — at the least to a Sixers workforce so banged up it has no alternative however to search out out what it has.
The Knicks moved Grimes to Detroit within the deal for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. The Pistons flipped him to Dallas for Tim Hardaway Jr. The Mavericks traded him to Philadelphia, hours after transport Doncic to Los Angeles.
One way or the other, he by no means misplaced his footing. Actually, filling in on an injured Knicks workforce assist set the stage for the position he’s thrived on this season.
“I think [Grimes’ run] shows you how good the NBA is,” his former teammate Josh Hart says. “During this time of the year, you always have guys that are starting to put together good games. It shows you how good the NBA is, how situational the NBA game is. It’s good for him, good for his confidence. He’s playing well.”
* * *
However how does all of it match?
Will the numbers translate?
Is there benefit to dismissing a participant’s manufacturing simply because it is available in losses?
Grimes doesn’t suppose so. And in his case, context issues.
In any case, it’s not just like the Sixers had been constructed to tank. They had been constructed to contend — till accidents tore that imaginative and prescient aside.
He paused, briefly attempting to tally the firepower lacking from Philadelphia’s rotation.
“Like, we’re missing nine guys,” Grimes says with fun. “So if I still had the same opportunity, it’d be a lot different of an outcome with those guys being out there.”
Quantity scoring on a shedding workforce is commonly handled like empty energy. However Grimes pushes again on that concept. These aren’t simple photographs. They don’t come with out effort. And so they nonetheless depend.
“You’ve still gotta be efficient with what you’re doing. You’ve still gotta be in attack mode,” he says. “You can get all the shots in the world, but you’ve gotta make ’em at the end of the day. I’m just trying to go out there, be aggressive and do what I can to help the team win.”
Philadelphia wasn’t constructed to characteristic Grimes. They had been constructed to contend round Embiid, Maxey and George — a trio that hasn’t shared the court docket practically sufficient to justify the worth tag.
Nonetheless, Grimes believes he matches proper in when the Sixers are complete.
“It’d be great,” he says. “They’re gonna have to double Joel for sure. That’s more open looks for me to knock down catch-and-shoot [shots] or make plays off the dribble. You’ve gotta be able to adapt, and I feel like I’ve shown now I can be one of the main scorers on any team and just keep elevating my game. So I’m gonna keep doing that, stay focused, finish the season strong, and whatever happens, happens.”
This stretch has been proof of idea. A reminder he’s not only a 3-and-D wing, even when that’s the label that’s adopted him since he entered the league.
“All three levels,” he says. “People hang my hat on 3-and-D — and that’s a good thing to hang it on. But I’m showing I can really do it all: finishing, making the right plays, off the dribble, just being an overall offensive threat and one of the main scorers on a team.”
On this newest chapter, the Sixers are asking him to do greater than ever — even run level with Maxey probably executed for the 12 months. Quickly, the ex-Knick will write one other chapter as a restricted free agent, fielding gives from groups which may need to construct round him, or just need insurance coverage if their lead guard goes down.
“He’s done a great job with the task we’ve given him,” says veteran Sixers guard Kyle Lowry. “Our three big guns have been hurt, and he stepped up. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn into wins, but he’s showing his progression — his ability to score the ball and make plays for everybody else.
“He’s been impressive.”
