“Coach Sampson, at U of H, he did a good job of [teaching that] you can have a great game and go 2-for-10,” Grimes says. “Defensively, you could be making and causing havoc, getting steals, loose balls, just do whatever you can to help the team win.”
Practices lasted three hours and frequently involved drills imparting the full-court pressure that is a staple of Sampson’s program. Grimes concedes he had to learn how to practice at the intensity Sampson demanded, finding himself as the recipient of plenty of sprint assignments as he adapted.
“But then he might come into the huddle and he might draw up a play for me,” Grimes says as we lounge in plush red chairs at The Opus Westchester in White Plains. “All you gotta do is just go 110 percent. It kind of made it easy to play for a guy like that because he knows even though he's gonna run you to death, it's because he cares about you. But he's also gonna let you do your thing offensively.”
All the sprints, full-court pressure, and years of defensive sharpening Sampson imprinted on him shaped him for this NBA future. His mindset has been redefined, an unidentifiable retooling from where he was before he arrived at Houston.
Throughout his tenure at Houston, Grimes refined his screen navigation and rebounding, skills singled out by assistant Quannas White. Over the past offseason, the two further refined his screen navigation. Grimes also studies contemporary defensive luminaries such as Marcus Smart, Kawhi Leonard, and Jrue Holiday.
From Smart, he gleans how to play bigger than his frame, apply pressure at the point of attack and combat screens. Holiday’s technique informs him on how to recover around screens back in front of ball-handlers. Leonard’s strength and ability to barricade players from reaching their comfort zones are points of education as well.
Quentin Grimes is superstitious.
He’ll wear out socks until they turn black or grow a hole if they’re part of a prolific stretch of games. During an AAU Tournament prior to his senior year of high school, he ate salmon, broccoli, and rice at TGI Fridays four days in a row. At the University of Houston, he was devoted to a single pair of white Jordan 34s, refusing to change them amid a lengthy hot streak.
He once listened to the same PARTYNEXTDOOR song on repeat as he and his AAU teammates made the 12-minute drive to the gym three consecutive days. The first day, everyone else in the car bemoaned his song choice. They wanted an upbeat playlist to invigorate them. Grimes preferred tranquility.
“Nah, man, this is my stuff,” he told them.
After a pair of wins, he’d convinced everyone. Only one option sufficed for that third trek to the gym as the entire car begged Grimes to play the song.
His gameday ride now from White Plains to Madison Square Garden is dominated by a carefully cultivated playlist, which includes Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop The Music,” Beyonce’s “BREAK MY SOUL,” Pooh Shiesty’s “Back in Blood,” and various hits from NBA YoungBoy. Steve Lacy, Paramore, and Q-Tip make cameos as well. Classical jazz and R&B cannot be ruled out, either.
Grimes’ superstitions coalesce to form a man of routine. His manager and longtime close friend, Matt Evans, calls him a creature of habit. And, really, the results for Grimes, to this spot in his basketball voyage, justify these habits. As a 22-year-old, second-year wing, he starts for the fifth-seeded New York Knicks and logs nearly 30 minutes per game. On a nightly basis, he is entrusted to space the floor, punish rash closeouts, and hound the opponent’s foremost perimeter scorer.
You can always put a guy defensively out there on the court. That’s where I kind of had to earn my trust with Thibs last year, just being a guy, come in there and play super hard and guard the best player.
“But you're not Steph Curry,” Marshall recalls saying. “It was a little bit tough for him initially. And that's one thing with younger kids, you have to explain to him, don't worry about whether it's going in or not, just shoot it this way, just continue to shoot this way.
“So, as he got a little bit more proficient in it, he could tell that it was harder for kids his age to even come close to blocking his shot. But as he got stronger, doing push-ups and jump rope, it was easier for him to perfect that shot.”
And then, Quentin hit a wall. I’m tired, I really don’t want to play today, Quentin told Marshall before a Sunday AAU game in the ninth grade. Marshall knew eyebrows would raise if Quentin was absent, given the overflow of influential eyeballs fixated on the AAU circuit, with Quentin already on national radars as a high school freshman. But he could sense his son was exhausted from being stretched thin in an array of directions, including his commitment to a straight A report card.
Marshall still held some reservations. Should we just fight through this? He thought to himself. A phone call with a friend who was playing professionally at the time helped alleviate concerns and encouraged Marshall to give his son a breather. Soon after, Marshall and Tonja agreed to pull Quentin from AAU.
He spent the summer focused on rediscovering his joy for the sport by playing pickup with current and former high school, collegiate, and professional players. At the end of the summer, various parents approached Tonja and told her they wished they had the courage to do what she and Marshall did for Quentin, who was refreshed while away from the scrutiny, pressure, and taxing style of the AAU scene.
“It was a renewed sense of purpose for him,” Tonja says.
After playing ball one night, Marshall wanted to skip over his tradition of lifting weights. Almost any time prior to that AAU break, he would’ve heard no objections from Quentin, who preferred to just head home. This time, Quentin pushed back. I wanna stick around here and lift some weights, he told his father, who realized the teachings of that hiatus had resonated with Quentin.
“He got a chance to see how people really work out to get to a higher level,” Marshall says. “You don't have to love the grind. But the grind is part of what you do. It's just natural. And it's something that just comes natural. And that's what he was able to get to. So, it wasn't work anymore. It was fun.”
Creative Direction: Martin Rickman Design: Daisy James & Ralph Ordaz
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Writer – Jackson Frank | Creative Director – Martin Rickman | Associate Editor – Bill DiFilippo
Designers – Joe Petrolis, Carlos Sotelo Olivas, Daisy James | Photographer - Aundre Larrow | Photography Assistants - Joon Gray, Sarai Garcia
Product Coordinator - Jason Tabrys | Location | The Opus, Westchester & The Restaurant at Kanopi
Creative Direction: Martin Rickman Design: Daisy James & Ralph Ordaz
Creative Direction: Martin Rickman Design: Daisy James & Ralph Ordaz
By Katie Heindl / Contributor / Dime And Uproxx Sports
Quentin Grimes
is writing his own story with the Knicks
Allow Me to REIntroduce Myself
Allow Me TO
introduce Myself
CONTROL
Growing up, Grimes was renowned for his vast offensive gifts. In high school, he could drop 30 points comfortably each game. As a 5-star recruit, Grimes admits offense dominated his thoughts rather than the broad theme of development in any manner. Scoring was the focus because it’d always been available for him. That wasn’t the case at Kansas, where he averaged eight points per game, and shot 38 percent overall and 34 percent beyond the arc as a freshman. Aware that he entered the year as a projected lottery pick, Grimes struggled to navigate his shooting downswings or discern other methods of steady contributions.
After one year as a Jayhawk, he transferred to Houston, where head coach Kelvin Sampson emphasizes defense and rebounding. Grimes had to reorient his mentality and impact winning beyond being a scorer. Valuing the process over the short-term results is a pillar of his current outlook, but it took time to reach that point. No longer consumed by the ebbs and flows of his shot, Grimes prioritized improving his game for the betterment of the team, which would ultimately benefit himself as well.
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The way he plays is the way he practices. Some guys practice half-speed and it’s a tough adjustment in games. He’s the ultimate gym rat: comes early, stays late, a great competitor.
“Coming to the NBA last year, you gotta kinda earn your trust. You gotta earn every minute you get on the court and I feel like defensively was something that's never gonna go away,” Grimes says. “You can always put a guy defensively out there on the court. That's where I kind of had to earn my trust with Thibs last year, just being a guy, come in there and play super hard and guard the best player.”
Grimes was encouraged to dabble in different sports like soccer and football growing up by his parents, both of whom played collegiate basketball. In football, he played wide receiver. Most youth-level quarterbacks didn’t possess the requisite skills to feed him targets and stimulate him. In basketball, though, he reliably found himself in the middle of the action. While his middle school buddies participated in various sports, Quentin, who tagged along with his father, Marshall Grimes, to the gym from the time he was about three years old, spent that time hypnotized by a singular sport.
By the time Quentin was in the fifth grade, his instincts and ball-handling enabled him to perform acts that his father deemed “unnatural” for someone of Quentin’s age. When Quentin entered the eighth grade, he dialed up the workload and was no longer sucked into video games over hours on the court. Neither Marshall nor his mother, Tonja Stelly, insisted he do so and told him as much, but always afforded him the resources to thrive if he wished to utilize them.
Quentin started sprouting up physically. Marshall wanted to move his shooting pocket from his chest to roughly where it is today, stationed above his head with one of the highest releases among NBA guards. That presented a challenge for a young teenager like Quentin, who noted that Stephen Curry doesn’t shoot from there.
Quentin’s work ethic has only progressed in the ensuing years. Ryan Elvin, a close friend and former teammate at Houston, says Quentin’s story cannot be told without stressing his work ethic. His current head coach can’t help but point it out, either.
“The way he plays is the way he practices,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau says. “Some guys practice half-speed and it’s a tough adjustment in games. He’s the ultimate gym rat: comes early, stays late, a great competitor.”
Last season, when Quentin was out of the Knicks’ rotation, an assistant called Marshall and relayed that his son was doing everything correctly. He just needed to stay patient. As Quentin rehabbed a foot injury early in the year, Knicks coaches believed he was overdoing it and didn’t want him returning to the practice facility at night anymore. That was conflicting for Quentin, who believes the road toward his goals runs directly through that 94’x50’ court.
“Staying in the gym,” he says, “it eliminates any doubts or fears you have about yourself or about your game.”
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I’m a huge dreamer. I dream big, really big. I dream so big that sometimes I’ve got to let my expectations just die down a little bit.
Over this past summer, Quentin spent much of his time learning from one of his rivals during his college days, Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway, with whom he shares an agency. Their regimen centered on improving Quentin’s comfort when the ball is in his hands, training him as a point and shooting guard.
During workouts, Quentin was relentlessly in motion. He’d hoist a long ball out of the pick-and-roll and immediately zip into a relocation three. He’d dart backdoor for a pair of diverse finishes. He’d launch sidestep and stepback triples well beyond the arc. He’d dribble through a series of cones and fire up another shot. Passing, footwork, dribble combinations, attacking closeouts, and converting at the rim were the skills they most intently worked to develop.
“He puts you in a situation where you're always thinking. He'll give you like six different reads that you have to make, so you're always thinking about, what's the next one?” Quentin says. “He has you thinking, bounce pass, pocket pass, now you're coming off a down curl, down screen, come off the pick-and-roll, read that guy, finish at the rim, now, go shoot, the whole time.”
Thus far, the results are readily apparent. Quentin is shooting more than 12 percentage points better inside the arc in year two (62.2 vs. 50). According to Cleaning The Glass, his rim frequency has also spiked from 10 percent to 29 percent and his efficiency is up from 64 percent to 69 percent. He’s expanded his arsenal by honing his interior exploits.
“When he first came to me, he wasn't like this spectacular finisher around the rim, even though he's very athletic,” Hardaway says. “So, we worked on some different spins, kind of tried to give him the Kyrie [Irving] package on finishes with different spins off the backboard, angling your body for different types of layups, the height of the ball on the glass, whether it's low, medium, or high.”
Grimes now refers to Hardaway as a “big uncle.” Their summer sessions were intense, but Grimes always delivered some jokes, playfully reminding Hardaway that Houston never lost to Memphis when Grimes was in the lineup. That vital aspect of trust was established.
“Oh, he's a jokester now. He's got some jokes. He's got a lot of jokes. He'll hit with you something you'd be like oh, OK, you're gonna be Mr. Funny Guy, you want to be a comedian,” Hardaway says. “I think a lot of people just see him being quiet and this assassin-type personality on the court where he's always in attack mode, but he's really got a silly side and a funny side to him.”
As Grimes prepared to sign with an agency ahead of the 2021 NBA Draft, his utmost priority was ensuring Evans came with him. Roommates since April 2021, the two are connected by a bond Evans, 32, says blood could not deepen; both punctuate sentences with a similarly subconscious confirmation of “you know what I mean?”
Evans’ first interaction with Grimes occurred when Grimes was 14 and a sophomore in high school playing against Evans’s alma mater, Atascocita High School in Humble, Texas. That night, their only direct conversation was Evans asking Grimes how old he was and marveling at the ease and grace with which he dunked the ball as a 14-year-old.
Months later, by happenstance, Evans landed a gig helping out with Grimes’ AAU team and their connection swiftly blossomed. While teammates indulged in typical teenage diets after a day of games, Grimes hung back at the hotel and waited for Evans to take him somewhere healthier.
“He was already molding himself for something different. I saw that,” Evans says. “He's different in a great way. He just knows how to get to where the moon is. The other guys are good, but they can't get to the moon. And this guy has his sights set on the moon.”
When Evans felt Grimes wasn’t receiving the recognition he deserved from basketball pundits around the Houston area, he advocated for him online. During Grimes’ freshman year at Kansas, Evans increasingly ventured out to Phog Allen Fieldhouse and offered support.
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Staying in the gym,
it eliminates any doubts
or fears you have
about yourself or
about your game.
Brian Scheall,
director of basketball at IMG
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I think a lot of people
just see him being quiet and
this assassin-type personality on the court where he’s
always in attack mode,
but he’s really got a silly side and a funny side to him.
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He was already molding himself for something different. I saw that. He’s different in a great way.
He just knows how to get to where the moon is. The other guys are good, but they can’t get to the moon. And this guy has his sights set on the moon.
Matt Evans,
manager and longtime close friend
by
Jackson Frank
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I wanna be a guy
that you can count on. He’s loyal, he’s going to show up and he’s going to give you more than 110 percent, really. I feel like having people around me that are going to do the same for me, it means a lot. It’s something you can’t put a price tag on.
“I think that was when we really turned the corner,” Evans says. “Making sure that I'm going up there even more when everything is not as good as it could be meant a lot.”
Evans is one of several folks in Grimes’ life who, despite not being blood, are considered family. Everyone close to him acknowledges he is not easily trusting, but once he lets you in, you’re a lifer. Loyalty and humor summarizes these connections.
During his All-Star Break as a rookie, he traveled back to Houston and rooted on his former school, The Woodlands College Park High, at practice and playoff games. This year, after he participated in the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend, he flew home for the first time in six months to visit “the people that are going to be with you when the times get hard.” A tropical vacation did not captivate him like it may other NBA players, even after spending several days in Utah in February and calling New York his NBA home.
“I'm gonna see the people that watch me every night,” Grimes says. “Call me, text me, good game, bad game, just checking up on me. I check up on them.”
While home, he watched a Houston game courtside and worked out with Elvin. During their yearlong spell as teammates, Grimes habitually trekked back to the gym for a night of shots, with Elvin often already out there doing the same. Grimes employed some classic tough love on the freshman to test him. Elvin aced it and gained Grimes’ respect. Today, they hold each other accountable and talk after many of Grimes’ games, with Elvin ready to bestow constructive criticism when applicable.
“I'm the only walk-on in the program. I don't want to make this sound bad, but a lot of times, a best player on a team might not be super tight with a walk-on,” Elvin says. “But I think it's Q's character. He doesn't see that as anything.”
Whenever possible, he voices his appreciation for Sampson and White, who he pinpoints as instrumental in his development. A flurry of people helped Grimes reach this point in his life; his inner circle is a slideshow of everyone who prominently contributes throughout his journey. He does not let the frenzy of an NBA career in the Big Apple extinguish his gratitude or distort his loyal persona.
“I've seen a lot of situations where people just want you for a quick little stint and then they're kind of done with you,” Grimes says, snapping his fingers to indicate the fleeting nature of transactional relationships. “That's not the perception I wanna have for myself. I wanna be a guy that you can count on. He's loyal, he's going to show up and he's going to give you more than 110 percent, really. I feel like having people around me that are going to do the same for me, it means a lot. It's something you can't put a price tag on, so I feel like I just try to match that as much as I can with the people around me.”
Much like Hardaway, no one is safe from Grimes’ sense of humor. It’s one of the first discrete aspects everyone singles out about his personality; a mere mention elicits a slight chuckle from those acknowledging this trait. Grimes will prod anyone who he’s welcomed into the intimate parts of his life.
“I'm a roaster. I'm gonna roast you,” Grimes says. “It's tough love, but I think the people around me, they know it's all love with their loyalty.”
Grimes often targets his friends’ fashion sense. Elvin says Grimes loved telling him “how bad my drip was” during their tenure together at Houston and has helped him elevate his outfits since their friendship started. White says Grimes has “a pretty good drip game,” though objected to the tan jacket he wore while courtside at a Houston game over the All-Star Break. Grimes was unsurprised to hear that, given White’s affinity for team-issued gear and polo tees rooted in his “Southern…relaxed style.”
In college, Grimes’ wardrobe was defined by Nike Tech Fleece sweatsuits, plain white tees, and whichever Nike or Jordan kicks he sported that day. The financial upshot of an NBA contract has empowered him to upgrade a bit. He draws inspiration from Jaylen Brown, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker, whose “simple” fashion senses with “little things that pop” appeal to him. During an eight-day road trip last month, he had five pairs of shoes delivered to his apartment, including his all-time favorites, the Jordan Pure Money 4s, which he already owns several pairs of.
Last spring, he attended a beauty event in Miami hosted by Armani, who he’s since partnered with. Weeks later, he was flown out to sit front row at Men’s Fashion Week in Milan, where he’ll also be next summer.
“I'll probably branch out once I get maybe a little more notoriety, a little more famous,” Quentin says. “I might just start playing with different things, just throwing stuff on just to try and stuff like that. But for right now, I try to keep it real subtle and just go about my business.”
There’s a convincing optimism about the way Grimes describes every step of his basketball history. He does not frame hardships as such. They are spun into beneficial experiences, at least externally. Every component is purposeful for him. His disposition isn’t so much overly rosy as much as it’s confidently unflinching.
From a young age, his parents granted him autonomy. They helped when necessary and were always around as a backstop, but problem-solving responsibilities resided primarily in his hands. When or if he wanted to switch AAU teams in middle schools, his mother said he needed to be the one to call that coach and notify them. As he narrowed down his list of colleges throughout the recruitment cycle, she always made him call coaches, explain why he wasn’t going to sign, and thank them for expressing interest in him.
“You gotta figure it out and you can't just run away from it. You gotta run through that wall,” Grimes says, smacking his fist into his palm and imitating that inevitable, important, metaphorical collision. “She made sure I was put in certain situations where I had to figure it out on my own.”
When first-year struggles at Kansas warranted fortitude and an eventual change of scenery, Grimes was ready. When Sampson’s coaching style and philosophy required him to adjust his approach, Grimes responded aptly. When COVID interrupted his 2019-20 season at Houston just as he gathered some rhythm, he endured it in stride. When he had to earn his way into New York’s rotation as a rookie, he did exactly that. As he prepares for the first playoff appearance of his career, that too will be used to influence him for the better, no matter how he fares in the short-term. He is a natural problem-solver, just as his parents intended.
Among the artists Grimes mixes into the playlist for his gameday rides is Larry June. A few years back, June and Harry Fraud collaborated on an album titled, Keep Going, which was released in October 2020. “Keep Going” has also evolved into a motto for Grimes and Evans. Grimes embodies that motto by falling back on his routines and work ethic. Evans lives it out by believing in his best friend.
“I know that everything is gonna pan out,” Evans says. “We just trust him.”
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I’m a huge dreamer. I dream big, really big. I dream so big that sometimes I’ve got to let my expectations just die down a little bit.
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I’m focusing on what I need to do better at and what I need to do to reach my potential. There’s still levels
I need to reach.
RICK Carlisle,
Pacers head coach
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When I come in the game, I just hoop, Like I'm not gonna go out there and be like, 'Oh, I gotta make this play or do that.' Nah, just go out there hooping. Make sure I do things just to help my team win.
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I was like, man, I'm going to change the narrative, I'm going to make sure Coach Carlisle knows I'm serious about what I do and when I come, I want to show something different.
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I'm overly competitive sometimes, I feel like it's why I'm like really misunderstood. People who know me understand where I'm coming from with this, but I just want to be the best at everything I do. And I feel like it has really become who I am as a person.
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when I lost my brother, it was a hard thing for me to really stay locked in on, but Jennifer pretty much guided me to stay locked in on basketball. She wanted me to stay out of trouble, so she gave me everything I needed for me to succeed, basically..
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You just really don't see rookies with the poise, confidence, and just the skill set that he has, And he never looks rattled. It's just really impressive. For someone at his age and what he's doing right now, he's only going to get better.
T.J. McConnell,
Pacers TEAMMATE
IN
Tom Thibodeau,
New York Knicks head coach
Penny Hardaway,
Former NBA star and
current Memphis head coach
Quentin Grimes
is writing his own story with the Knicks
Brian Scheall,
director of basketball at IMG