After his Mavericks’ deal was in place, Quentin Grimes was hanging with a few friends when he found out Klay Thompson was joining the team as a free agent.
Grimes’ reaction?
“I told my friends: I’m about to get a ring,” Grimes said. “One of the best shooters of all time. And I’m going to compete against him every day in practice. When we got Klay, I was like, the sky’s the limit.”
If ever there was a Maverick with an appropriate last name, it is Grimes. He’s about as grimy as they come in the NBA. And we mean that in the most complimentary way possible.
He’s a dirty-work doer, something that goes back to his collegiate career at the University of Houston. Under coach Kelvin Sampson, Grimes figured out the key to playing time when you’re not the most gifted scorer, although he would become that in his second season at UH.
“That was kind of my calling card coming in (the NBA) from Houston, playing for coach Sampson,” Grimes said. “If you can’t play defense, you’re not going to be on the floor.”
As fate had it, that was a good learning experience when it came to playing for Grimes’ first NBA coach, Tom Thibodeau at New York.
“Playing for Thibs, too, if you don’t play defense, fight for the 50-50 balls, you’re not going to be on the court,” Grimes said. “So that’s what I try to do and I’m going to continue to do until I can’t play the game any more.
“I definitely take a lot of pride on the defensive end. When I made the transition to Houston from Kansas, coach Sampson was like, you got to give you 110 percent or he’s going to run you to death. That kind of stuck with me. I’m going to try to go out there and make it hard (for whoever I’m defending) every single time. I’m going to keep coming at you.”
Grimes, 6-5, spent most of his first three seasons in the NBA with the Knicks, until being traded to Detroit in February. He had a knee injury sustained before the trade that limited him to just six games with the Pistons.
He reports that everything is fine now on the health front. Especially his mental health. Born in The Woodlands, just north of Houston, Grimes is a Texan at heart and three years in the north made him even more appreciative of his homeland.
“It feels great. Being New York and coming back to Texas. Sometimes (you forget) how nice people are,” said Grimes, who claims he can do a mean Texas Two-Step on the dance floor. “I’ve seen a lot of familiar faces already, from The Woodlands, my area. Everybody in my family was real excited.”
Grimes will wear No. 5, the same number he wore in high school. He’ll also get a chance to do what he does best, play defense and spread the court, to help out Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and Thompson.
That threesome is well aware of the grit Grimes can bring to the Mavericks.
“As an athlete, skill is important,” Thompson said. “but that competitiveness, that’s what really puts you over the top.”
That’s never been a problem for Grimes, who has averaged 8.4 points in 23 minutes per game in his three seasons. He’s been a 37-percent three-point shooter for his career.
The Mavericks have been meticulous in making sure that players they add to the roster core fit snugly with their dynamic backcourt. And the addition of Grimes fits nicely into that game plan.
“Luka makes everybody’s job a lot easier,” Grimes said. “And learning from Klay, one of the best shooters to ever touch a basketball (will be great). Playing with Luka will be fun because he draws so much attention. I’m ready to knock down open shots.”
Speaking of open shots, Grimes has an older brother, Tyler Myers, who was NHL rookie of the year in 2010 and now plays with the Vancouver Canucks. They were half-brothers, but nonetheless the first combo of NBA-NHL brothers.
Without being in the playoffs with Detroit this season, Grimes was able to see Myers in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Being able to watch him in the playoffs – he just signed another contract, he’ll be on year 18 when he’s done – but to see a guy like that, being able to pick his brain, what it’s like to be a pro, how to take care of your body, definitely a big help for me having someone like that,” Grimes said. “He’s another pro athlete in the family to talk about how to take that next step. He’s somebody I can talk to all the time.”
Summer-league update: The Mavericks re-signed guard Brandon Williams to a two-way contract.
The 6-1 point guard has averaged 8.9 points and 2.7 assists in 41 NBA games with the Mavericks and Portland. He’s also averaged 20.7 points and six assists in 40 G-League games.
He had a couple of major G-League highlights, including a triple double (33 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists) in a win over the G League Ignite and a career-best 46 pointsin a win over the South Bay Lakers.
Williams, 24, likely will see plenty of playing time in the Las Vegas summer league that begins for the Mavericks on Saturday. He has been on a fast learning curve with the Mavericks. As a two-way player, he was not eligible to play in the playoffs. But he was along for the two-month ride and spent a lot of time on the court during practices and shootarounds.
“It was wild. I learned a lot, practices, games, all of that,” Williams said. “I watched guys work, get better and it got me better as well.
“It gave me a lot of motivation knowing what it takes to get there. This is my third summer league, so going in there I’m just trying to get better in all aspects of my game.”
Briefly: The Mavericks will open NBA Summer League play on Saturday against the Utah Jazz’s summer team, which is well stocked with multiple first-round picks from the past two drafts, including Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, Walker Kessler and Brice Sensabaugh from the 2023 draft and Cody Williams and Isaiah Collier from last month’s draft. Game time on Saturday is 9:30 p.m., Dallas time, and the game will be on NBA TV . . . Summer-league coach Jared Dudley said that after No. 51 overall draft pick Melvin Ajinca ran with the second team on the first day of workouts, he since has joined the first team in scrimmages . . . One of the toughest parts of summer league for Dudley, who is running the Mavericks for the second season in a row? He boiled it down to the competitive situations that develop during tournament: “A head coach, you’re responsible for a hundred things,” he said. “And when I get to summer league, agents (who say) my guy’s not playing. I’m only playing 10. I’m not playing 15. So by the second game if their guy doesn’t go, I know I’m going to get two or three phone calls with them. And I got to be honest. It can be a problem. It’s just the business.” . . . Not that it’s all headaches. “I’m for sure a Vegas guy,” he said. “We’ll find shows and restaurants to go to. I’m excited.”
X: @ESefko
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