Quentin Grimes expressed his frustration with his reduced minutes and lack of involvement in the Knicks’ offense.
The New York Knicks are 20 games into the season, and they’ve already had two players talk about their frustration. At first, we had Josh Hart say he wasn’t utilized enough on offense. Now, we have Quentin Grimes expressing the same.
This isn’t the first time we’ve had players (or people in their camps) express their frustration with their roles on this team in the last two seasons. Whether it was Quickley’s camp speaking out on his underutilization, Cam Reddish or Obi Toppin talking about a short leash, Isaiah Hartenstein expressing having to adjust to a new role, Evan Fournier discussing how he’s unhappy with his situation, or Mitchell Robinson wanting more involvement on offense.
But getting back to Grimes, it’s understandable why he is frustrated. Last season, he averaged 30.2 minutes after he was promoted to the starting shooting guard. After Hart joined the team, Grimes’ playing time remained about the same at 28.4 minutes per game (it was 31.2 prior to the Hart trade).
With the more recent addition of Donte DiVincenzo, Grimes’ playing time has been reduced (averaging 22.9 minutes per game). In contrast to his first season, when he spoke about how Tom Thibodeau gave him opportunities to learn from his mistakes, Grimes is now operating with less slack.
Grimes is grappling with both wanting more minutes and struggling to prove himself with the time that he does have. If he fails to capitalize on his time on the court, he can be phased out of the offense by either his own doing, his teammates, or coach.
Most importantly, he needs to make the most of his opportunities when he touches the rock. He is sometimes too passive, acting as a connector rather than aggressively pursuing his own shot—this is what fans love about Donte. He can do this by slowing down his game and taking a breather to read what the game dictates.
As for his teammates, specifically Jalen Brunson, RJ Barrett, and Julius Randle, they can get a little trigger-happy and stay in their isolation mindset and not look for Grimes to bring him into the fold. When they do get Grimes the ball, he often hesitates to utilize his jumper—we’ve seen Randle screaming “Shoot” to Grimes as he wavers.
Thibs, meanwhile, promotes an offensive that gives players a lot of freedom to dictate what happens on the court. And because of that, you get Brunson, RJ, and Randle getting into their own zone, while a less aggressive Grimes gets less opportunity. Ideally, Thibs could take more control of the offense and call plays to get Grimes involved in the offense more.
When watching teams like the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers, or Indiana Pacers, we see that it is possible to create plays for role players that get them involved. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen on the Knicks in Thibs’ read-and-react system. The difference is these teams have set plays for role players, while the Knicks’ style focuses on what happens when a play breaks down.
For example, we see how the Warriors get Moses Moody involved by having either Draymond Green or Klay Thompson set an off-ball screen to get him an open look for three. Something like that could be orchestrated for Grimes, considering he was working with JJ Reddick on movement shooting this offseason.
Even though Grimes is in a rut, we know he can be better than he has been. He still has the quickness to get past defenders closing out and drive the lane to finish a layup or find a big in the paint who can get an easy dunk. This guy was once a sniper from the perimeter. And he’s still the same guy who ranked highly in analytical charts as a top defender and always took on the most challenging defensive assignment.
He has noted he feels pressure to perform, which is clearly messing up his in-game thought process. And with Donte here, the guard rotation is congested, giving Thibs added pressure to figure out who should get more minutes on a nightly basis, which is no easy task.
Nevertheless, he is still the same guy who, on one leg, had the standout play of stopping Jimmy Butler in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Miami Heat. The Knicks just need to give Grimes time to get back into rhythm.
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