Much Hype for Wiggs and Josh - But never this much pre-season praise.
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I watched Wiggs and Josh enter Lawrence with a truckload of ESPN pre-season hype. I know that Self was able to coach Grimes before moving to the mansion… but NEVER have I seen from Coach, this kind of praise, 3 months before Late Night.
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Start of the Bill Self development program for one young but talented Q. Grimes!
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Self articulated what I have been saying for months - Grimes is just such a complete player at this stage in his career. He doesn’t have any major holes that will keep him from being effective, while also having the athleticism and youth to continue to improve.
Quentin Grimes is a tremendous player, and it looks like he is getting better. Get him around some better players where he doesn’t have to do everything and I think his passing and defensive abilities will show up even more. Give him a PG like Dotson to set him up for more open looks than he ever got in HS and I think that three point percentage ticks up a bit.
One thing that sticks out to me is that he is able to maintain body control even when he gets off balance. He can take a bump or power through a foul and not lose his ability to finish, or if no foul is called, the ability to still hit a teammate.
His vision is underrated right now because he was such a dynamic scorer in HS, but he could be (and I think will become) an elite PG at the next level - probably will take 4-5 years, but I can see him developing into an All-Star caliber player in the NBA.
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justanotherfan said:
Self articulated what I have been saying for months - Grimes is just such a complete player at this stage in his career. He doesn’t have any major holes that will keep him from being effective, while also having the athleticism and youth to continue to improve.
Quentin Grimes is a tremendous player, and it looks like he is getting better. Get him around some better players where he doesn’t have to do everything and I think his passing and defensive abilities will show up even more. Give him a PG like Dotson to set him up for more open looks than he ever got in HS and I think that three point percentage ticks up a bit.
One thing that sticks out to me is that he is able to maintain body control even when he gets off balance. He can take a bump or power through a foul and not lose his ability to finish, or if no foul is called, the ability to still hit a teammate.
His vision is underrated right now because he was such a dynamic scorer in HS, but he could be (and I think will become) an elite PG at the next level - probably will take 4-5 years, but I can see him developing into an All-Star caliber player in the NBA.
He’s going to start and it’s cute that there are people that think he won’t.
I have noted his body control and old man game before. He can do it all and is, above all, a basketball player. Which is a point I often harp on. Sam Cunliffe for example is an athlete playing basketball, not a basketball player. See also: Jamari Traylor, Lagerald Vick.
Dedric and KJ are hoopers too.
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There’s a play at the 0:59 mark in the video on this thread that captures Grimes’ balance, athleticism and strength perfectly. He’s driving at full speed and goes into a spin. The spin itself is incredible because he separates from the defender as he spins even though the defender was between him and the basket prior to the spin and he was dribbling towards the baseline before he started the spin. At the start of the spin, both feet are on one side of the defender, and in the blink of an eye he gets his entire body past the defender on the spin.
That in itself is pretty incredible, but Grimes isn’t done.
He comes out of the spin with perfect balance, set up with a good base to explode to the rim. Most players have trouble controlling their momentum out of a spin, so they lose some of their explosiveness. This was one of the problems that Andrew Wiggins had from time to time, and why he couldn’t always protect the basketball.
Grimes has the balance and base to explode, so even though the defender fouls him fully across the arms (gets both the left arm and the right arm on the foul) Grimes doesn’t lose momentum or explosion. He just changes his shot to an under control reverse layup. It’s not a wild fling, either. It’s fundamentally sound, right off the corner of the square.
The only play where he even looks like he might have lost his balance a bit is at 1:33. He splits a PnR with absolutely no space. Literally, the defender is holding onto his big man (if you freeze it, you can actually see the defender untuck the jersey of the screener). Somehow, Grimes gets through that non-existent gap anyway, takes one dribble and powers through the bump for the finish.
This is a great play for a few reasons. It usually takes a lot of time to get guys to come off screens really tight. Grimes came off the screen so tight he created space where there was none. He did that without losing any agility or explosion, as he immediately got back to an explosive dribble to create space for himself and force the foul.
Every time I watch Grimes, I come away more impressed. I know he was only ranked 8th, but I will say right now, there are not 7 better players in that class. There aren’t five better players in that class. If Grimes was listed as a PG, he would have been 4th in the class behind only Reddish, Barrett and Little (maybe) because of the positional value of him being a big PG rather than an average sized wing player.
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Hudy’s got him now.
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I would agree … I don’t think I’ve ever heard Self be this complimentary, so early. Victor Oladipo as a similar player?
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If you can’t remember Self saying such nice things about incoming players, you guys are forgetting Bill Self’s favorite athlete of all time (Not Grimes)
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@HighEliteMajor I would hope for better. Oladipo’s Fr season wasn’t that good.
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@BShark I would hope for better too … Grimes is farther along. But game-wise, when I was recalling Oladipo his final college year, they seem to have a similar game.
I just happened to look at Oladipo’s stats after your post … holy cr*p, Oladipo shot 30% from three his freshman year, 20% from three his sophomore year, and then over 40% his junior season. Marcus Garrett, where are you?
