Quentin Grimes has shown he can score. The Sixers want to see if he’s well-rounded enough to mesh long-term.
Coach Nick Nurse wants to try Grimes at point guard to see if he could be a backup in that role for the Sixers.
With all due respect to the 76ers, it is difficult to evaluate players at this point in the season.
This team is full-blown tanking and has been the equivalent of an NBA G League team while most of its rotation players are sidelined.
Certainly, it is safe to say the Sixers have found a gem in Quentin Grimes, who’s averaging 27.9 points in his last 10 games.
The combination guard, who sat out Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors to rest, has thrived as the team’s primary scorer with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George out. Grimes has also shown an ability to play point guard and defend the opponent’s best perimeter scorer.
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The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder is expected to attract suitors this summer as a restricted free agent. As a result, he’ll be able to sign an offer sheet with another team. But the Sixers would be allowed to match that offer. In doing so, Grimes would return to Philly.
Should that happen, how does the 24-year-old think he’ll fit in playing alongside Embiid, Maxey and George?
“I mean, just playing my game,” said Grimes, whom the Sixers acquired via a trade from the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 6. “Whatever opportunity presents itself, whether it be making plays on the ball ... But if Coach needs that, shooting, defense, I definitely feel like I showed my whole career I can play … on the ball, scoring, and off the ball.
“I obviously showed that with New York and Dallas, and showing a little bit both out here, trying to do whatever I need to do to help the team win, honestly.”
Grimes is averaging career highs of 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.5 steals and 33.2 minutes in 22 games with the Sixers. He’s also shooting a career-best 49.1% from the field — including making 39.2% of his three-pointers. Grimes also had five games with at least 30 points, including a career-high 46 against his hometown Houston Rockets on March 17 at the Toyota Center.
Grimes averaged 10.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while shooting a career-best 39.8% on three-pointers in 47 games with Dallas this season.
“So much of this league is about opportunity, timing, fit,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s getting all of it right now just in terms of the opportunities, the injuries that they’ve had.
“He’s proven that he can be a real quality rotation guy, you know, [in] his previous stops. But now, he’s proven that, you know, he can be more, also.”
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Grimes was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 25th pick in 2021 and traded to the New York Knicks. After spending 2½ seasons in New York, he was traded to the Detroit Pistons on Feb. 8, 2023. The Pistons, in turn, traded him to the Mavs on July 6.
In his fourth season, Grimes headed to Philadelphia with career averages of 8.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in addition to being a 37.6% career three-point shooter.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse envisions that Grimes will continue to provide scoring and three-point shooting if he remains with the team next season. The Sixers also want him to be a solid rebounder for his position and continue to be an effective defender.
That’s a role Grimes might flourish in while playing alongside Embiid, Maxey, and George.
For the time being, the Sixers are still evaluating his game. They realize that he can generate scoring.
“But … we are probably more interested in, ‘Can he play some point guard?” Nurse said. “I’d like to start him at the point here, coming up in a little bit. I’d like to have him play it during the games, even if he doesn’t start it. I’m just curious — I mean, he’s not a point guard.
“But can he play a serviceable backup possibility in the NBA as a backup point guard? Can he get us into offense? Can you say, ‘See the pass, see the plays, get the offense started, handle the ball versus the pressure in the backcourt,’ all those kinds of things?”