After being traded to the Mavericks this offseason, Quentin Grimes is just far enough away from home to enjoy himself.
The Houston native who played at The Woodlands College Park High School and the University of Houston said he’s excited to be back in his home state, but he’s also grateful to have a little room to breathe.
“I’m going to have a lot of family at the games, and it will be good to see all those familiar faces, but my mom still has to drive three hours to come holler at me,” he joked at Mavericks media day Monday.
Grimes, however, has always been locked in on the court when it comes to his defense, and that could be his primary contribution to a Mavericks team that needs to lock down some of the best scorers in the NBA to be title contenders again. The fourth-year pro has already played for arguably the best defensive head coach in the NBA in Tom Thibodeau, and he’s not afraid to take on tough assignments coming off the bench.
“My motto coming in is to do whatever Coach Kidd needs from me on the defensive end,” Grimes said. “That could range from guarding Trae Young to Jayson Tatum, it doesn’t really matter, I’m going to take on that challenge every time I step on the court.”
Kidd is hoping Grimes can come in and help quickly solidify a defense he said took a while to find its identity last season. It wasn’t until after the All-Star break that the Mavs learned how to pull out victories in games where they weren’t scoring.
“We started to play it at a higher level, and realized that defense is what wins games,” Kidd said. “And so hopefully, in Vegas, we can find our defense early and start to build from there.”
Grimes has already built the comfort level with his new teammates to be effective in the Mavericks defensive system. He said he spent time playing pickup games with many of them in Los Angeles this summer and was part of a yacht day organized by marquee acquisition Klay Thompson. He feels right at home as the season is beginning, three-hour drive aside.
“It’s rare for a team to have something like that this early on, it feels like we’ve been a team for 2-3 years,” Grimes said. “Just knowing the camaraderie we already have as a team, I think it’s pretty special, and I think it translates to the court.”
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