8-20 and 6-14 from 3. He’s plug and play right now as a 3 and D player. Would’ve been the unquestionable correct pick if this was the old Hardencentric team. He fits the profile for what that team needed Truth be told, Miles McBride has consistently been their most impressive rookie. He’s another one to follow that we could’ve drafted. There was a lot of talent still on the board at 24. I’m still rolling with Jaygup though. One bad game. Grimes has had a couple of stinkers too. Nobody said a word when he shot 3-11 his first game and 2-10 his second game. McBride shot 2-14 and 0-7 from 3 the game before this one after being unconscious the previous game. Bad games happen. Josh has a ton of untapped potential. Not that Grimes has peaked, but he may be closer to his ceiling as player.
One additional thing. I don’t think this aspect has been discussed. As a coaching staff, I don’t think you draft Grimes if you believe in Armoni Brooks’s development (mostly defensively) Redundant skill sets offensively. We don’t know if that was part of the decision process. Brooks shot an impressive 38% from 3 on a whopping 8 attempts in real NBA action and finished the year very strong. Snipa is a legit bucket.
And I’m not claiming Brooks can defend as well as Grimes, but if he can develop to be passable as a defender, it’s kind of a redundant pick when there are other kinds of really talented players on the board that can bring something different to the team. Even if you don’t pick Christopher.
i'm not impressed w/ grimes' summer league play thus far. only played decent against CLE's 2nd tier players and even then, as a volume shooter AND still seems like his lack of a first step or hops or handles will limit him when he gets to the bigs. a wing shooter who has impressed me is chris duarte
I know, I just wanted to clarify my comparison of Grimes and Brooks a little further. I see the Lou Williams comparison for Brooks offensively though. And in regards to offensive production, I truly believe Grimes and Brooks are an overlap. High volume 3 point shooters and they play the same position. Brooks has already shown he can get it done against NBA level players and defenses. I don’t know how well Grimes’s defense will translate to NBA level competition so I’m unsure how much superior he will be in that area. He’s a little bigger and stronger, but I don’t see him being a lockdown defender. That part is harder for me to try to predict. That’s why I wonder what the Rockets coaching staff think about Brooks’s defensive potential in relation to Grimes because if the gap is large, that would be the only reason to draft Grimes at 24 when you already have Snipa.
He played well against Detroit on the whole too and that was probably more of a template for what he can do in the league. Was completely in Cade's shirt on D when he didn't have a ball screen (was okay getting through screens but needs to improve to get run for Thibs), rotated well overall for a rookie, knocked down a few 3's, grabbed a couple of boards the average SG wouldn't get, a few opportunistic plays to score at the rim, showed a little better passing and handle than a pure 3 and D guard.
Like I said, if the Rockets organization is high in Snipa, why would you pick Grimes who does the exact same thing? 30 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and connected on 9 three pointers. Shooting daggers. Hands in his face, several feet behind the line.
I guess time will tell but you could be right. I really liked Bones, McBride and J.T. Thor and would have been happy with any one of them at #24. Props to QG for the great play. Will never root against a Coog! (unless he's playing against us in the finals)
And for everybody slandering my boy Jaygup 20 PTS 5 REB 5 AST 2 STL 8-14 FG 2-3 FT 1 TOV +11 They are obviously grooming him to be a combo guard meaning he will have some chances to play PG and have the ball in his hands. He didn’t handle that task well the previous 2 games when he was given more responsibility, but a HUGE bounce back performance today. Game 1 he was ok, games 2 and 5 he was good, game 3 was a disaster of epic proportions and game 4 was up and down, but overall the bad outweighed the good. Objectively in my opinion, he had 3 good games and 2 bad games. I’ll admit the bust potential is there. It will ultimately be determined by how he responds to coaching. Hopefully today was an indication as he was much more under control and cerebral in his approach. He’s 19 years old. He is not a finished product by any means.
There are similarities but they are different. Brooks is more 3 and Grimes is more D. Grimes has a lot more potential with ball handling and passing, though neither guy will ever be a primary creator. They both rebound really well for their size but Grimes is bigger and a better athlete. I think Grimes’ ceiling in terms of playoff contributor is higher based on his defensive upside. But I get the point and they are much more similar to each other than they are to JC.
I don’t see a lot of difference in their offensive approach. Gun to my head, I think Grimes is a better overall player and will have a better and longer NBA career, but I think both will make their living in the NBA as high volume 3 point shooters who will opportunistically attack overly aggressive close outs and penetrate to the basket. Grimes has more defensive potential because he’s bigger and stronger, but is he going to be an actual difference maker on defense or just a guy who tries really hard? If he can defend at a high level than he will completely annihilate Brooks in this comparison. We’ll have to wait and see how that develops. I’ve said at least once or twice that Grimes would have been a no brainer pick for the old Harden’s Rockets team constantly searching for rotational 3 a d D players. I like him, but if you think Snipa can be even 80% of what Grimes can be, why not take a swing at a guy with higher upside?
