Quentin Grimes Tells Story of How Ricky Rubio Changed His Work Ethic
An embarrassing sequence led to Grimes putting in more effort.
Quentin Grimes was balling after being traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2024-25.
In 28 games with Phili, he put up big numbers offensively and defensively. He scored more (went from averaging 10.2 points to 21.9 and scored 40-plus points twice) and stole the ball more, too (went from averaging 0.7 steals to 1.5). He also rebounded more and assisted more.
Fans praised him, and many people think he’ll be really good in the future (I’m one of those people).
But none of this would have happened had he not been embarrassed by a 31-year-old Ricky Rubio.
Grimes was asked on The Young Man and the Three podcast about his “Welcome to the NBA” moment and told a story of his first encounter with “Ricky Tricky.”
“My first time getting into a game wasn’t until like game 10 or 11,” Grimes told host Tommy Alter. “I got into the game and Ricky Rubio was lighting my ass up. I was like, ‘Damn, Ricky Rubio killing me? Like, shit.’ No disrespect, but, you know what I mean, Ricky Rubio pass-first. But that was kind of like my welcome to the NBA moment right there.”
Alter then asked him how Rubio was getting the best of him. Grimes said Rubio was on fire and no one could stop him.
“You know like how if you an NBA player, if you hot, it don’t matter really who guarding you,” Grimes said. “If you hot, you’re not seeing anybody. And he might of had like 40 at the Garden that night.”
He then went on to describe the plays Rubio used to cook him with.
“It was like the fourth quarter and we down like 20 or something. [Tom Thibbideu] is like, ‘Quentin!’ I’m like, ‘Oh, Shit! I was not expecting to get called.’ So, I get up and I’m looking at the board and I’m like, ‘Alright, cool, this is my moment. I’m picking up Ricky Rubio. I got him. I can lock up Ricky Rubio.’ He come down and he like, slide step three. Boom. I’m like, ‘Oh, shit. Like, good shot. I like that lock out and I know what to do on that one now.’ Then he come down again, like side step three. I’m like, ‘Hell, nah! He’s killing me right now.’ So, he lit us up. He had like 40 that game. I was just like, ‘Damn.’”
Grimes added after that embarrassing experience, his whole outlook on NBA players changed and he started to put in more work.
“Anybody in the NBA can get buckets so that kind of, just like, I gotta lock in even more, watch film even more. It’s different though, for sure.”
Rubio played a little over 31 minutes that game and had a double-double with 37 points and 10 assists.
Grimes, on the other hand, had 6 points on 2-for-3 shooting and 1 rebound.
Also, the Cavs dominantly beat the 76ers 126-109.