On why Quentin Grimes is so good it hurts
In a season marred by so much disappointment and darkness for the Knicks, Quentin Grimes has stood out as a shining light. What makes the rookie such a wellspring of happiness, and why might that eventually lead to sadness?
The New York Knicks' upcoming schedule is pain and death. Last season's plucky grit has been replaced by a stubborn gloom. Knicks Twitter is punch-drunk on despair and pleading for the sweet release of draft season and the sweet retribution of heads on sticks.
So, this week, I wanted to write about a happy thing.
A very happy thing. A titan of two-way consistency. An artisan of textbook splash.
Ladies and gentleman, I give you Quentin Grimes: 2021-22’s last oasis of vibes.
The 21-year-old rookie is a fertile pool of precious liquid happiness in a Knicks season that has felt overwhelmingly like a desert; relentless, barren, unforgiving. He does things, our son Q, life-giving things, nightly, to sustain a fanbase that is increasingly convinced that last season's baby steps towards competence were a hallucination.
Let’s float around in the healing waters of a small sampling of Q’s life-giving specialties, shall we?
His jumper is delightful — it melts on release, built on inherently satisfying mechanics that are equal parts art and science. Art because you could watch it and never follow the flight of the ball and be instantly happier, rewarded with a rush of dopamine regardless of whether the ball goes in, like the kind of internal satisfaction that comes with watching a sunset. But then also science, because, well, the ball usually also goes in.
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