Thibs wants Grimes’ focus on here & now
Quentin Grimes has been the subject of trade speculation in recent weeks, even since the Knicks dealt away RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley in the late-December OG Anunoby deal with the Raptors.
While the Knicks have been fielding calls on Grimes, as The Post’s Stefan Bondy has reported, Tom Thibodeau wants the third-year guard to tune out the chatter ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
“For this time of year, for every 100 trades that get talked about, one gets done. That’s why you stick to your routine,” Thibodeau said when asked about Grimes after practice Monday in Tarrytown. “You block out all the outside stuff. You lock into what’s in front of you and keep your focus there. Let basketball be your focus.
“So, I think where we are today, the popularity of the game is so huge. Media, social media and everyone talking about it. It’s a by-product of society today. But don’t get caught up in it. Whether it’s praise, criticism, speculation, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that really matters is what you think and what we think. That’s it.”
Dealing Barrett and Quickley presumably should have cleared some playing time for Grimes, who was not made available to the media Monday despite multiple requests. He actually has seen his playing time diminished since the trade, with an average of 17.8 minutes over the Knicks’ 9-2 run since Anunoby joined the lineup on Jan. 1.
Grimes opened the season as the team’s starting shooting guard before free-agent signing Donte DiVincenzo took over on Dec. 8, and he logged 20.5 minutes in 29 appearances (18 starts) before Anunoby’s arrival.
As much of a two-way impact as the former Raptor has had — with a league high plus-minus rating of plus-190 since the trade — the Knicks’ second unit also was greatly reconfigured by the swap.
Grimes, Josh Hart, Miles McBride and newly acquired big man Precious Achiuwa mainly have comprised the reserve group, although Hart missed one game with a knee injury and was replaced briefly in the rotation by little-used veteran Evan Fournier.
Barrett usually opened the second and fourth quarters with the four-man second unit. And Quickley — the runner-up last year for Sixth Man of the Year — was averaging a career-best 15.0 points per game off the bench, production the Knicks have yet to make up.
The Knicks have been linked to potential trade targets such as Jordan Clarkson, Malcolm Brogdon, Bruce Brown and former Knicks guard Alec Burks for added scoring punch.
With Isaiah Hartenstein departing in the third quarter of Saturday’s win over the Raptors — and questionable against the Nets with what the team now is calling a sore foot — Achiuwa posted his best game as a Knick with 18 points on 9 of 10 shooting and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes.
Hart returned from his knee issue with a strong showing (10 points, nine rebounds), but Grimes missed six of eight field-goal attempts and finished with four points in 20 minutes. He had been shut out in his previous appearance last week against the Wizards, and he was 0-for-9 from 3-point range in those two games.
“I thought our bench really played well [Saturday night] — we started the game slowly against Toronto — and they came in and gave us a big spark,” Thibodeau said. “Triggering off our defense to get some easy buckets, that’s been huge. And then, it’s been a little choppy cause you have guys who go out [with injuries].
“So, any time you have a trade in-season like we did, there’s going to be an adjustment period, particularly with who came in and who went out, we impacted both units.”