Will Jericho Sims be with the NY Knicks long-term?
Point blank, the Knicks have the deepest Center rotation in the league and it’s not even close.
Jericho Sims is 25% of why that is.
It’s not often you get an actual NBA-caliber player at the 58th pick but the Knicks did just that when they selected Sims out of Texas.
Everyone just thought he was an uber-athletic freak of nature with very few legitimate basketball skills.
He seemed very raw and unpolished coming out of college so no one was willing to take a chance on him earlier in the draft, allowing him to fall all the way down to the 3rd to the last pick.
What’s funny is that he’s as close as you can get to what Dwight Howard was in his prime, and as we know, Dwight is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
But because the game has evolved so much over the past 10 years, instead of Sims getting drafted in the Top 5, he was almost not drafted at all.
Crazy how quickly things change.
After a very impressive showing during Summer League, the Knicks made sure to lock Sims up with one of their two two-way spots on the roster.
This will allow him to spend some time developing in Westchester as well as up in the big leagues.
He has a chance to be a sponge and soak up as much about the game as he possibly can from veteran coaches and players alike without having too much responsibility to produce.
But with Taj likely on his way out soon, Nerlens Noel clearly on a contract that can be easily traded and Mitchell Robinson’s contract situation up in the air…
Jericho Sims is in a perfect position to replace one of those 3 names in about 2 to 3 years’ time.
The guy does everything Thibs wants from a Center.
The only real improvements to be made will be on the defensive side of the ball, but I’m sure that will come in time.
He’s a beast on the glass, sets great picks, and finishes at the rim off lobs or out of the dunker’s spot with ease.
He’s gonna be here for a long, long time.