Tag: Jericho Sims

Every former Longhorn in the 2023 NBA playoffs

Texas is well-represented in the NBA playoffs.

The University of Texas is well-represented in the 2023 NBA playoffs. Seven former Longhorns are set to participate in postseason play.

The NBA play-in tournament takes place from April 11-14, while the rest of the playoff bracket begins on April 15.

The playoffs consist of four rounds of best-of-seven series. The first round matches the top seed against the eighth seed, the second seed against the seventh seed, the third seed against the sixth seed, and the fourth seed against the fifth seed. The winners of each first-round series advance to the second round, until the two conference champions meet in the NBA Finals.

At least one former Longhorn has played in the NBA finals in 11 out of the last 12 seasons. PJ Tucker most recently earned his first championship as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.

13-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant is eyeing his third career NBA title, this time as a member of the Phoenix Suns.

Here is a complete look at all seven former Texas Longhorns gearing up to compete in the NBA playoffs.

NBA All-Star 2023: Participants for Skills Challenge, 3-Point, Dunk Contest

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the participants for the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend.

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the participants for the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest on Feb. 18 during All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The weekend will get underway on Friday with the Celebrity game and the Rising Stars competition at 9 p.m. EST. The events conclude on Sunday with the G League Next Up Game at 3 p.m. EST and the 72nd All-Star Game at 8:30 p.m. EST.

The festivities on All-Star Saturday night will begin at 8 p.m. EST and will be televised on TNT starting with the Skills Challenge. The second event will be the 3-Point Contest with the Slam Dunk Contest wrapping up the evening at Vivint Arena.

WATCH: Former Longhorn Jericho Sims throws down a ridiculous dunk during NBA summer league

Jericho Sims jumped out of the gym for this jam!

Stop me if you haven’t heard this before, but Jericho Sims is a freak of nature.

The New York Knicks rookie has been making plays all summer league long, and is showing why he deserves a spot in the NBA. In five games, which he has all started, Sims is averaging 8 points per game on 81% shooting, 8 rebounds, and one block per game.

Sims has always been a very productive player, during his time at Texas he averaged 9.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots in 26 games last season. He was also named to the All-Big 12 Tournament Team after helping the Longhorns win to their first-ever postseason championship.

The scouting report on Sims have always highlighted his athleticism, and that has been on display in Las Vegas. The rest of the world was exposed to his athleticism at the NBA combine, where he recorded a 44.5-inch max vertical jump, which was second all-time.

Let’s just say he showed off that vertical in a live game, which left the basketball world and social media in awe.

It’s truly impressive how high he got up to grab that alley-oop, as you can see his hands go over the square on the backboard. Sims is currently on a two-way deal, but his athleticism on both ends of the court, along with his tenacious effort, will have him as a full-time member of the Knicks NBA roster in no time.

NBA summer league Day 2 reviews for Texas Longhorns draftees

How are the Longhorns doing in the NBA summer league?

With the Las Vegas Summer League heating up, there are four Texas Longhorns rookies spread across the league.

Former Texas star Kai Jones, who was taken by the Charlotte Hornets with No. 19 pick, has to take advantage of this opportunity to get his feet wet at the professional level. After being selected just outside the lottery, he is practically guaranteed a spot on the Hornets NBA roster, unless something unforeseen goes horrendously wrong.

Jones is the only player in a situation like his, as the other three Longhorns are truly battling for a spot in the NBA, especially undrafted Matt Coleman, who is playing on the Sacramento Kings summer league team. Coleman is simply competing for a spot in in general, whether it be a G League contract or an NBA deal.

Former Longhorn Greg Brown III was the No. 43 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft and has a lot to prove in the summer league with the Portland Trailblazers, as they’re making moves as of right now to be a contender, so every remaining roster spot must be able to provide something.

Perhaps the most successful of the four thus far is big man Jericho Sims, who was already signed to a multiyear two-way contract with the New York Knicks after being taken with No. 58 overall pick. He shined in his first game, scoring 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting and grabbing 8 rebounds.

Let’s break down how each of the four did in their second game in the Las Vegas Summer League.

A roundup of NBA sleepers draft analysts are higher on than others

Who owns the most real estate on Davion Mitchell Island? Who is buying stock in Sharife Cooper?

Everyone loves Cade Cunningham. It’s not a hot take for an analyst to say that Cunningham is their favorite player in the class. That’s not particularly interesting to read, either.

But what is fascinating, however, is when an analyst deviates from the norm and ranks someone significantly higher than where the prospect falls in other rankings. What does that tell us about their individual scouting process and what they value? Further, what does that tell us about the potential draftee?

Some folks call it “buying stock” in a player. Others, like ESPN’s Zach Lowe or The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, call it owning real estate on a player’s island. I like to refer to it as a “draft crush” when I wind up higher than consensus in my evaluation of a player.

My process is ridiculously tedious but the results can be fairly useful. I’ve tracked the evolution of more than sixty unique mock drafts, big boards and draft models from trusted analysts and popular accounts on Twitter.

Each placement is assigned a value based on Kevin Pelton’s draft pick trade value chart. I do this because, as Pelton notes, the difference in relative value between the No. 5 overall pick and the No. 7 overall is much more stark than, say, that of the No. 45 pick and the No. 47 pick.

After composing an aggregate score based on each ranking, I can see where each analyst strays from the pack.

I’ll leave the conclusions drawn from these results up to the reader. But if nothing else, this can eventually be used as a bragging point if one writer was higher than consensus on a draftee who eventually ends up outperforming his draft position.

Bleacher Report has three Longhorns taken in final NBA mock draft

Bleacher Report’s final NBA mock draft of the year.

On July 29, the lives of 60 basketball players from across the world will change forever.

The 2021 NBA draft will begin on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. CST on ESPN. The Texas Longhorns have four prospects that are hopeful to hear their name called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

The draft process has gone differently for each of Texas’ draft prospects, as Kai Jones has consistently been viewed as a lottery pick, whereas Greg Brown III has seen his stock fall.

On the other hand, Jericho Sims likely had the best pre-draft process of any player in the class. He was once viewed as a player who should head back to Austin, but his performance at the combine and workouts has caused him to skyrocket up draft boards. Matt Coleman III has also garnered interest from teams for a potential summer league roster spot.

Bleacher Report released their final mock draft of the year, and it has three of the four Texas prospects being selected. Let’s see where the experts think the trio of Longhorns will land.

Final 2021 NBA Mock Draft: Latest intel, trade rumors and predicting all 60 picks

Wasn’t it just the 2020 NBA draft? How is the 2021 NBA draft already here? Crazy, maybe, but the league is about to have a ton of new faces.

Wasn’t it just the 2020 NBA draft? How is the 2021 NBA draft already here? Crazy, maybe, but the league is about to have a ton of new faces.

The names that you’re most likely to hear at the top are Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley. But the draft will start heating up once guys like Jalen Suggs, Scottie Barnes and Jonathan Kuminga start to find their new homes.

This draft will also be unique in that there will be fewer players in attendance than usual. According to one prospect who recently spoke to For The Win, due to COVID-19 restrictions, those not invited to the green room are not allowed to come to the stage and shake the hand of the commissioner as they have been in years past.

Regardless of who is actually in the building, however, it is certain to be an exciting and life-changing night for the next generation of NBA talent.

Based on conversations I’ve had with scouts around the league, and from reports and tea leaves left in other mock drafts from trusted draftniks, below is how I project the events will unfold at Barclays Center and on ESPN and ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET on July 29.

2021 aggregate NBA mock draft 7.0: Ranking the full class of prospects

The 2021 NBA draft is less than a week away and we finally have an idea of who is in — and who has withdrawn — from the class.

The 2021 NBA draft is less than a week away and we finally have an idea of who is in – and who has withdrawn – from the class.

In order to get a better sense of where all of the prospects stand as of right now, we compiled mock drafts from NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Yahoo, The Athletic, The Ringer, Yahoo, NBA Big Board and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win to see where the prospects rank at the moment.

Please note that these rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for consensus, not our own opinion.

Since our previous update last month, some of the players with the most positive momentum include Quentin Grimes, Joe Wieskamp, Vrenz Bleijenbergh, Aaron Wiggins, Justin Champagnie, Jericho Sims, Jason Preston, Josh Primo, Neemias Queta, Trey Murphy and Bones Hyland.

Among players who ranked on our previous update who have since withdrawn from the draft include Roko Prkacin (32), Marcus Bagley (39), Terrence Shannon (48), Ariel Hukporti (50), Max Abmas (53), Johnny Juzang (54), Jordan Hall (66), Carlos Alocen (69) and Ochai Agbaji (75).

The most notable omissions who remain in this class but not these rankings are Yves Pons, Scottie Lewis, Jay Huff, Marcus Zegarowski, Aamir Simms, Dalano Banton, Matt Mitchell, Jose Alvarado, Carlik Jones, Derrick Alston Jr., Romeo Weems, Balsa Koprivica, Chaundee Brown, Isaiah Miller, Jordan Schakel and D.J. Carton.

Note that for the offensive roles, we borrowed a fun idea from Todd Whitehead (formerly of Nylon Calculus) with help from our friends at Bball-Index.com to create a slightly tweaked formula from the version they use.

The goal of that is not to explain how well a player scores but rather offer context for the way that he was used on his most recent team. This should help you predict how he might be used at the next level.

Meanwhile, you can learn the latest updates on every single prospect who has been included in recent mock drafts by scrolling below.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report

2021 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0: Final rankings of the Top 100 prospects

With just over a week left until the 2021 NBA draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, it’s officially the most wonderful time of the year! 

With just over a week left until the 2021 NBA draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, it’s officially the most wonderful time of the year!

That means that after a slew of surprising early entry withdrawals impacted the worlds of both college and international basketball, the next generation of NBA talent is getting closer to entering the league. As players finalize their place on big boards in front offices, I wanted to offer my opinion on how I think those rankings should look.

Note that our list is certainly going to look different from the lists at ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report and other publications. Player evaluation is an inexact science. Part of the process is being willing to admit when you were wrong about a player.

But avoiding group-think and ending higher than consensus on a player is how an NBA team ends up selecting them in the draft. With that in mind, here is who I would target if I were running a front office.

NBA prospect Jericho Sims hurting his face on the rim while dunking is just ridiculous

You need to see this dunk.

Have you ever gone up and thrown down a big dunk that left you feeling a little pain because your face hit the rim while you were throwing down that big dunk?

No, just me?

Well, not me. I can’t dunk and I hate myself for it.

But former Texas forward Jericho Sims did just that on Tuesday while taking part in the Klutch Sports Pro Day in California.

Sims, who is listed at 6-foot-10, averaged nine points a game during his four-year career with the Longhorns. He’s not a definite to get drafted later this month but this dunk will help him get his name out there.

Check this out:

Insane.

But this angle is even more insane:

I mean, WHAT?

Twitter had reactions: