Over the next couple of weeks we will evaluate the Sixers' roster following the 18-64 season. Up next is Henry Sims.
Position: Center
Status: Unrestricted free agent
Signature game of 2014-15
Henry Sims had a high scoring game of 22 points vs. Portland on Nov. 11, 2014, and grabbed 12 rebounds in two different games. Sims also had four double-doubles, but the Nov. 7 game against Chicago may have been his finest of the year.
In that game Sims scored 16 points on 7 for 10 shooting with eight rebounds and five assists in just 26 minutes.
Sims in 2014-15
Sims opened the season as the Sixers' top center and started in 19 of the first 21 games. However, he started just four games after the All-Star break and saw his minutes drop from 20.5 per game to 15.6 during that stretch.
The acquisition of Thomas Robinson cut into Sims’ playing time as well as Nerlens Noel’s emergence as the Sixers’ top defender in the paint.
Regardless, Sims appeared in 73 games and averaged a respectable 8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
NBA
Prospectus
Sims plays defense, he gets rebounds, he can set a pick and bury an 18-footer. As long as Sims isn’t asked to stray beyond those strengths, he’s a fine contributor.
It is that no-nonsense attitude that endears Sims to coach Brett Brown. Raised in Baltimore and schooled under John Thompson III at Georgetown, Sims came to the Sixers from Cleveland in the Spencer Hawes trade with a not-so-sunny disposition. His attitude is to put in the work and not to worry about style points.
But with Nerlens Noel as the cornerstone of the franchise and big man Joel Embiid set to make his NBA debut at center next season, Sims is the odd man out. His dwindling minutes as the season wore on were a pretty good harbinger.
Besides, as a classic big man who spends most of the game defending the paint and running pick-and-rolls and post-ups on offense, Sims’ skillset is limited. He has neither the defensive versatility of Noel nor the shooting touch and size of Embiid.
Because of the Sixers’ crowded frontcourt, Sims likely has played his last game with the Sixers.
On Henry Sims …
“There is a grumpiness that I like. There is a toughness that I like. I feel he is an NBA player. He's a keeper.
“He is a man. He acts like a man, he talks like a man. He is a leader.”
-- Brett Brown, October 2014