Knicks Offseason: NY Deals With Old Rival in Hypothetical Jericho Sims Trade
After their most successful season in a decade, the New York Knicks will likely leave no stone unturned when it comes to officially entering the Eastern Conference's penthouse of contention. Does that include dealing with one of their oldest rivals?
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report seems to think so: Jericho Sims was listed among the "top trade targets" for the Boston Celtics, who are looking to make a leap of their own after falling a game short of another visit to the NBA Finals, which would've been their second in a row.
A variety of factors play into a potential union between Sims and the Celtics: Boston might bid farewell to restricted free agent Grant Williams and would perhaps need some depth behind veteran big men Al Horford and Robert Williams III. At 24, Sims also carries plenty of upside and potential while also standing as a draw after his late entry into the NBA's most recent Slam Dunk Contest in Salt Lake City last February.
"Jericho Sims could prove a sneaky-good (and cheap) option," Buckley writes. "The opportunities he's found over his first two seasons have allowed him to flash promising potential as a low-maintenance rim-runner. He's a career 75.8 percent shooter with per-36-minute averages of 10.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, per Basketball Reference."
If Sims is posting numbers like that, why isn't he flexing his muscles with the Knicks? Sims' ability to establish a role for himself as one of the final picks of the 2021 draft is impressive, but the Knicks' big-man picture, essentially reduced to two in Tom Thibodeau's trademark nine-man set, is crowded for reasons beyond size.
Sims was able to make a slight national name for himself when starter Mitchell Robinson missed the early portions of the new calendar year with an injury. Isaiah Hartenstein, a newcomer from the Los Angeles Clippers, played all 82 games for the Knicks this season as Robinson's top spell option. With Thibodeau keeping his nine-man set ironclad, Sims more or less became redundant. He would later miss the entire New York playoff run due to a shoulder injury, likely sustained when he was afforded some time on the floor during the Knicks' meaningless final regular season games.
True to the Boston-New York rivalry, collaboration between the Knicks and Celtics is rare, though the teams recently bartered in the summer of 2021 in a deal that sent Evan Fournier to Manhattan. It was the latest of four deals that have been made between New York and Boston, the most impact being the original deal in 1979 (when the Knicks traded Bob McAdoo to the Celtics a series of draft picks, one of which became Bill Cartwright).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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