By Paul M. Banks
For Michigan senior forward DeShawn Sims and his Michigan Wolverine teammates, there isn’t really much to look forward to in the short term. They far from sniffing the Big Ten race, and (despite the nonsense you hear on Big Ten Network from Jim Jackson) they have no chance at all of grabbing a NCAA Tourney bid. (unless they win the Big Ten tournament of course). But beyond the season, Sims has a lot to look forward to, as he’s a projected NBA Draft pick.
When I caught up to Sims it was ironically, not on one of his better nights. He had been schooled by Northwestern’s Luka Mirkovic and held to just 4 points on 2-9 shooting from the floor. The four total points matched his season low, coming against Boston College in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. “He had a rough night. Mirkovic has really improved and he plays great post defense. He’s not a great shot blocker, but he plays great position defense in the post and they had another helper in there,” his coach John Beilein said.
Despite the rough night, Sims has been a huge star this year, teaming with Manny Harris to give the Wolverines a phenomenal one-two punch. Unfortunately, the maize and blue have little else beyond this, forcing me to now always refer to this team as the “Michigan HarriSims”. Sims has six double-doubles on the season, and leads the team in rebounds.
During my exclusive with Sims I asked him what the key to his scoring has been. “Having my teammates find me. That’s been the key to my success,” he responded very diplomatically.
Here’s an excerpt of Sims’ scouting report from Draft Express
“As an offensive player, Sims has a versatile skillset for a power forward, being able to score inside and out with a variety of weapons. In the post, Sims has a deadly turnaround jumper he can finish over either shoulder, and at times it looks like it can’t miss. He uses his jumper moving to the baseline or back into the lane, with range out to at least 15 feet, and it doesn’t matter if there’s a hand in his face. In addition to this, Sims shows flashes of other moves, including a right-handed hook shot and a rangy dropstep, but he can be inconsistent with them as his post awareness isn’t always great, specifically when dealing with double teams. To his credit, when he gets into his comfort zone, his coordination and footwork actually look quite good, but he doesn’t seem to consistently be able to make full use of his repertoire.”
I also asked Sims if there’s someone he models his game on in NBA. “Not right now, but back in the day Bernard King- because of all of the things he could do inside the three point arc. All the ways he could score. He had so much versatility,” he responded.
So if versatility is Sims’ best fundamental strength for driving up the price of his NBA Draft stock, then what is his biggest weakness? “You can always work on something- my passing, my decision making, would probably take me over the top,” Sims stated.