Appreciate Sima

paultzman

paultzman

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Bigs usually take time, but I believe he is ahead of the curve relative to his overall skill level. Hopefully he sticks around for at least two more years;

"One player that has stood out in a positive way has been freshman center Yankuba Sima, who has scored 24 combined points on 12-of-22 shooting while grabbing 13 rebounds and has been by far the best player on the team. The big man only recorded one block in the two outings and struggled a bit with the physicality of Geoffrey Groselle and Ben Bentil, but his offense is coming along as he has provided the Johnnies a spark on that end of the court.

The Spain native had a particularly strong second half against the Friars on Saturday, where he crashed the offensive glass, made solid post moves, and showed the ability to finish around the rim. He needs to continue to develop his left hand, but his shot has potential and he has adjusted to the flow of American basketball, showing a soft touch near the basket and a nice feel.

"Sima is going to be a great player in this league for a long time," Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said."

http://www.rumbleinthegarden.com/20...t=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
 
I think he's been the biggest bright spot on the team this year. Stepped right in and made us completely forget about Obekpa, and adds some much needed offense (FT shooting notwithstanding). Huge piece of the puzzle to getting us back over the next few seasons.
 
Bigs usually take time, but I believe he is ahead of the curve relative to his overall skill level. Hopefully he sticks around for at least two more years;

"One player that has stood out in a positive way has been freshman center Yankuba Sima, who has scored 24 combined points on 12-of-22 shooting while grabbing 13 rebounds and has been by far the best player on the team. The big man only recorded one block in the two outings and struggled a bit with the physicality of Geoffrey Groselle and Ben Bentil, but his offense is coming along as he has provided the Johnnies a spark on that end of the court.

The Spain native had a particularly strong second half against the Friars on Saturday, where he crashed the offensive glass, made solid post moves, and showed the ability to finish around the rim. He needs to continue to develop his left hand, but his shot has potential and he has adjusted to the flow of American basketball, showing a soft touch near the basket and a nice feel.

"Sima is going to be a great player in this league for a long time," Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said."

http://www.rumbleinthegarden.com/20...t=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
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And he seems like a good kid.
 
I think he's been the biggest bright spot on the team this year. Stepped right in and made us completely forget about Obekpa, and adds some much needed offense (FT shooting notwithstanding). Huge piece of the puzzle to getting us back over the next few seasons.
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Agree completely. Makes you wonder how someone with his size and upside can be overlooked by so many teams and be available when we started recruiting him.

As for his FT shooting, he has pretty good form and rotation on the ball, so he just needs reps and practice and that will improve dramatically. 250 shots up a day and some tweaks will get that up to 65-70% before you know it.
 
I think he's been the biggest bright spot on the team this year. Stepped right in and made us completely forget about Obekpa, and adds some much needed offense (FT shooting notwithstanding). Huge piece of the puzzle to getting us back over the next few seasons.
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Agree completely. Makes you wonder how someone with his size and upside can be overlooked by so many teams and be available when we started recruiting him.

As for his FT shooting, he has pretty good form and rotation on the ball, so he just needs reps and practice and that will improve dramatically. 250 shots up a day and some tweaks will get that up to 65-70% before you know it.
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I believe his eligibility was somewhat questioned during the recruiting process. He was not cleared until around late july, or so.
 
I think he's been the biggest bright spot on the team this year. Stepped right in and made us completely forget about Obekpa, and adds some much needed offense (FT shooting notwithstanding). Huge piece of the puzzle to getting us back over the next few seasons.
Click to expand...

Agree completely. Makes you wonder how someone with his size and upside can be overlooked by so many teams and be available when we started recruiting him.

As for his FT shooting, he has pretty good form and rotation on the ball, so he just needs reps and practice and that will improve dramatically. 250 shots up a day and some tweaks will get that up to 65-70% before you know it.
Click to expand...

I believe his eligibility was somewhat questioned during the recruiting process. He was not cleared until around late july, or so.
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Their loss and our gain :)
 
He's a pretty good outside shooter so i do think his free throw percentage will vastly improve over time. I do think he has some gym rat in him too and will continue to work on improving all facets of his game.
 
Sima is huge for us moving forward. It would be such a shame to have two guards as good as LoVett and Ponds and not have any size to go with them. Not only do we have depth upfront but Sima gives us a big time talent.
 
For those that watched Billy Paultz when he started at SJU, how many would have bet money, even Monopoly money, that he would have a long and productive NBA career? Most bigs need time to develop. Sima will get there with added strength and coordination. He does seem to lose control of the ball a bit too often on release close to the basket. That should get better with repetition. He has the tools and seems to have the right attitude and work ethic. Sometimes, that counts a lot more than natural ability. See Derrick Caracter (currently in the D League) and Obekpa and many others who squandered their potential.
 
Per Zag's, a "scoop machine" :)

St. John's has no official update on Yankuba Sima's status, for those asking.
 
For those that watched Billy Paultz when he started at SJU, how many would have bet money, even Monopoly money, that he would have a long and productive NBA career? Most bigs need time to develop. Sima will get there with added strength and coordination. He does seem to lose control of the ball a bit too often on release close to the basket. That should get better with repetition. He has the tools and seems to have the right attitude and work ethic. Sometimes, that counts a lot more than natural ability. See Derrick Caracter (currently in the D League) and Obekpa and many others who squandered their potential.
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Losing the ball on release could also be a function of the hand injury. That was not a new thing last night, that hand's been taped up since the UMBC game.

Right now, his offense is light years ahead of his defense, blocks aside. The 7-footer from Creighton ate him up. Last night, Xavier's bigs seemed to have more trouble in the first half with the athleticism of Amar and Yakwe, then they did with the size of Sima (again, could have been the injury). Not to mention, what Incarnate Word's bigs did to him. Most of that is footwork though, and that can be corrected.
 
Sima just needs to play more -- we need to remember that he hasn't actually been playing basketball for that long. He has good touch and surprisingly good post moves. He just needs to get a better feel for the flow of the game, especially on defense. He's actually quite a bit better than I thought he would be, given that he was still hanging around so late into the spring. Great get by the staff.
 
Per Zags-St. John's freshman Yankuba Sima is out 4-6 weeks, per the school. Broken bone in his left hand. #sjubb
 
Per Zaga-St. John's freshman Yankuba Sima is out 4-6 weeks, per the school. Broken bone in his left hand. #sjubb
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I've said this all year. Let's take all of these lumps now, and have a full, healthy team ready for next year.

But, we probably should consider starting to take 2-0 forfeits in road games that we have no shot of winning (i'm talking about against the really elite BE teams). Nothing to be gained with those teams blowing you out by 40, IMO.
 
Per Zaga-St. John's freshman Yankuba Sima is out 4-6 weeks, per the school. Broken bone in his left hand. #sjubb
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I've said this all year. Let's take all of these lumps now, and have a full, healthy team ready for next year. ...
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Except that one doesn't preclude the other.

That said, it's very disappointing news.
 
Uggh....

Although Sima played only a handful of minutes against Xavier, we looked much more formidable down low with him in the game. In the first half I believe CJ got beat, but Sima, slid into the blocks and blocked the shot - twice (which I've never seen before). He deflected it slightly on the way up and snuffed it again as it got closer to the basket.

If there was any season for this to happen, this may as well be the one. I just hope it heals well, and he can come back before the end of the season and continue his freshman education in Big East ball. Certainly he is one of maybe three freshman who can be impact players going forward or at least have major roles on a very good future redmen team.
 
Do we now get the number one pick in the draft?
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We traded it away -- along with two other future number ones -- for the Dele Coker signing. (Looked good at the time.)
 
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