Texas Basketball: Could Jericho Sims be a first round pick?

This class of big men coming out of the Texas basketball program for the 2021 NBA Draft is starting to get a lot of chatter in a positive sense of late. Just a couple of weeks away from draft night 2021 (specifically set for the night of July 29 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn), a couple of Texas Exes and big men are the talk of the town for this men’s hoops program.

Former Texas senior standout center Jericho Sims and breakthrough sophomore power forward Kai Jones could very well both climb up draft boards a good bit ahead of the night of July 29. Sims specifically made waves this week as he had a moment that broke social media for hoops fans. That is largely because he nearly broke his head on the rim.

Sims was spotted hitting his head on the rim in essentially a layup line where he tried to slam the ball home. This was maybe the most viral moment for Sims following the end of his run with the Texas hoops program last season.

Jericho Sims could be a prominent center in the NBA in this special class of Texas basketball bigs

The amount of bounce that Sims showed off by hitting his head on the rim (not even the top of his head) has to be something that catches the eye of some NBA scouts. Texas fans have always known that Sims had this type of gifted leaping ability in his arsenal. But this is now starting to become more mainstream knowledge around the college hoops and NBA landscapes.

Sims put up some very impressive measurements and drills at the 2021 NBA Draft Combine last month. That’s what initially led to his rise up draft boards of late. He measured in at 6-foot-10 and 245-pounds and had an insane 44.5-inch vertical leap.

It was that vertical leap that also had to catch the eye of NBA scouts everywhere. That was the third-highest vertical leap measurement in NBA Combine history.

Sims was also impressive in the combine scrimmages. He looked like a very capable NBA-caliber big man with the way he ran the floor and was able to protect the paint. And the way that Sims’ gifted physical tools allows him to draw out and still defend guards on the perimeter was put on display during the combine.

You don’t have to dig too far into Sims’ tape to find where he excels in such a switchable role defensively as an uber-athletic big man.

Moreover, Sims looks like he’s starting to gain some real respect around various draft boards as someone that could go as high as late in the second round of the 2021 draft realistically. But if the rise of SIms continues to catch on in the next two weeks as it has the past month, then it’s not out of the question that he could work up to be a first-round pick.

There’s even an emerging possibility that Sims could do something previously unheard of during the 2020-21 season. Sims could very well be picked up in the 2021 draft before the former elite five-star recruit and freshman power forward Greg Brown. It will be hard for him to be selected ahead of Jones, though.