Really praising Ewing Jr. but I highlighted the negative shooting part. Check out the rest of the article on Sims though:
http://www.theknicksblog.com/2008/12/26/scouting-the-d-league-sims-and-ewing-jr/
Most of what was written on Ewing Jr.

What impressed me most was his passing. Reno would put him in the high post and run the offense through him. He consistently made good decisions and hit backdoor cutters with pinpoint bounce passes. You see a lot of great raw athletes come into the league and fail because they are offensive liabilities. The difference with Ewing Jr. is that he seems to have a really high basketball IQ. His post game also showed some promise. On one move, he caught the ball on the right block, fought off the double team, and finished with a fluid spin move and left-handed jump hook off the glass from about 8 feet out. It was a pretty move, no question. He has really good footwork as a big man.

That said, he really has no J at all. Watching him in warmups was pretty ugly. He was probably about 30% on uncontested 15-18 footers. He eventually gave up and settled for putting on a dunk show for the crowd, which was fine by me. He pulled the Kobe dunk from the ‘97 dunk contest - he elevated, did a 180 while passing the ball from his left to right hand behind his back, and finishing with right handed tomahawk. The whole building went crazy. He also did a statue-of-liberty semi-facial on a fastbreak during the game. His head was literally at rim level.

The verdict? Patrick Ewing Jr. should be on an NBA roster. He was clearly the best player on the floor throughout the night, and has a poise about him that can’t really be taught. Despite only joining the team last week, Patrick was leading the pre-game huddle and calling the shots on defense. My buddy, a die-hard Pistons fans, agreed that he needs to be in the league. However, until he develops at least a passable jumpshot, he probably wouldn’t see any minutes in a D’antoni system. He has good form, so there is some potential for improvement. But as of now, defenders can lag off him and neutralize him as an offensive threat.

That said, I would just like to see what effect he can have on the team with his defense and ball movement (not with his shot

EMS

Here's what Tommy Dee's guy had to say about Courtney Sims:

“…Sims might have just had a bad night, but he was pretty disappointing. He is extremely slow getting up and down the floor. He sort of has an awkward gait and takes a long time to reach full speed. That said, he is very long and has good hands. This allows him to dominate the paint in the D-league, and probably accounts for his stats. As far as the NBA is concerned, I see him as backup center on a halfcourt team at best. I don’t think he has the footspeed to succeed in D’Antoni’s system. Maybe he could play a role like Brian Skinner did on Phoenix, but I wasn’t all that impressed. Again, I’m basing my analysis on only one game, so take it for what it is."

You know what I'd have to agree with that 100% and I'm disappointed to say so. I've seem the numbers and like most of us here I was thinking he'd be a no-brainer because we desperately need a big man, esp. on the defensive end. Well I took a long look today at the 11/29 Iowa vs. Dakota game that's archived on the D-league's web site. As far as I know, this might be the only video available of Sims on the net (it looked to be the only Iowa game they had archived with Sims on the team). I came away totally feeling the same way. Now I've only seen him play this one game (never seen the guy play before) but I agree with the source's assessment - he's very slow and delibrate in everything he does. He's a finesse guy all the way. I think he could be an offensive contributor at the next level - he has real nice touch on the midrange jumper, features a pretty turnaround jumpshot and can also execute some nice moves using the glass in close. Good touch (even at the foul line) and didn't appear to force anything like most of the other players on both teams in this game which was nice to see but for what we need - athletic big that can run the floor and keep up with D'Antoni's pace, relentless defense & rebounding, intimidation, fire and desire, some explosiveness, etc. - he doesn't appear to be that type of player at all unfortunately.

Here's the link to the NBDL podcast archive (just scroll down and select the 11/29 game):

http://www.nba.com/dleague/news/webcast_archive_0708.html

If you can make it through the bad play by play (the guy doing that game was awful, not for anything), the poor helter-skelter one-on-one play by both teams (Curtis Stinson, the Energy's PG, was particularly dreadful - selfish and out of control) and the annoying replays they give you on every single play (that actually eclipse the live action because they never cut back in time) you'll see exactly what this guy is talking about. Iowa won the game and Sims actually had a decent game statistically here (he probably put up close to 20 & 10) but he's not our type of guy or what we need out of a big man. Slow & very delibrate, doesn't seem that strong, doesn't run the court hard, poor timing & a lack of passion on defense and surprisingly doesn't seem to have a great nose for the ball despite these monster stats he's put up so far. Like Tommy Dee's source, I was disappointed myself - I expected a completely different type of player. Still curious about Sims & I'll be on the lookout for other Iowa games on the archive page if they ever get around to posting them there, but as of right now, I came away less than impressed. If we went out and got this guy I wouldn't exactly be pissed or anything (he's probably better than Jared Jeffries - Jeffries just has no basketball skills whatsoever) but for what Sims brings to the table, which is basically a lot of finesse offense, we might be better off just working Eddy Curry back into the flow, which we'll need to do anyway to get his value back up to respectability. If you're interested, take a look, tell me what you think.


[Edited by - finestrg on 12-29-2008 10:11 PM]

All the stuff written contradicts everything in the stats.....also you can't say the guys is slow and terrible then say he has mad moves and is a finesse player.....doesn't make sense to me.

I gotta see the footage on the guy.

Posted by EnySpree:

All the stuff written contradicts everything in the stats.....also you can't say the guys is slow and terrible then say he has mad moves and is a finesse player.....doesn't make sense to me.

I gotta see the footage on the guy.

I didn't say he was terrible. Where did I say that? I said I was disappointed because, probably like you, I saw those monster numbers and started drooling. I merely pointed out what I saw after sitting through about 2 hrs. looking at game tape of this guy. Again, he's got some pluses on the offensive end of the floor but he's not gonna come in here and be the force on the glass or in the blocked-shot category that we need despite those lofty stats - not based on what I saw anyway. And I don't think he could keep up with the pace D'Antoni wants to play at. I'm not ready to close the book on him - I'm willing to look at some more video if they ever get around to putting it up on the NBDL web site. In the meantime if we picked him up, don't expect Amar'e Stoudemire, that's all I can say. The guy only had one dunk in the entire game and it came on a quick pick and roll late where he slipped toward the rim for a quick one-handed dunk - on a very similar play Duhon runs with Lee. He doesn't seem to have the power game. See for yourself - that's why I gave the link.


[Edited by - finestrg on 12-29-2008 11:59 PM]

yeah so....after watching like 12 mins of the game i don't even care....what a terrible game!!!!

Sims does look retarded. hardly looks like he could dominate games like his stats say....i need more cowbell.