Jericho Sims on his plans before accepting Slam Dunk contest invitation: ‘I was going to be on an island somewhere’
Vacation plans were scrapped when Jericho Sims received his last-minute invitation to the Slam Dunk contest.
“I was going to be on an island somewhere,” Sims said. “Now I’m going to Utah.”
Salt Lake City is the host of All-Star weekend later this month, and Sims, the high-flying and soft spoken Knicks center, is one of four contestants in the marquee Saturday event.
The 24-year-old’s greatest gift is his vertical, which can place his head above the rim. How much of his head?
“Probably the whole thing,” he said.
Sims, who is a replacement after the withdrawal of Portland’s Shaedon Sharpe, is confident about a victory. His teammate Obi Toppin is the reigning champion but decided against participating for a third consecutive year.
“I like my chances,” Sims said.
Sims isn’t much of a showman — it’s just not a part of his personality — so he might try to win over the judges with substance over style.
“It depends. We’ll see,” he said. “If you do a good dunk, it’s good. It doesn’t really matter.”
Tom Thibodeau applied some light pressure.
“Oh, he better win it,” the coach joked. “I’m excited for him. I really am. A lot of people want to see him. We see it all the time, even our own guys. It’s pretty amazing what he can do. It’ll be exciting. I’ll actually watch.”
