Jericho Sims is becoming Knicks’ under-the-radar defensive juggernaut

Early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Knicks blowout victory, New Orleans guard Antonio Reeves got a step on Josh Hart as he drove to the bucket.

Reeves was trailed by Jericho Sims, who leapt for a rejection with both feet and elevated so high that he needed to duck under and around the rim.

The elevation was, as Jalen Brunson put it, “absurd.” And even though Sims was whistled for goaltending, the play perfectly encapsulated the 26-year-old’s greatest NBA strengths — athleticism and rim protection.

In that order.

“His chin was on the rim,” Brunson said. “That was crazy.”

It’s easy to dismiss Sims. His back-of-the-card numbers are beyond underwhelming. His demeanor is unassuming. His offensive contributions are limited to setting screens and dunking.

But as Tom Thibodeau and teammates have stressed for weeks, the appreciation for Sims requires a deeper look into the advanced stats.

Opponents are shooting just 33 percent on Sims within 6 feet of the rim, according to NBA.com. That easily made Sims the NBA’s top paint defender among players who’ve logged at least 11 games heading into Monday.

Nobody else was close.

By contrast, opponents are shooting 73.2 percent within 6 feet of the rim on starting center Karl-Anthony Towns, according to NBA.com. That’s among the worst in the league and quite a difference from Sims, who doesn’t get many rejections (1.2 per 36 minutes) but is forcing shooters to fumble two-thirds of their opportunities.

“He’s really worked hard at it,” Tom Thibodeau said. “Very athletic. Great feet. And making the right decision at the right time. His athleticism is through the roof. He can react very quickly. And you need that. The rim protection is huge.”

Sims, the 58th overall pick in 2021 and a former NBA Slam Dunk Contest participant, is now behind only Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride as the longest-tenured Knick.

But his role seems constantly in flux. Before the Towns trade, the Texas product was in contention for the starting center spot heading into the season. At other times, he’s out of the rotation. Part of the roller coaster was Sims falling too easily into foul trouble and struggling to grasp the schemes. He’s gotten better in both those areas, especially recently with a string of positive defensive performances.

The lack of offense, which is by design in the Knicks system, makes Sims an easy scapegoat for any of the team’s scoring problems. It’s hard to appreciate the nuances of a player who averages less than two points in 13.9 minutes per game. There was a groundswell from fans early in the season to replace Sims in the rotation with rookie Ariel Hukporti, who is flashier offensively.

But teammates understand.

“I think it goes underappreciated with the casual basketball fan that just looks at stats and doesn’t see the game and the presence that [Sims] has,” Hart said. “In the beginning of the year, he was trying to figure out what to do, how to play, his spots to be. But the last 10 to 12 games, he’s been huge for us. He’s been someone who has come in and rebounded at a high level. Guarded the pick-and-roll pretty well. Protects the rim at a high level. He’s someone who has been huge for us. Casual basketball fans don’t really see his value, but we know exactly what he brings.”

With Precious Achiuwa inactive all season because of a hamstring strain (Thibodeau said Monday he expects him back within a week), Sims has represented the Knicks’ lone frontcourt reserve for one-quarter of the season. Still, the minutes are relatively low because of, among other reasons, Thibodeau’s reluctance to play Sims in lineups with Towns.

It’s one or the other, and Towns is averaging 33.4 minutes.

Interestingly, the coach revealed Monday that he experimented with the two-center lineup in practice before Towns suffered a leg contusion.

At the very least, Thibodeau is open to it. A similar configuration worked in Minnesota with Towns playing alongside the elite rim protection of Rudy Gobert, who helped cover up Towns’ weaknesses.

“We’ll see how it unfolds,” Thibodeau said. “We haven’t had a lot of practice time, so that’s a big thing. We started to work on it and then KAT got nicked up. So that didn’t allow us to do it as much as we would’ve liked.”

No matter where the Knicks end up in the future with returns of Achiuwa (probably soon) and Robinson (not for awhile as he navigates his conditioning), they know they’ve found a reliable paint defender in Sims.

He’s an underappreciated piece to the puzzle who today represents the NBA’s best paint defender.

“When we have Mitch back — hopefully January or whenever that is — [Sims] gives us the ability to have different lineups,” Hart said. “And have two bigs and stuff like that.”

“Jericho is a hard guy to measure statistically,” added Thibodeau. “Because you’re talking about screening, offensive rebounding, pressure on the rim, decision-making in pick-and-rolls, when to switch, when not to switch, when are you making a decision going after the ball. That comes with time. And a lot of times, he’s not getting the block, but he’s making people miss.”