St John's goes big

[Halldan1]

Yankuba Sima

6-11, 215 | Class of 2015

Hometown Jacksonville, Fla.
School Arlington Country Day School
PositionCenter

Scout Grade 79
3 Star

ESPN Analyst
Updated 01/21/2015

Strengths:
Sima is a true center that is extra long and runs pretty well for his size. He scores with drop step and turn shots in addition to being an above the rim finisher when he receives drop off passes created by dribble penetration. He is a good rebounder and is a tip dunk threat on the offensive glass. Sima also is a pretty good weak side shot blocker and is an excellent passer out of the low post to the weak side or cutters to the rim.

Weaknesses:
Sima will need to add strength and play more physical and at times he is slow reacting to the play so getting off the floor quicker is a concern. He will also need to continue to work on developing his scoring package back to the basket and facing to take his game to the next level of production in addition to keeping his motor running each and every possession.

Bottom Line:
Sima high major center with tremendous upside. Continuing to learn the game and develop is key for long term success.

 

[BayonneRay]

Yankuba Sima although listed from Florida has spent time in Spain and attended the Canarias Basketball Academy. This recruiting move has been met with praise by many of our posters on this board. This puzzles me since many of these posters have written many times that they want nothing to do with any more recruits from the CBA. If SHU had landed Mr Sima these posters would have been irate, calling this move an act of desperation from a weak recruiting head coach and staff. I guess my question to the board is did SJU just make a major recruiting blunder or should SHU reopen our relationship with the Canarias Basketball Academy.

 

[Save Continental]

You take what you can get when you're hired in March and need a roster for 6 months later. The SJU roster is really, really weak. It's a decent get at this stage of the game - how much better will you be able to do? It's not the player you want to land for 2016 or 2017 when you have a full recruiting cycle under your belt.

 

[Flnj86]

I know someone who,video tapes a lot of basketball players, lives in Fl and watches many of the Fl players live at AAU events. He likes SJU and told me that Sima is not that good. He is being hyped up by the SJU media, did you know he was at Arlington Country Day and did not do anything.

 

[SPK145]

Canarias has yet to produce any good Div 1 player, best to stay away. One difference though is that Sima played a year in the states first, that may help. As with all Canarias players, he's a project with some potential upside.

 

[Blue Buccaneer]

Sima? Lol. I'll pass. If we took him everyone would be bitching and moaning. Mullin will be like Lavin and Rice. They got all the pub and some good players when they started. Then reality set in.

 

[Seton75]

Have lots of posters praised this move? This is the only thread I have seen about this kid. Maybe I missed it.

It is funny how SHU fans belittle Lavin's record at SJU (and he was no world beater), but he went 2 for 5 re making the NCAAs, which would be tied for second best in SHU history.

 

[JIMSOULS]

Lavin actually went two for four at St. John's, as he coached just four games in the other year due to cancer treatment. I don't get the "reality set in" comment about him (or Mike Rice, for that matter, as he wasn't let go for poor on-court performance). Lavin had success as St. John's, and Mullin will be judged by whether he can do better.