OK, you've seen him play a few times. Few in, as how many? I've seen him play as well, and it wasn't easy since New Mexico St. wasn't on TV that many times. I'm curious, since there are so many experts out there on what he can and can't do, all those that have actually seen him play raise their hands. .........................I'm waiting....................................Not a lot of hands. How many of you know that he has a younger brother named Tanveer who plays for the same team? I use the word played loosely, because he was a freshman last season and I don't believe he ever got on the floor. Not unusual when you have 3 or 4 upper classmen ahead of you. His brother is 7'3"and weighs 330 pounds. How many of you know that Sim played in the Americas U-18 games for Canada and came off the bench in a loss to the US team and scored 28 points, grabbed 31 rebounds, and blocked 13 shots? Amazing for a guy playing against the best the US had to offer in that age group that's not able to go from one end of the court to the other.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that this kid is the next coming of Yao Ming. I'm not saying that he's even going to become an NBA player. But to just write him off is pure nonsense. He's not unskilled and he didn't just start playing basketball a week ago. What he is, is still overweight and far from being in NBA shape. What he also is, as VF21 pointed out, is Indian, as is our owner. So he does have some PR value, if, and its a big if, he can actually become a contributing NBA player. To my mind, that's what this exercise is all about. If in the end, the Kings brain trust thinks that they see an NBA career in Sim's future, then I won't be surprised to see him land the 15th spot on the roster and then spend the entire year in the D-League.
Why sign him and not just put him on our D-League team? Because unless you sign him, you have no control over him. Any team interested could sign him off our team. The idea that signing him to the last roster spot would be some sort of disaster is a bit of an exaggeration I think. If memory serves, we went most of last season without even filling that spot. Just about every team in the league used that spot for guys that wern't even going to sniff the floor in an NBA arena. If he happens to develop sooner than later, you can always bring him up to the parent club, and if he doesn't develop at all, you cut him. Not a big loss or inconvenience one way or the other. So I guess what I'm saying, in short, is that its much ado about nothing. Unless of course that nothing turns out to be something.