Sim Bhullar is very large, in case you forgot. In fact, he’s so big that he broke a backboard in Toronto recently practicing with his Canadian countrymen. The 7’5″ giant, who made waves by being the first-ever NBA player of Indian descent, shattered a backboard at the Air Canada Centre (notice the Canadian spelling there) on Friday.
His PR Firm posted the results on Instagram. Clearly, the Air Canada Centre has been using some shoddy equipment, because NBA backboards are supposedly unbreakable:
It’s fitting and expected that Bhullar broke the backboard in practice, because he really hasn’t done much of note in an actual game since he became the first-ever player of Indian descent to log minutes and score in an NBA game. And sadly, I’m not sure he ever will.
More from Kings News
- 3 Ways Chris Duarte improves the Kings chances in 2023-24
- Bleacher Report crazily lists Kings’ All-Star as “most overrated NBA player”
- Kings and Heat fans clash on Twitter to debate All-Star players
- Sacramento Kings’ Chris Duarte playing in 2023 FIBA World Cup
- 3 Young players the Kings must develop, 2 to give up on
Bhullar is simply too big to be a complete NBA player, and I’m not sure that he’s going to change enough to be a viable option at center anytime soon. He’s already 22 years old, and dropping from 360 pounds to something more feasible for an NBA player would be a very tough task.
Although he posted some pretty good numbers in his time in the D-League (over ten points and eight rebounds per game, on 72 percent field goal shooting) it is important to remember that it’s, you know, the D-League. Plus his defense is always suspect, because he’s just too slow to move up and down the court as fast as an average player, or even an average center.
He did record a lot of blocks per game, which is probably why he was on the Second Team All-Defense for the D-League last season, but he had a super-high defensive rating of 113, meaning he allows a lot of points per 100 possessions. He’s just too slow.
To put his 360 pound frame into perspective, DeMarcus Cousins (who is also quite big compared to your average human being) is 270 pounds. Sim Bhullar is almost 100 pounds heavier than DeMarcus Cousins. That’s just insane.
Besides, it’s not like the Sacramento Kings really have a need for any more big men at the moment anyway. Between DeMarcus Cousins, Willie Trill Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos the Kings have a ton of plus-sized talent on their roster.
So essentially what I’m saying here is there’s virtually no chance we’ll see Sim included on the Sacramento Kings 15-man roster this season. He’ll probably make training camp and stay on the Reno Bighorns for another year as Sacramento waits and tries to determine if Bhullar can actually make the leap from a very flawed but very huge center to a viable, just-athletic-enough big man who can log some real bench minutes for an NBA team.
Keeping him around on the D-League roster avoids another Hassan Whiteside situation. Back when the Kings let him go in 2010 Whiteside was not nearly the player he is today–that took a lot of growth in international leagues. But still, losing a potential talented big man like that twice would definitely sting.
I don’t really thing Bhullar will ever be the player Whiteside is today, but keeping him around for virtually nothing (and gaining some PR to boot) is the safe and logical bet. Just don’t expect to see Sim in a Kings uniform outside of the Summer League anytime soon.