Amid a turbulent stretch of games in which the Milwaukee Bucks went from pushing for the playoffs to thinking about lottery position, Jericho Sims has been a prominent storyline. The big man jumped to the top of Doc Rivers' pecking order in recent weeks, surpassing even Myles Turner and Bobby Portis in the rotation. However, in the past few games, he's abruptly taken a backseat.
Jericho Sims was on a hot streak for the Bucks
Between February 22 and March 14, Sims averaged 25.2 minutes per contest, which was fifth on the Bucks in that span. It was clear to see why. For a team that has been starved of energy, throwing Sims into the mix gave them a high-flying, uber-athletic big man who could help tackle one of their glaring weaknesses in their inability to grab rebounds.
Sims, typically not known for his statistics, started stuffing the stat sheet. He averaged 7.1 rebounds, 5.8 points, and 2.2 assists while shooting a sensational 90.6 percent from deep. Rivers' go-to center hauled in 78 total rebounds in this run, the most on the entire team (Ryan Rollins was second with 61, to put that into perspective).
That type of productivity, especially for a team that needs rebounds, made it shocking when Rivers started giving Sims less time in recent games. Over his last three matchups, Sims has been on the floor for just 15.9 minutes per game, the 12th-most on the team. Rivers has seemingly decided that he wants to go in another direction, for whatever reason.
Bucks are back to relying on veterans
Out of nowhere, Bobby Portis (27.6), Myles Turner (24.1), and Kyle Kuzma (24) have all overtaken Sims in the rotation by a wide margin. Why exactly? It feels like Doc Rivers is still trying to throw anything at the wall to see what sticks. Reducing the role of the player who had been helping with one of the team's most glaring issues was certainly a choice.
Portis has at least vindicated Rivers' decision. In these three games, he's averaging 19.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. However, the same cannot be said for Turner and Kuzma. Turner is having an efficient stretch but averaging just eight points and 3.5 rebounds. Kuzma is averaging 7.3 points while hitting 35 percent of his shots. Those numbers just won't get the job done.
Rivers needs to find time for Sims. More time than he's gotten in the last three. His rebounding alone makes him such a valuable contributor.
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