It’s been 11 and a half years since Lazarus Sims last donned a Syracuse men’s basketball uniform and more than six months since he played his last professional basketball game.

Still, head down to Manley Field House during a weekday afternoon and you’ll likely find the 35-year-old Syracuse native and former Orangeman guard running around with the current SU basketball team.

Sims, the starting point guard of Syracuse’s 1996 squad that finished as runner-up in the NCAA Tournament, has returned to his alma mater and hometown as the new coordinator of men’s basketball player development/manager. SU head coach Jim Boeheim will rely on Sims to help guide a highly rated crop of incoming players.

Sims returns to SU hoping to jump start a coaching career after a nomadic journey through the ranks of professional basketball.

‘I’m working with a Hall of Fame coach – it doesn’t get any better than that,’ Sims said in a phone interview. ‘Just being home, coaching where I grew up, where I’m from, it doesn’t get too much better than that.’

Most Orange fans will remember Sims as legendary SU forward John Wallace’s sidekick on Syracuse’s 1996 Final Four team. The 6-foot-4 Sims played the role of floor general on an SU team that rode a wave of momentum to the NCAA Tournament finals before losing, 76-67, to heavily favored powerhouse Kentucky. Sims started all 38 games that season, averaging 6.4 points and 7.3 assists per game, but he will be remembered by Boeheim more so for his intangibles.

‘(He was a) very, very smart player – a great point guard,’ Boeheim said in a phone interview. ‘Just great leadership and great understanding. He really loves the game – he knows how you should play. He was just a really, really intelligent basketball player.’

After graduation, Sims bounced around several domestic and overseas professional basketball circuits. Sims played on 13 different teams in seven different leagues and three different countries. His odyssey included stops in Poland, Venezuela and with the Harlem Globetrotters. Sims even earned a trial with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, but his NBA dream never got off the ground.

Yet as Sims was moving around and extending his playing career, he made sure he had employment lined up for when his playing days were over.

‘I’ve been talking with Coach (Boeheim) for a couple years now about coming back,’ Sims said. ‘We were just waiting for the right situation and the right time to come back.’

The right time came this summer. Boeheim wanted to add another member to the basketball support staff to help watch over and mentor the six incoming players – five of them freshmen. Boeheim called on Sims, who had just finished playing out his final professional season as the point guard/assistant head coach of the Rochester RazorSharks of the American Basketball Association, to take the position.

‘I think we brought him in to really help mentor all these young guys, particularly with so many young guys – six new guys,’ Boeheim said. ‘Just for them to have somebody to talk to, not basketball really, but more academics, where you live, what you need to do from a players perspective really.’

In addition to his supportive responsibilities with players, Sims also said his tasks will include helping keep players in shape though workouts like the ones Sims is helping to organize currently and helping players to understand the offensive and defensive schemes the SU coaches are presenting to them.

Even though Sims said he can still keep up with the current SU players during their workouts, the four-year SU letterwinner is focused on starting a coaching career. Though he is not considered a part of the coaching staff currently, Sims said he is relishing the chance to work with Boeheim, SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins and the rest of the Orange staff. Sims does have experience coaching during his time as a player/coach in Rochester.

If his time at SU was any indication, the natural leadership ability Sims possesses as a floor general could make him well-suited for the business.

‘I’m used to it,’ Sims said about being a coach on the floor, ‘so nothing’s really changed, it’s just a different perspective.’

(BOLD)Roberts to work out with Bulls

Former Syracuse forward Terrence Roberts is set to fly out to Chicago sometime next week to work out with the Chicago Bulls, Roberts’ agent Calvin Andrews of BDA Sports said on Tuesday.

Up until this point, Roberts had been unable to attend any professional camps while he recovered from a torn left meniscus suffered during the Orange’s Dec. 19 loss to Drexel last year. Andrews admitted the knee’s recovery has taken longer than expected, and it has hindered the forward’s ability to secure employment for next season.

Roberts averaged 8.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last season and has received offers to play overseas, Andrews said. The agent added the forward would not make a decision until his health is 100 percent, something Roberts hopes will be true by the end of next week when he travels to Chicago.

‘Everybody’s camp has started (in Europe),’ Andrews said. ‘We’ve had plenty of offers (from overseas) but until Terrence is healthy, it’s not even worth a conversation.’

Obviously, Roberts’ preference would be to latch on with an NBA team, but considering the forward went undrafted in June’s NBA Draft and has yet to prove the health of his knee, Roberts would be a longshot to make any NBA roster. Andrews said Roberts would choose joining a European team in the middle of its season over playing in the NBA’s developmental league, the NBDL.

In the meantime, Roberts is busy building up the strength of his knee in Syracuse, working out with many of his former Syracuse teammates and Sims.

Sims said he had talked with Roberts about playing abroad.

‘I told him he’s waiting for his NBA dream, but if somebody out there is offering you money, you can’t just sit there and throw it away or you won’t have any,’ Sims said. ‘You’re not going to get an offer to go to the NBA if you’re not producing at that lower level. So you have to just produce so you can work your way up.’

Midnight Madness

Boeheim confirmed Tuesday that the basketball program’s Midnight Madness will take place on Friday, Oct. 19 at Manley Field House.

The event will be open to the public and will feature a practice by the team and several fan contests. The team will begin practice a week before the event, on Friday, Oct. 12.

‘I’m excited,’ Boeheim said about the event. ‘It’ll be that second weekend, so we’ll have a week of practice beforehand, so hopefully the players will be playing better by then. But hopefully we’ll get the students involved, and I’ll try to get out to a couple dorms.’

This will be the first season the SU basketball team has hosted a Midnight Madness event since 1994.

Published on September 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm