Bass vs. Sully

[TheRev72]

Sullinger will likely fight for backup minutes behind Bass.

I can't quite see who he's going to fight. Right now, he's the default primary backup to Bass. Which is just fine by me.

I'm going to presume that Doc will have Green back up Bass as well, and the team will go "small" on a regular basis (especially to close out games: Rondo-Terry-Pierce-Green-KG). I don't think Ainge singed Green to a $9M/year contract solely to play 10-12 minutes a game behind Pierce.

[arambone]

'studs dominate summer league.'

stud scoring guards dominate summer league. Stud big men dont get the ball enough.

But sully did dominate the boards in summer league, and he did get to the line like clockwork when he did get the ball.

Sullinger doesnt even need to get the ball much to be an upgrade over bass.
Bass is a below average rebounder, a weak link on the worst rebounding team in the league.

Sullinger is probably a better, or at least more enthusiastic rebounder than kg at center.

We need to keep kg healthy, obviously.

Sullinger could get 10 boards and 10 points in 25 minutes playing with the starters, cleaning up for rondo, pierce, bradley/lee, and garnett.

Let garnett play like a taller, better version of bass, and let sullinger set the punishing physical tone for the game. He doesnt need to score over centers 5 times a game to be an upgrade over bass, and sullinger is clearly the smarter player as well.
Sullinger and garnett is an excellent rebounding tandem, and sullys midrange game will help spread the floor when kg is inclined to post up his smaller pf defender.

Cant wait for the season, and even training camp reports.

[CelticG1]

Sullinger will likely fight for backup minutes behind Bass.

I can't quite see who he's going to fight. Right now, he's the default primary backup to Bass. Which is just fine by me.

Im sure a shorter rotation will be in order and KG and Green will fill most of those remaining minutes up

I mean there's probably a decent chance that Sully will get some minutes at pf but at this point (he hasn't played a game yet) im assuming KG and Green are both better options.

[Celtics4ever]

'studs dominate summer league.'

Yep.  Henson did.

http://www.nba.com/summer-league/2012/players/sl_john_henson/index.html

Terence Jones did.

http://www.nba.com/summer-league/2012/players/sl_terrence_jones/index.html

Neither are guards.  Sully is a better rebounder than either but these guys averaged 18 PPG.   That kind of blows the guard theory out of the water though I will buy it for our team because we had some chuckers on our team who shot it every time down the court.

[arambone]

Sullinger is also an excellent outlet passer.

You can't start a fast break without a rebound, and it doesn't matter how fast up the floor Sullinger is if he's the guy grabbing the defensive board and quickly throwing lasers upcourt to Rondo and Bradley.

[arambone]

I don't think Sullinger will end up being an All-Star, unless somebody like Fab Melo is able to do a really good job of cleaning up after Sullinger gets toasted on the pick-and-rolls he will be constantly targeted for.

Sully could dominate the boards and score at will against most PFs in the league, but I think defensively he will be too much of a slow-footed liability to become anything close to an All-Star. Although, getting toasted on defense hasn't stopped many players from being voted All Stars as long as they put up flashy numbers.

I think Sullinger's best and most productive role will be as an undersized center who doesn't score a whole lot, but contributes immensely to the win-loss record.

He probably won't be very flashy in this role, and won't get a ton of post-up opportunities, but he'll get lots of rebounds, lots of put-backs, draw lots of fouls, and sink a high % of his FTs, in addition to beating up opposing centers on defense despite his height disadvantage.

A top-notch glue guy, and self-less enough to sacrifice the offensive touches he is accustomed to getting.

Not sure there's another center like him in the league.

[Eja117]

I never understand this discussion, at all... Bass is PROVEN with his numbers in the NBA against the most ELITE talents in the world for YEARS, Sully has NOT even ONCE played! Comparing college vs. NBA is too funny... if that was a good thing to use, I can find you hundreds of players that were better than/close to Jordan in college, a lot of whom never translated their game to half of MJ in the NBA. Bass vs. Wilcox may be something but against Sully, it's not time to put them in the same sentence when talking about NBA.


With that said, I love our rookies potential and will be sad if they turn out to be duds (especially Melo, because I think he will be the biggest steal).

This makes sense. 

[kozlodoev]

Sullinger will likely fight for backup minutes behind Bass.

I'm going to presume that Doc will have Green back up Bass as well, and the team will go "small" on a regular basis (especially to close out games: Rondo-Terry-Pierce-Green-KG). I don't think Ainge singed Green to a $9M/year contract solely to play 10-12 minutes a game behind Pierce.

I don't think Pierce will be playing 36-38 minutes. As a matter of fact, I won't be surprised to see the team try to hold both him and Garnett to ~28 mpg. This leaves a massive 40 mpg to be filled by backups, plenty of space to fit both Sullinger and Green.

Small lineups or not, though, I don't see Green ever being a viable primary backup for KG, and I see the remanining 10-12 mpg there as Sullinger's to lose at this point.

[itsthatbradguy]

I don't think people are taking into account the possibility that Bass also improves his game over the offseason. He's coming into the prime of his career and improved substantially in his 1st season in Boston. Continuity could do even more wonders for a guy who has floated around the league thus far in his career.

[indeedproceed]

I don't think people are taking into account the possibility that Bass also improves his game over the offseason. He's coming into the prime of his career and improved substantially in his 1st season in Boston. Continuity could do even more wonders for a guy who has floated around the league thus far in his career.

Did he really improve at all?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bassbr01.html

He improved his PPG, but that's because he played 5 more minutes a game.

His points, and rebounds per 36 minutes dropped, his rebounds to a career low, and his points to his lowest since his second year in the league.

Also his TS%, his Win Shares per 48, and his rebounding percentages were all near career lows, despite a pretty consistent Usage rate.

All that adds up to an overall drop in efficiency, combined with an increase in minutes.

Not that he's a bad player or anything, he's a good player, and I'm comfortable with him as a starter. He just didn't seem to improve with the bigger role or increased minutes.

[billysan]

I don't think people are taking into account the possibility that Bass also improves his game over the offseason. He's coming into the prime of his career and improved substantially in his 1st season in Boston. Continuity could do even more wonders for a guy who has floated around the league thus far in his career.

Did he really improve at all?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bassbr01.html

He improved his PPG, but that's because he played 5 more minutes a game.

His points, and rebounds per 36 minutes dropped, his rebounds to a career low, and his points to his lowest since his second year in the league.

Also his TS%, his Win Shares per 48, and his rebounding percentages were all near career lows, despite a pretty consistent Usage rate.

All that adds up to an overall drop in efficiency, combined with an increase in minutes.

Not that he's a bad player or anything, he's a good player, and I'm comfortable with him as a starter. He just didn't seem to improve with the bigger role or increased minutes.

I will be the first to say that Brandon Bass has earned the Celtics starting PF spot as of now. I think he will be an excellent compliment to KG. Mostly because he is our best option.

I do have concern in that he cannot switch over to longer bigs due to his lack of height. This will necessitate Wilcox or Collins likely being the first big off the bench. That also could become a hockeyline with Green and Sullinger coming in together.

[guava_wrench]

'studs dominate summer league.'

stud scoring guards dominate summer league. Stud big men dont get the ball enough.

Add to that the BBIQ that Sully has and the lack of a good system in summer league hurts his performance. Players that are good at broken plays excel in summer league.

More than that, Sully didn't have the conditioning for so many games in such a short time. He will be better conditioned when the season starts now that he has access to NBA caliber trainers and $.

[Celtics4ever]

Other big men did just fine with those same limitations sorry I don't buy it. 

[arambone]

Here's some nice Summer League highlights of Sullinger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU3-r409iGc

[OsirusCeltics]

This is in my gut feeling
If Sully plays really well this season, the Celtics would no doubt trade Bass mid-season