Have to say that I've come to an early conclusion on Sullinger. This guy will not be an impact player, regardless of his ability to "old school rebound." He simply does not have NBA athleticism. His feet are so [dang] slow. It's sad. minute for the vet minimum.
Really?
Here is a quote from the latest NBA Power Rankings:
"New bench, same old issues. The Celtics have allowed 99 points per 100 possessions with Kevin Garnett on the floor (86 minutes) and 116 with him on the bench (58 minutes). Starting Jared Sullinger for Brandon Bass on Saturday in Washington sure seemed to help, as Boston allowed the Wiz to score just a single bucket in the first eight minutes. We'll see if that's a permanent change."
I actually agree. As much as people hate on Sully for his defense, while he was in that game in the first quarter I thought he actually did a pretty good job of contesting every single shot his opponent put up. He's slow when he gets caught on the perimeter, but when he is defending on the ball I think he's actually done a MUCH better job at contesting shots then Bass has so far.
As I said it all changes when he has to defend a pick-and-roll or a quicker guy, but so far this season Bass has sucked at that anyway.