I like Olynyk and Zeller playing together

[hwangjini_1]

Brad Stevens is getting paid big bucks to figure out how to best use Sullinger, KO and Z in the lineup.  These players are quite skilled with high basketball IQ's.  They are all terric passers and can shoot the rock.  KO & Z need to stay on the weights to get stronger and learn how to use their height and body positioning in the paint to get more rebounds.  They could also use some footwork lessons from Kevin McHale,one of the best ever.  None of the three are very athletic but all are good basketball players. Buy the way, they can shoot foul shots too but need to get to the line more by being more aggressive.

I think Sullinger was an absolute steal in the draft.  I look for him to be significantly better this year, if healthy.  Yes, he's chubby but so was/is Charles Barkley.

Danny Ainge needs to do some magic to add a rim protector to the team.  We need a beast on the inside to block shots, rebound and take away most of the dribble penetration the Celts get burned on game after game.

It's hard to accurately evaluate a team in the pre-season due to so much experimentation going on with the team and opponents.  What I see so far is better spacing, better ball movement, more quickness and more of an attacking mode than last season.  The ugly parts are really ugly; too many turnovers, not enough rebounding and little to no rim protecting. The ugly parts have to be fixed soon in order to improving on the dismal record of last season.

welcome to cb and a nice post. tp for your work...plus no one here should ever have zero tps. 

[lurkerStrips]

"You can't be a plus PF defender just by being in position majority of the time."

But isn't that the right way to play defense? Being in position by moving...with one's feet?

[hwangjini_1]

Let's put some things in perspective:

The KO/Zeller front court played and excelled against Toronto against Patrick Patterson and Tyler Hansborough and Sully played almost all his minutes that game versus Amir Johnson and Jonas Valunciunas The KO/Tyler frontcourt then played well versus the frontcourt of the Sixers that was Henry Sims and Brandon Davies. Heck that entire team of players that played for the Sixers that night probably shouldn't be playing in the NBA.

Basing an opinion on the KO/Zeller frontcourt on those games against that competition is patently absurd and ridiculously pre-mature.

Also, keeping things in reality if we want to discuss defensive stats of Sully versus Olynyk let's use last year's stats where the games counted and coaches and players were actually trying to win games and not this pre-season. In those stats Sully had the lower defensive rating, the higher defensive rebounding percentage, the better +/-, the better modified +/-, and the higher number of blocks Per 36. He also drew way more charges and the eye test showed he was the superior defender by a wide margin.

Both players look much more comfortable in the system this year but until the games count and they are playing real competition, basing anything on what we are seeing this pre-season is a bit preposterous.

The best frontcourt thus far this season has been Sully at the 4 and Olynyk at the 5. And its not even close.

good points and data nick. what you write does indeed match my "eye test" evaluation of olly and sully. i like olly's offensive game, but on defense it is not contest under the basket. sully is like rock, immovable and determined on rebounds.

i think this year for stevens will be a combo of player development and set development. by set development i mean that stevens will put out particular sets of players (e.g. olly/zeller, olly/sully, turner/bradley, etc.) and see which set plays best under which circumstances.

if so, then i think we will see plenty of olly/zeller set until it shows it doesn work. but so far, sully and olly look the best as a pair. their skills compliment one another.

a set i would like to see would be zeller at center and green at pf. interesting inside/out combo there.

[Tr1boy]

We will see which pair will be better.  So far i've liked KO/Zeller pair the best.   It is rare to be able to put out two true 7 footers as your center and PF on the court at the same time and have it workout.


But when it does workout, it can be a challenge to play against.  I'm not talking about two Vitor Faverani's. But two decent 7 footers , good iq , skilled and very mobile (bonus: both KO/Zeller like to run and score in transition) . 

[Tr1boy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGdcbMShwco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y4syUcLyk4

[Tr1boy]

Zeller deserves cr for playing a nice game last night. He has great hands and rarely mishandles passes