LHR, one great point that you briefly touched upon was Sullinger being surrounded by veterans. It's something I've thought about before and it's importance can't be measured. That rookie season he played with much more energy. Maybe we can attribute it to him playing hard because it was his first season, but it could be because he was playing alongside KG, Pierce, Terry, Rondo and playing for Doc.
KG talking about rookie Sullinger and how much different he seemed in demeanor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvl5-SoBkPQ
Very true.
I was listening to it on my commute into work this morning and it got me thinking about the value of a legendary veteran presence on a young rebuilding team and whether or not the Celtics actually got enough value in that Nets deal. Time will tell, but if that trade doesn't bare a top five pick, or two top 10 picks, then I'm not sure the trade was worth it.
TP for that YouTube video, Eddie20
Don't realize when you a team needs veteran leadership until it's in plain sight as it was with Sullinger. Like we said, who knows - but if there was ever a guy who needed Pierce and Garnett around him it was him.
It's why the Spurs keep developing decent young pieces that help them.
Sure, but do the Spurs keep the veterans if, say, Duncan falls off a KG-like cliff in 2011?
Bad example, because TD was always going to retire in San Antonio (at least after he stayed in Texas, rather than Superteaming it up with Grant Hill and TMac), but you get the idea.