He's the 5th string big on a borderline playoff team. What's that worth? Think we could even get a late 1st for him at this point?
I actually still think Sully can put up 15/6 -> 18/8 if given the minutes. I figured we'd showcase him early and ship him out at the earliest possible chance. I have suspicions the kid has an attitude problem.
Just because he's the 5th big on the court, doesn't mean he's the 5th best big.
Boston is in a very unique position in that the team has 5 bigs who are all roughly about as good as each other...so depending on your perspective you could just as easily argue Sully is the best big on the team as you could that he's the 5th best big on the team. His position in the rotation is moreso a reflection of how well he fits the system, rather than a reflection of how good / talented he is.
Sully has career averages of 11.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in 25.4 minutes (16 and 10 Per-36) and he's only 23 years old. The guy can play, and he's a legit starting caliber PF for most teams out there.
I've got no doubts that there are teams out there who could improve significantly by adding a guy like Sully. Detroit is the first that spring to mind. A Sully / Drummond front court would be devastating.
We got a first rounder for Jeff Green, and I'd say Sully is about on par (value wise) with Jeff Green when we traded him out - maybe a tad more valuable due to his age and the fact that he is more skilled (Green was really just a scorer).
There's nothing in there from any member of the Celtics organization that suggests who the 4 are. It's Blakely - who is often incorrect - pulling 4 names out of his ass with nothing to back it up.
It's not Blakely who brought out these lineups - its Brad Stevens himself. By using those rotations in both pre-season games (and openly saying that he liked the rotations) you can be relatively confident that these are the rotations that will start the season.
Whether they remain that way we don't know, but my money is on that Lee/Zeller, Johnson/Olynyk teaming.
“Whoever those four may be, may depend on the night, may depend on how they’re playing, may depend on who is healthy.” Well, this is also pretty self-apparent. Because Brad has flexibility, who plays will depend production, match ups and health. This is makes perfect sense. Need rebounding? Sullinger is in there. Are you going to need inside scoring? Lee may be the man. A defensive presence? Amir, step forward. Need a big body? Zeller, you're up. Want to draw their guy out of the paint? KO, come on down.
There is one problem with your logic there.
For their careers:
* Sully has an average of 10.5 Rebounds Per 36 and a 16.4% rebound percentage
* Lee has an average of 10.8 Rebounds Per 36 and a 16.9% rebound percentage
Why would you put Sully in for rebounding, when Lee is actually a slightly better rebounder?
Likewise you can't use Sully and Lee together (for defensive reasons) so anytime you DO want a rebounder out there, you'd just take Lee.
There lies the problem with Sully. If you look at all the things he does well (rebounder, inside scoring, passing) David Lee does them better.
Therefore there is really never any situation in which Sully is the best man for the job - there is always somebody better. Whether it's rebounding (Lee), inside scoring (Lee), play-making (Lee), outside shooting (Olynyk) mid-range shooting (Zeller) or defense (Johnson) there is always somebody on the team who is better at it than Sully.
That's why Sully is expendable. None of the things he brings to the team (aside from poor conditioning and horrible shot selection) are unique to him. There is always somebody else who can do anything he can do.
So if you have too many players and you want to get rid of somebody...the choice becomes easy.