This is no way intended as an insult to Sully. I was one of the only people on this forum defending him this offseason. He looked good before his injury last year and played fairly well in the playoffs in limited minutes. And generally, you see these kind of threads pop up after a player has crapped the bed... which doesn't make sense, because you don't get value back in a trade when your player is crapping the bed.
But if you believe in selling high, I'm not sure Sully's stock is going to get any higher than it is right now. He's been really solid this year. Over his first 10 games, he averaged 11 points, 9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1 block, 1.3 steals on 48%/38%/68% shooting in just 24mpg. That's a per-36 of 16 points, 13 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2 steals and 1.5 blocks. That's excellent.
Tonight he had one of his best games of the season season: 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal in 30 minutes (though 7-19 shooting)
If you're looking for value on Sully, now is as good a time as any to make that move. I'm not someone who is easily swayed by the moment. 11 games don't eliminate my concerns about the kid.
- He's injury prone
- He's perpetually out of shape to the point that his people staged an intervention
- He's potentially got an attitude problem
- He's got an arrest record for a domestic dispute with his girlfriend (though that was dismissed)
- He was late twice last year to shootaround, because of "traffic"
- His contract is coming up and his agent supposedly wanted a max extension
- Most importantly, we might not need him.
... This team is loaded at the PF position and depending on what Ainge intends to trade Sully for and what's included in said trade, we might upgrade a more pressing role while having several candidates who can slot in and give you 80% (or maybe even 110%) of what Sully is capable of. Candidates include David Lee (who looked a bit better tonight and might be getting his rhythm back... I'm still convinced he is capable of being close to the 18/10 player he was a little over a year ago), Amir (if we slot in someone else at center... Zeller?), Olynyk, Jerebko... maybe even Mickey. We're stacked with players who might be on Sully's level... and if this team's pipe dream is to land Ben Simmons, I'm not sure Sully matters in the long run.
Yeah, there's a shot that Sully is on the verge of finally breaking out... and that's why he potentially can fetch something in a trade. It's a gamble, perhaps. But it might be a bigger gamble to wait. Sully's stock is at the highest it's been in quite a while. Now might be the time to sell.
EDIT: Update 1/2/16 - "Sell high" Window is basically closed.