I supposed Grant Wiliams could be the next Jared Sullinger. Not a terrible pick for sure, but someone that could frustrate fans due to lack of athleticism (thus limiting his overall ceiling).
I’ve watched quite a bit of Grant at Tennessee.
I think Williams has a better sense of his strengths than Sully did. Sully hucked threes, despite being a poor shooter... I’d be surprised if we see anything like that from Grant. He also has terrific court awareness at both ends, which makes up for his physical limits... to what extent, we’ll find out.
I think Paul Millsap is Williams’ perfect world upside. Not sure how close he realistically gets to that though. I like his game a lot, but we were able to get him at 22 for some valid reasons.
I mean, perhaps grant becomes a steal. But I’m reading just a little wishful thinking in these responses. Similarities aside, I think a sullinger type career would seem about right for grant. Hell, he could actually be worse.
You realise Sullinger only really played 4 seasons in the league, right? I don't really count his stint in Toronto.
I don't speak for droopdog, but I would imagine more he's referring to peak production rather than duration, kinda like comparing somebody to Brandon Roy.
Sullinger was pretty solid as a Celtic. A rotational player on a veteran playoff team as a rookie, then above average PER in years 2-4. Great looking Per 36/Per 100 possession numbers (if he only ever got in shape and could actually play those minutes). 13/8/2/1/1 (with generous rounding on blocks/steals). I know I definitely felt like he outplayed his draft position during his 4 years as a Celtic. Even knowing he's out of the league now, I'd still draft him over most of the guys taken ahead of him from 10-20. I'd be happy if Grant gave the C's that kind of production.
No doubt, and that kind of production is definitely fair.
But I guess with the use of the term "career" threw me, if that's what he meant
Yeah, pretty much what I was thinking about. As other said, sully ate himself out of the league. I don’t expect THAT from grant.
But nonetheless, sully was limited while he was in the league. He started chucking threes because he was basically unable to do it inside due to lack of athleticism. Would get stuffed more than turkeys on thanksgiving.
I think what gets to me is people saying that grant is definitely better and a or b than sully when we don’t really know. Sully was a pretty good colllege player but the nba is a different beast. Until we see grant in the nba, we won’t know whether he’s better at anything.
I think he started chucking threes because Stevens wanted him to chuck threes. I bet he would have preferred to get a lot more looks down low.
Perhaps a combination of both. First, sully was not going to be an effective inside player given his lack of lift. His shot got blocked A LOT. Fans griped about it constantly. So maybe he preferred to play inside, but he wasn't going to be efficient at it.
As for stevens, I guess he was okay with sully shooting threes, though I'm not sure he encouraged it.
I think it was encouraged in Stevens first year. They were doing a soft tank that year, and so giving Sullinger permission to let it fly in hopes that it might develop by when the Celtics were a team trying to win made sense. But it never did, and his final season as a Celtic saw him cut his attempts in half relative to the number of 2-point shots he took.
Going off topic now, but hey it's the doldrums summer and not much to talk about.
All this reminds me of this great play with Sullinger/Stevens. You can see Sullinger argue with Stevens only to get the wide open 3.
They way I remember Sully, he was kind of streaky from 3, he'd have months where he'd look very capable, and other months where you'd prefer vintage Marcus Smart taking the 3.
Sully's health/conditioning was a major issue. In the beginning of the season, he'd take good shots and was effective. As the season progressed and as his lack of conditioning caught up with him, he'd take the easy way out on offense and take a 3/long 2 rather than work inside for a good shot. Looking at his numbers, his TS% was usually highest in Nov and I think conditioning is why.
From the eye test in previous seasons, it seemed the same with smart. Since he kept himself in good condition, he shot it better for a longer stretch. At least they had a chance to add it to smarts contract, they knew sully would have just kept being out of shape even with incentives so they moved on! If sully couldn't keep it under control through a contract year, you know there is no hope. Smart did it for his contract year and has kept it together since!
Topic: Perk on Grant Williams: "He's a poor man's Draymond Green" (Read 9847 times)