I said this in another thread... I think this is a good place for it, though.
Let me ask the "SULLY IS UNTOUCHABLE!" crowd a serious question.
Sully probably had late lotto talent, but slipped to #21. Fine, let's pretend he was a legit late lotto pick. At the moment he's #11 in Efficiency amongst rookies... behind the likes of Alexey Shved and Kyle Singler. That's nice.
Take off the homer goggles for a second. Meyers Leonard is the same age, is over 7 feet tall, was picked 10 spots higher than Sully (legit lotto pick), probably has more potential, and is putting up the same type of stats in the same type of minutes.
Would you rather have Meyers Leonard or Pau/Big Al/Josh Smith/etc?
I'm curious if people are that attached to Sully simply because he's played 20 games as a Celtic and they are emotionally invested... or if they'd legitimately rather have a late lotto pick with perceived potential who averages 5 points/5 boards (Leonard)... over a guy who can contribute 20 and 10 immediately.
So who would consider Meyers Leonard untouchable? Serious question.
i hope all general managers (other than danny) think like you do, because man that would be great. allow me to educate you.
taking off the homer goggles: sully should have gone about number 7 in the draft. leonard went at 11.
per is a flawed metric to use in evaluating a players ability. position adjusted winscore per 40 minutes or 48 minutes is a lot more reliable. Sullinger has a current winscore per48 of .140 whereas leonard has a current winscore of .097 - that is to say, sullinger is playing a lot better than meyers leonard.
as far as potential goes, meyers leonard may be more athletic, but as to whether he has as much potential as sullinger, that is debateable. personally i would go with sullinger. i think sullinger has the chance to make an all-star team eventually. i dont think leonard does.
as far as alexy sheved and kyle singler go: they are both about 4 years older than sullinger and are much closer to reaching their peak than sullinger who is only 20 (yes, you are comparing two 24 year old bench players close to their peak with a 20 year old future borderline all-star)
futhermore - pau gasol is done. he's not worth the money, and isnt gonna be the difference between a ring or no ring. al jefferson cant play defense, and yes, i'd rather have sullinger over both of these guys. josh smith - i'd take him, but i'd rather give up jeff green and lee or bass. josh smith is no better than sullinger will eventually become.