Brandon Bass is not a starter on an NBA championship team.
Is Sully? I don't know. But Brandon Bass absolutely is not.
Completely untrue. If the Lakers can win championships (plural) with Derek freaking Fisher, we can win with Bass. Bass is a great role player. I thought last year he would have been better off the bench behind KG at the 4, but now it's apparent he's earned a starting role.
At the end of the day this team will live or die by Rondo's production. Bass works with Rondo a heck of a lot better on offense and is a heck of a lot better on defense than Sully. Doc expressed last year how it was the first time in the KG era that we could rotate the 3-4 on pick and rolls thanks to Bass. Our pick and roll defense is the bread and butter that makes our defense great.
Bass' mid-range jumper is a very nice weapon to pair with Rondo, and his defensive speed is great, but you are leaving out the powerful arguments in Sully's favor: rebounding, good hands, passing ability and decision making.
The combination of Bass and KG is incredibly weak on the offensive boards - it's a big reason why our offense was so poor last year (along with non-existent bench offense and lack of foul-drawing). And it's not like Bass was lighting it on fire offensively. His mid-range game was automatic to be sure, but he didn't do all that well outside of the pick and pop game and finished with a mediocre 52TS%, while not contributing much of anything as a passer or playmaker.
Sully's a pretty good bet to offer a more balanced mix of inside and outside scoring ability, with better rebounding and better passing/decision making. That he can actually catch hot passes from Rondo is another offensive argument in his favor.
Finally, the best way to get Sully's much-needed offensive contributions without crippling the team defensively is pairing him with KG and the best way to do that on the 5-5-5 plan is by starting him and finishing with him (that'll get him to 20mpg with KG).
Then you run with Bass/Wilcox or Bass/Darko off the bench. There Bass can run pick and pop with JET, or face-up weak bench 4s and attack off the dribble (a strong aspect of his game that he didn't go to as much last year because he was the designated floor spacer).
