To the people that are saying Sullinger is basically Love, that is crazy talk. Sully had his best season this year and finished with a 4.0 Win Share (up from last years 3.9). Love's Win Share was an 8.7 as a third option (down from his 14.3 last year).
Please explain to me what (aside from three point shooting) Love does significantly better than Sully.
Especially this season.
I'll be waiting.
Truth is, Love is just Sully with a three point shot and far inferior defensive.
How about being in shape, staying healthy and All around consistent play
Yeah, talk to me when Sully averages 26 pts, 12.5 rebs, and 4.4 asts shooting 46% from the floor and 37% from the 3 for a season.
I'm talking about skills and abilities.
Kevin Love is NOT in shape - he's barely any more mobile then Sully is. He might be in better shape then Sully, but he's still no glorious athlete.
Staying healthy? Over the past four seasons Love has missed 103 out of a possible 328 games - that's over 31 of his games missed over four seasons. Sully has missed 69 out of a possible 246 games over his three seasons, which is about 28% of his games. Yeah...Sully has actually stayed healthier then Love has.
All round consistent play? Puhleaseeeeee! Have you watched Kevin Love this season? His numbers / production have been all over the shop. Let me help you - here are Love's last 20 games of the regular season:
21/6/3
12/8/3
22/10/1
14/8/1
13/10/4
21/14/2
8/5/2
10/11/4
11/13/1
9/3/2
22/10/4
18/7/1
10/10/1
11/4/2
16/11/0
19/6/4
7/4/0
19/3/0
The pattern isn't all that different throughout the year. Sure he may be a little more consistent than Sully, but certainly not $20M/year more consistent.
Oh, and those to seasons when Kevin Love averaged 26 points per game, he also took close to 20 FGA per game and while playing 39 and 36 minutes per game (respectively). He put up those numbers because he was jacking up shots on a bad team.
Sully on the other hand, has never averaged more than 12 Field Goal Attempts per game for a season, or more than 27 minutes per game.
Sully averaged 26 points on 19 FGA, which is an average of 1.37 points per FGA. Drop his attempts down to 12 a game (to match Sully) and you can expect him to average about 16.5 PPG, which is not (by any means) a massive jump over what Sully averaged the last two years. Just to prove my points, guess what? Love's FGA dropped to 12.7 this year, and his scoring average has dropped to 16.4 PPG. Funny, huh?
So again yes, Love is a more effective scorer than Sully (much of that is due to the extra couple of three's per game) but is a difference of three points extra (given the same FGA) really worth $20M more?
So again, ASIDE from the three point shot (which gives him those extra 3 points per 12 FGA) what skill/ability does Love has that Sully doesn't?
I would hazard a guess that Love will EASILY give up 3 points per game more just from his horrendous defense.
In fact Kelly Olynyk has averaged 1.24 points per FGA this year, which is equivalent to 15 points on 12 FGA, or 23.5 points on 19 FGA. So if the three point shot is so important to you, then what does Love offer that Olynyk doesn't? It's sure as hell not defense, length or athleticism (Olynyk's primary criticisms)!