Time to try KO and Sully frontcourt pairing experiment again?

[kozlodoev]

I like what we've got going for now.  The main change I'd make is scaling back David Lee's minutes in favor of trying to work Zeller back into the rotation, albeit in a 10-15 minute a night role.

No reason to do that. Zeller is as good as gone once we draft Skal

[The Oracle]

I like what we've got going for now.  The main change I'd make is scaling back David Lee's minutes in favor of trying to work Zeller back into the rotation, albeit in a 10-15 minute a night role. 

David Lee has been a huge problem.  The offense struggles mightily to score when he is clogging the lane making it very difficult to penetrate.  Zeller causes the same problem but not to the extent that Lee does.  Playing either one next to K.O. has and always will be a disaster waiting to happen.  If this team had no agenda and its only goal was to try and win games a 3 big rotation of Amir/Sully/K.O. with a few minutes to Jerebko playing alongside K.O. against bench units would be used.  Sadly we may not see this until later in the year if at all.

[rollie mass]

zeller does not clog the middle but has excellent mid range shot,zeller is not creative and best moves come off pick and roll and flip hooks-he is deadly % wise from 17ft range like it is a foul shot-
lee got him so screwed up he's been benched-you can't get a better backup center for future-

[PhoSita]

Zeller can play well alongside Sullinger, Olynyk, or Jerebko.  We saw that last year and there's no reason to believe that's suddenly changed.  He can probably do OK next to Amir, as well, as long as they don't try to both roll to the rim at the same time.  One of them has to space the floor for the other.

David Lee and Tyler Zeller are both effectively centers on offense.  Playing them together was a bad idea, though I understood the thought behind it (they're both nice passers and have good hands).  They should never be on the floor at the same time.

[PhoSita]

I like what we've got going for now.  The main change I'd make is scaling back David Lee's minutes in favor of trying to work Zeller back into the rotation, albeit in a 10-15 minute a night role.

No reason to do that. Zeller is as good as gone once we draft Skal

Is Skal even that good?  He's barely grabbing boards even at the college level, and he's not a 3 point shooter even in college.  Seems like he's not nearly as good a college player as people thought he would be.

Looks like Jamal Murray is the best prospect on the Kentucky team this year.

[Jarrin John]

  I don't know why people continually spew this nonsense that K.O./Sully as a pairing have been ineffective now or at any point in the past!  Here are some statistics for all 3 years overall and as a starting pairing.
                           min.     +/-     +/-per48
13-14 Overall       542     +98        +8.7
13-14 as starters   33      +13       +18.6

14-15 Overall       409     +75        +8.8
14-15 as starters  198      +5         +1.2

15-16 Overall        55      +30       +26.4
15-16 No starts

  As starters they have played 231 minutes and are +18 against a ridiculously tough schedule of games.  In K.O.'s rookie year their only 2 starts were against the 2 best teams in the league at the time in San Antonio and Indiana.  They outscored them both when on the floor as a pairing before K.O. sprained his ankle against Indiana.  Last year they started the 1st 13 games together and were +5 overall against a very tough schedule.

  Overall as a pairing they have now played a total of 1006 minutes together.  They are +203 points during those minutes.  This equates to +9.69 points per 48 minutes which is fantastic under any circumstances.  The fact that these statistics were obtained while playing on a 25 win team and a 40 win team makes them even more impressive.

Thank you for the informative post.

[The Oracle]

zeller does not clog the middle but has excellent mid range shot,zeller is not creative and best moves come off pick and roll and flip hooks-he is deadly % wise from 17ft range like it is a foul shot-
lee got him so screwed up he's been benched-you can't get a better backup center for future-

Not this!  It is a common misconception that anyone that can make a mid range jumper is helping to spread the floor.  Last year Zeller shot 95 total shots outside 15 feet making 45 of them.  This is actually a good % from said range but results in a poor .95 points per shot attempt.  Defenses will gladly let Tyler make his less than 1 jumper per game in order to stay at the edge of the lane and protect the paint.  He scares no one shooting mid range jumpers, they are the shots you want teams to take.  No chance he is being resigned by any team that has a clue what they are doing especially for the $ some blind team will likely offer him. 
  The last type of center you should want to sign in the current NBA environment is a mid range shooting lane clogger that is average at best defensively!

[The Oracle]

Zeller can play well alongside Sullinger, Olynyk, or Jerebko.  We saw that last year and there's no reason to believe that's suddenly changed.  He can probably do OK next to Amir, as well, as long as they don't try to both roll to the rim at the same time.  One of them has to space the floor for the other.

David Lee and Tyler Zeller are both effectively centers on offense.  Playing them together was a bad idea, though I understood the thought behind it (they're both nice passers and have good hands).  They should never be on the floor at the same time.

Who did Zeller play well next to last year?  Although Zeller and Sully played O.K. next to each other last year they struggled to score averaging 97.1 pts. per 48, and were outscored by 3.6 pts. per 48.  It also forces Sully to play power forward which is exactly where you don't want him as he is way more effective at center.  This allows him to be around the hoop more, rebound,  and defend slower centers and not PF's on the perimeter.
  As for Jerebko and K.O. being paired with Zeller it has been disastrous both last year and this year.  He effectively nullifies a lot of the floor spacing advantage that they can create.  Combined they are -61 pts. in 347 minutes over the last 2 years.  This equates to -8.44 pts. per 48.
  The Zeller/Lee pairing at the start of the year was an obvious failed showcasing attempt.  No G.M. in the league worth his salt would think that would be effective with basically no floor spacing at all.

[CelticGuardian]

I like the newfound effort on defense from both KO and Sully.. but we gotta ask ourselves if it can be sustained for more than 30+ mins... I think we get too caught up with combinations and worry less about what exactly are the individuals looking to do on the court.. Olynyk I feel needs to take advantage of his guard skills a bit more and beat more bigs off the dribble.. his handle is impressive