Playing Sullinger next to KG against Lebron is a nightmare for us if the heat got with a Bron/Bosh FC. Pierce likely guards LeBron, and Sully Battier, and we pray.
Defensively, it does indeed look nightmarish. And for that reason alone I doubt we see it against the Heat.
But just for conversation - flip the question around. On the other end of the court - how does Bron/Bosh defend an FC of KG/Sully?
Lebron can defend PFs, including in the post. He played excellent defense on David West in the playoffs.
Watch him on Pau Gasol:
... snip ...
There's a longer highlight of this floating around somewhere, basically showing every defensive possession of the game. Lebron shut down one of the most talented 7-footers in the NBA.
I honestly don't think that Lebron would have trouble with Sullinger; he's going to play elite defense against most PFs.
As IP suggested, I think the best front line against Miami's small lineup is KG/Green. We'll be weak on the boards and in the post, but it's our best shot at limiting Lebron.
Well, that's not the most relevant comparison. Lebron outweighs Gasol by 20lb and could push him around.
Sully outweighs Lebron by almost 30lbs -that's a ~50lb difference between Sully and Gasol!. Also, Sully is the same height (actually a 1/2 inch taller w/o shoes) and has slightly longer arms than Lebron. He's also got very different style of post moves compared to Gasol.
Gasol's post-up game is based on his having a height advantage over his defender. Once he's got the ball in close, he simply goes vertical and shoots casually over people. Lebron's defense of him was simple: Push Gasol around and keep him from ever getting the ball. Gasol could never get the position or space he wanted because he could not move Lebron and instead got moved by him.
Sully's game is not based on being tall - it is based on his strength, footwork, long arms and velcro hands. And he is virtually immovable when he's set. And he's similarly difficult to hold the block on. He's best defended by defenders who are both tall enough to keep him from hooking those long arms out, up and over and also heavy enough that Sully doesn't bounce them away with that butt of his. And they also have to be smart enough to not fall for his fakes because he turns and goes under tall defenders who over commit. In college and in the SL, Sully has only really had trouble when teams double team him with two bigs. Simple enough and very effective. But that won't happen when he's on the floor with KG.
Now, Sullinger is a rookie. Put him out there tomorrow against Lebron and he'd probably get eaten alive. But let's see what he looks like next spring, with a year of professional training & experience.
I don't know how that will turn out. I just find it interesting to think about.
Lets look at the other half of the matchup. Bosh has occasionally been successful scoring on KG - but many times has been stuffed by KG. Bosh has _never_ been able to stop KG from scoring.
In 31 games head-to-head (regular season and playoffs), Bosh has been stuffed for single-digit scoring 9 times (4 of those in the playoffs) and has only broken 20 points just 6 times (once in the playoffs).
In those 31 games head-to-head, KG has failed to score in double figures only twice. In 13 of those games he scored over 20 (twice in the playoffs). Both of the two games where KG failed to reach double-figures were in the 2011 playoffs when he (and Paul and Ray) went into a vicious shooting slump. KG shot 1-10 and 3-9 in those two games. I don't think I'd credit Bosh' defense so much as just plain cold-shooting.
Keeping things current, looking at just their last 6 games from 2011-2012, KG again, outscored Bosh in 4 of the 6. The other two being (1) the second game of the season - no Pierce and KG clearly stiff, rusty and out of practice from the lockout and of course, the very last game of the playoffs, where Bosh went an uncharacteristic 3 of 4 from 3PT land. Overall for the 6 games, though, KG scored 98 to Bosh' 70.
Throw in the fact that KG also has dealt out more assists (creating still more points), I think its pretty clear that Bosh just hasn't been able to slow KG down.
I will say, to be clear, I don't like the idea of Sully trying to defend Lebron at all. That just sounds like really bad news.
My only point in this is that I'm not sure that the KG/Sully combo could be stopped by Bosh/Bron on the other end of the court. My guess is that the end result would be a scoring fest, with Bosh/Bron winning out.
I expect our best success will be with either KG/Green, playing as part of a zone or KG/Wilcox in a more conventional lineup.
Topic: Bosh might be the Heats starting center, so whats the possible line up? (Read 23172 times)